Smooth start

Hot sandy days at the beach and weeding an over-grown garden take their toll on skin.

So after a chat with a naturopath friend and a bit of experimenting we came up with a home-made solution to guarantee smooth, hydrated skin (great for dry, cracked, itchy, sunburnt and eczema-y skin and lips).

The base recipe:
Equal parts of coconut oil (I use the cooking one in the supermarket as it is of a higher grade than the one used for cosmetic purposes) and a vegetable based oil (I've tried, olive, almond and yes even rice bran oil).
Grated beeswax (if you don't have a local supplier you can find one online). Use half the amount of the oil components.
Vitamin E capsules x 2 (optional)
A few drops of essential oil (optional). I've tried Lavender and Cinnamon Leaf. The smell of the beeswax is lovely on its own so you can always leave the essential oil out if you prefer a honey smell.

Altering the quantities of each ingredient changes how hard or soft the finished result - there's no wrong or right - tweak the base recipe to suit you.

How to:
Again simple - throw it all into a heat proof container (a jug or jar) and then put into a pot of boiling water on stove top. Heat until all ingredients melted. Makes one large pot.

Great for gifts when dressed up with a nice label.

I use it while in the shower so I get that smooth start to the day.

Enjoy!

Lion Rock

Lion Rock

On Friday we had one of those days. The sun was shining the sea was like glass and so we cancelled everything, packed the boat with snorkels masks flippers, possibly a hundred towels and sarongs and enough food thrown into the esky (aka "cold bag"/"chilly bin"…) to keep hungry swimming kids and adults going for a decade or so. Oh and we also took our dog who likes to come for the ride but doesn't leave the boat, we think he is guarding it, not sure what from!

 We anchored up in a Bay and swam ashore and hunted for treasures which can be anything from a dead animal to a beautiful piece of sea glass and this time we were really lucky to find a Blue penguin resting on the sand. We couldn't believe it and of course gave it a wide berth so as not to scare it unduly. We hadn't seen one before. No photo as we couldn't swim ashore with a camera.

Lion Rock

After swimming, snorkelling, jumping off the boat and eating everything we cruised past the very aptly named Lion Rock and got home just before the wind got up. 

Blue x

Happy New Year & Emergency Gardening

Not a bad haul! 

Christmas and New Year over, visitors have left and I realised that the garden was in dire need of a quick fix before it all got totally out of hand, like it so often does here at Ripple Bay. It was so windy today that I battled my way to the hidden garden tucked behind our garage and pulled out weeds and things and trimmed and tied back tomatoes at a rate of knots. Felt very virtuous when I also found a whole hidden cache of yellow cherry tomatoes from a plant that was supposed to be in a trailing pot but which I had stuck straight in the ground last year in a fit of optimism.

Big bucket of weeds and things

makeshift driftwood bench

garden after the quick fix

My New Years Resolution? Get in the garden and keep on top of things? Nah, only joking. My real resolution is "DO MORE STUFF"! Thanks Kate (one of our groovy visitors) for the inspiration.

Happy 2014, Emma x

Add caption

Christmas Quick Fix

What do you do if your daughter announces at 6.30pm that she needs a "plate" of food to share at a class room shared lunch the next day? Well the English side of you gets out the Domestic Goddess and the NZ side of you flips through the Edmonds cookbook and you whip up a batch of meringues in next to no time and create an incredible illusion of efficiency!

Thanks to Daisy Ripple and the marauding chickens for the eggs of course! 

Needle and Thread

At Ripple Bay of course everything goes right all the time? Not so. Last night we and friends for dinner and i left a pan steaming happily away by accident and it burnt on the bottom of the saucepan (no photo of that little beauty!). This compares to the last time when the same friends came over and I had somehow forgotten to visit the butchers and so we had a meatless BBQ. Anyone would think I was vegetarian…oh yes actually i am the lone vegetarian in the household. Hmmmm.

On a more positive note I was happily sewing away this morning, straight after breakfast steadfastly ignoring the sink full of dirty dishes, and listening to the dulcet tones of kids with friends playing happily (aka fighting and yelling) when they decided to go and find fish in the estuary. Disaster struck!  One net had holes in it! Luckily crafty Mama had her needle and thread out and magically fixed things. Onwards and upwards…………….I'm off for a stiff coffee, Happy Weekending, Emma x

That Time of Year Again!

Christmas pudding time of year again, every year I valiantly make masses of Christmas pudding mixture and then spend hours and hours steaming them. The really fun part is getting everyone in the vicinity, near and far to stir and make a wish. Overseas family have to wish by phone usually although it was much more fun doing that by FaceTime this year! Modern Technology - hurray.

My wish was the same as it always is - I considered hard as I do every year about changing it, but no…some things are too important to leave to chance….!

Puddings steaming away!

Happy Stir Up Sunday, past present and future, Emma (aka Blue) x

Curing Christmas blues

The thought of Christmas shopping, glazing hams and over-excited kids can take the shine off the festive season. So at this time of year I try to focus on stuff that is fun, easy and bright.

I've been surrounded by inspiration - early-summer blue skies, the delicate blue eggs from our last post, the blue borage that creates the most delicious honey available from The Honey Collection  and finally a selection of blue buttons...

 

Personalised handmade key rings make lovely presents - especially if you need to pop them in the post - they're small and travel well.

 

Happy making and an even happier Christmas!