april showers

sweet piper.....

So, this CRAZY Cool Apparel Catalogue arrived in the mail (in my hubby's name? hmmmm)

Sea Spirit Dress 

L Amour de Paris

Lavender Fantasy Top
return to the Divine Feminine Goddess!!!!
(shhhhhh, I ordered this top, don't tell J;) 

www.pyramidcollection.com/

Happy Beltane Eve!

Blueberry Pie Bars (thanks to a neighbor for finding this!)

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 (21 ounce) blueberry pie filling 2 if you like cherries (highly recommend)

Glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 Tbs milk

1. Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat well. Beat in extracts.

2. In a separate bowl combine flour and salt. Add to the creamed mixture. Mix until combined.

3. Grease a 15x10x1 pan or 9x13, whichever one you decide to use. Spread 3 cups batter in a 15x10x1 (Also works with 9x13- baking time will at least be 35 minutes) Spread with pie filling. Drop remaining batter on top of pie filling.

4. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes clean. Cool on wire rack. Combine glaze ingredients and drizzle over the bars.

Blingin' it in Island Cowgirl

Our Perfect Sunday:

clocked in beach time, campfire time, cooking over the campfire, nutella smores...life is perfect!  well, except for the fact that Piper at two sanddollars and all :/




 

oh, and I had my first dragonfly visit of the year!

Let's FLY!

The Start of our Fairy Garden

...created by gathering treasures from our backyard. Will be planting wild flowers around it; and chives and lavender in the pots! will be looking for the other larger pot (like the upside down one in the back), so the girls can maintain their mini fairy gardens in the bit pots.  This will be FUN!

Homemade Castile Soap is DA BOMB

All For about $5 I made 8 cups of liquid castile soap (for the base)...using the Castile soap, I made coconut milk shampoo, bubble bath, and refilled my Dr. Bronners container with Castile soap, plus lavender essential oil. On top of this, I have Castile soap to spare!!  

This all took very little time, and I even used the food processor to grade several bars of soap today (prepared for future concoctions;) 

this is the recipe I used, I doubled it:

YEAHHHHH ME ;) 
 

Liquid Castile Soap

1 c. Shaved Soap (*I use three bars, and slice it thin with a butcher's knife)
4 c. Water (*I use 8 cups of reverse osmosis/filtered water)
2 tbsp. Glycerin (you can get it at most pharmacies, though it may be kept behind the counter)
Essential Oil, if you like  ...(*I add several drops to the smaller containers...not during the cooking process...about 20 drops of lavender or peppermint for smaller bottles (just using an old quart size Dr. Bronner's Bottle, and refilling with my own.)

Bring your water to a boil and slowly add glycerin, essential oil, and soap shavings.  The soap shavings will probably clump no matter how slowly you add them.  Stir (with a spoon you don't mind loosing or that's plastic) and cook until everything is completely dissolved. 

Transfer to a heat-proof container to cool.  Don't worry if its watery, it'll gel up as it cools.  (*I leave it in the pan to completely cool...it might evaporate a little)

http://livingfromscratch1.blogspot.com/2010/08/liquid-castile-soap-other-cleaning.html

Homemade Body Wash

Ingredient List:

• 1 part Bronner’s Castile Soap. I like Dr. Bronner’s because it is very concentrated and you can buy lots of different kinds. Some castile soaps are not as concentrated and they get too watered down.
• 1 part water
• 1 tablespoon of almond oil
• 20-30 drops of your favorite essential oil.

I combine these in an 8 oz bottle (available at any health food store and probably other places as well, or recycle an old shampoo bottle).

Step 1: Add the almond oil.

Step 2: Add the essential oils and gently swirl to mix.

Step 3: Add the water – this is as simple as filling the bottle half full of water. Note: when I make this for myself, I like to use a bit less water and more castile soap. Also, I leave out the almond oil because I like more suds.

Step 4: Add the castile soap until the bottle is almost full.

Once you have combined all of the ingredients, gently shake the bottle to mix.
That’s it! I told you it was very easy! I like to experiment with different kinds of essential oils. For my kids I really like the gentle, soothing aroma of lavender oil. For myself, I most often use clary sage because I really love how it smells. You could try eucalyptus, sandalwood, mandarin, or any other of your favorite oils; you could even get creative and try a blend!
There you have it… a very cheap, very quick way to clean your skin with a product that is “clean” (or not loaded with harmful chemicals).  

http://www.mommahealth.com/a-chemical-free-healthy-baby-body-wash-to-clean-your-skin.htm

Make Your Own Lavender Bubble Bath Recipe

15 drops Lavender Essential Oil
16 ounce bottle of Unscented Liquid Castile Soap
2 ounces of Liquid Glycerin
Liquid Food Coloring(optional)

    Combine the above ingredients together in a container bottle big enough to allow for mixing. First add the liquid castile soap, then the drops of essential oil and lastly the glycerin. Mix well by shaking. If the mixture is too thick add a little water.  

http://everything-lavender.com/lavender-bubble-bath-recipe.html 

Pinterest-inspired Garden Inspirational Photos (thinking/planning outloud:)

 



Lemongrass...repels mosquitoes 








fairy garden



cotton candy grass

 

How to plant garlic (one clove produces up to twenty more) - you can always have fresh garlic
 
 Use cinnamon as a substitute for rooting hormone. It also kills fungus and bacteria at the same time. 

Pink Moon....Eclipse

We had ourselves a wonderful campfire celebration, with our Tibetan Bowls and Sacred Native American Flute:

 
and eventually, the clouds cleared away to make room for her (sorry, cell phones don't take the best moon shots...this was taken from above my forest.....I could only see it through the trees in my backyard, so I went to our front yard to get the above the tree shot; I'm not sure that my "good" camera did any better)