DIY Life

Join me each week as I explore the naturally aromatic side of DIY. Helpful recipes for your "scentual" pleasure: from essential oils, herbs, and other botanicals to soap-making, body care products and other useful blends.

Last week, you learned how to pamper yourself, some friends or your mom with a home pedicure. Recipes for foot soak, foot scrub and foot butter helped to set the stage for a day of feet-lovin' fun. Use those newly neat feet to gather supplies for the best home facial you can give -- just in time for Mother's Day.

After the break, I'll share recipes for making your own facial cleanser, face scrub, facial mask and face oil, ideas for packaging them as gifts, and tips for choosing oils and essential oils based on your skin type.

We all need renewal time, and a little pampering pleasure tops my list. Who doesn't love facials, pedicures, full body scrubs and the like? You can create the decadence of a day at the spa, right in your own home.

So plan on a little you-time, invite your girlfriends over for a spa party, or create a spa day for your mom, just in time for Mother's Day (and early enough that you can get your materials together!). Or, get some pretty containers and give these "products" as gifts.

This week, we'll start with pampering the feet, and columns on the face and body (and hands) will follow in subsequent weeks.

Spring has sprung, and for that I am thrilled beyond words. Like Anna, though, I detest bugs swarming around me, ruining a good outside moment.

Anna's fly trap is a good start, but if the flies, mosquitoes and ticks still want a piece of you, making your own all-natural insect repellent with essential oils is easy to do.

You may have on hand many essential oils that will work, and after the break we will discuss those and give some recipes that are bug-specific, but we'll also learn about some essential oils that are proven to deter mosquitoes better than DEET.

Join me each week as I explore the naturally aromatic side of DIY. Helpful recipes for your "scentual" pleasure: from essential oils, herbs, and other botanicals to soap-making, body care products and other useful blends.

I made several batches of soap today. There is nothing quite like being surrounded by the scent of essential oils, blending them, inhaling them. Ahhhhh...

Sometimes I wish they weren't so expensive, because I would do a pure rose otto soap, which would only be about a hundred dollars a bar! Or how about a dripping-in-neroli body butter? Well, OK, I might do that last one if I were feeling particularly decadent.

One of the fun things about becoming skilled at blending is the way you can stretch your expensive luxury scents with other more affordable essential oils to create scents that satisfy, without breaking the bank -- too much anyway!

After the break, I'll discuss floral waxes and give away some blending secrets you don't want to miss.

Have you begun your spring planting yet? Here in the northeast, spring planting is just beginning to enter my mind. The good news is that my snow cover is finally gone, the bad news is that it won't be warm enough to plant for at least another month.

What I have been thinking about is how I can bring the scents that I love in my soaps out to my yard. We began this process last spring and fall when we planted lavender along our walkway and mint along the stone wall, so that the fragrance wafts to our visitors as they proceed to our front door.

Read on to learn how to create a fragrant herb garden.

I've been extolling the virtues of Spring the last few weeks with springtime bath and body products and my festive green bath salts and earrings. Yes, Spring is exciting and everything is new and fresh ... except my house.

Probably yours too, if you haven't tackled that Spring cleaning yet. Anna has posted about the many uses of vinegar and baking soda for cleaning. These are two of my favorite cleaners as well. They are all-natural, good for the environment, won't kick up any allergies or sensitivities and are safe to keep in bottom cabinets if you have kids. Did I mention how effective they are? You really don't need chemicals.

Essential oils can be used in cleaning recipes with vinegar, baking soda and other natural cleaners to boost their effectiveness and leave a fresh clean scent around your newly sparkling house. Read on for recipes to brighten, degrease, deodorize and disinfect.

Bathroom Cleaner

What do you want out of a bathroom cleaner? I know I want to disinfect and deodorize, above all. Getting the hard water stains off the toilet bowl would be an excellent bonus, and soap scum removal off the tub wouldn't hurt either. This recipe will do all these and more. It is the only cleaner you will need for your bathroom -- although I guess you wouldn't want to use this one on your mirror!

• 1/3 c. baking soda
• 1/4 c. borax
• 2 TB to 1/4 c. grated soap (or soap powder)
• 10 drops pine essential oil
• 20 drops lavender essential oil
• 5 drops tea tree essential oil

Mix all ingredients and use this as you would a Comet-type cleanser. Simply sprinkle and scrub! Store in an airtight container.

Kitchen Cleaner

Disinfecting countertops is numero uno in my kitchen. Since we are crazy -- and messy -- cooks, I also need something to degrease the counters and stovetop.

• 1 TB baking soda
• 2 tsp. castille soap (such as Dr. Bronner's)
• 1 c. water or oregano hydrosol
• 3 drops oregano essential oil (only add this if you are using water, not hydrosol)
• 8 drops orange essential oil
• 8 drops lemon essential oil

Heat the water and baking soda until the soda dissolves. Remove from heat and gently add the castille and essential oils and pour into a spray bottle. Spray surfaces and wipe with a clean cloth or damp sponge.

Window and Glass Cleaner

I would bet that you want what I want -- streak-free cleaning for sparkling mirrors and clear-view windows. Your backyard -- and your reflection -- will never look so good!

• 1 c. water
• 1 TB vinegar
• 1 TB rubbing alcohol, or if you want to be super non-toxic, ethanol (grain alcohol)
• 3 drops lemon essential oil

Mix ingredients in a spray bottle. Shake well before using. Have you ever tried washing glass surfaces with old newspapers? I don't know why it works, but it helps with the streak-free.

Dish Soap

If you make cold-process soap, you can easily make a dish soap from coconut oil with a titch of castor oil for smaller, foamier bubbles. Use the lowest superfat you feel comfortable with, and for ease of use, mold soap into ceramic mini-loaf pans or flower pots and put one by your sink. Oh, scent with lavender and tea tree essential oils or citrus and herb essential oils. Decorative and functional, and a wonderful hostess gift, too.

Blending can be a tricky endeavor. Just because you love an essential oil scent blend that you have created doesn't mean that it will work as a soap. It may lack staying power, or it may fall flat, losing the complexity it had when it was just a mixture of oils.

How do you know when a blend won't work? Essential oils aren't cheap. You want to get it right, or at least know how to alter your so-so blend to make it great: balanced, long-lasting and not too overwhelming.

Your goal with soap scent blends is to make them hang around as long as possible. What can get in the way of that? The temperature at which you mix your soap, the age of your soap, and the balance of your blend can all play an important role.

After the break, you can read detailed tips on how to make soap scents that stick.

When things start to melt, I get really excited. Maybe it is the fact that I can see my lawn again, or just that the air is starting to lose that cold little nip. Even though I can't pin down exactly what it is, the promise of springtime excites me.

With Spring's arrival, though, comes some new concerns. Capri pants and short sleeved shirts, for example. Not only do you have to start shaving your legs again, but you have got to do something about that winter dry skin.

Read on for recipes to get your skin ready to be bared, with scents to bring the fresh springtime air right into your bath.

Join me each week as I explore the naturally aromatic side of DIY. Helpful recipes for your "scentual" pleasure: from essential oils, herbs, and other botanicals to soap-making, body care products and other useful blends.

Haven't you always wanted a signature scent? A scent so perfect for you that others even notice how well it suits your personality and style? A custom perfume, if you will, all your own: borne of you, inspired by you, designed by you.

Can you do it? Can you really create your own all-natural personal scent blend, even when you have had little or no experience with essential oils?

You can, and you will.

First, a few safety rules.

Always dilute essential oils in a carrier oil. You run the risk of sensitization if you use an essential oil on your skin neat, or undiluted.

I cannot recommend organic jojoba strongly enough. Since jojoba is actually a wax, not an oil, it will not go rancid. It also matches your skin's sebum more closely than any other substance, so it will help your scent blend really become a part of you, melding your own skin's scent with the oils to make it truly unique.

Please refer to this guide from Aromaweb for more safety information, and for the real deal about which oils are not safe to use, visit Nature's Gift's contraindication page. The information there may surprise you.

After the break, I'll explain how you can get started creating your own blend with little emphasis on rules and a big focus on what you love.

Join me each week as I explore the naturally aromatic side of DIY.
herbs, and other botanicals to soap-making, body care products and other useful blends.

What comes to mind when you think of lavender? It may be a calming scent for you; maybe you even have a sleep sachet stuffed with dried lavender buds. You may think of your favorite handmade soap, scented only with lavender essential oil, a staple in many showers around the country. Surely some sort of relaxing, powdery floral makes your olfactory sense tingle when you think of lavender.

For me, lavender is many things. It is the sleep sachet that sends me back to slumberland on those sleepless nights. It is one of the primary essential oils in the baby products that I make, so I remember smoothing the healing butter onto my son's bottom and massaging his excited limbs with the baby oil. We even planted a row of lavender plants along our front walkway, greeting our guests with the familiar fragrance as the sun gently warms the plants, releasing the welcoming scent.

Most of all, lavender is the promise of many things, as it can take on a whole different personality depending on how you blend it.

There are actually many types of lavender, but we are writing today of the true lavender, lavendula officinalis or lavendula angustifolia.

On the next couple of pages I'll share some lavender recipes with you.

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Lavender: Spiritual and Complex

Combine the powdery floral lavender with some of the ancient meditative essential oils and you've got a gateway for spiritual healing. Or, if you just want to blend up something that smells darned good, try one of these:

2 parts lavender
1 part frankincense
Try adding a tiny bit of vanilla infusion, patchouli or sandalwood to this blend for even more complexity.

1 part lavender
1 part amber essence
A titch of vanilla, rose or rosewood would enhance this blend.

4 parts lavender
1 part rose
Yes, you could add something to ground this blend, like a touch of patchouli or sandalwood, but it smells so good you may want to leave this one alone. Rose can stand up for itself!

Lavender: Sunny and Cheerful

Is it really possible that the calming and feminine lavender can become something bright and almost stimulating? Add a little citrus and you are off to a good start:

4 parts lavender
2 part lemon
1 part sweet orange
A titch of ylang ylang or vetiver wouldn't hurt here.

4 parts lavender
1 part lime (I like expressed unless it is a direct skin application, in which case distilled lime is safer due to the phototoxic properties of lime.)

3 parts lavender
1 part sweet orange
Enhance this blend with an herb or spice . . .cinnamon, clove, netmeg; maybe spearmint or basil . . . oh, the possibilities . . .

Lavender: Smooth and Dreamy

It already has that powdery quality to it. Now, add some special oils to your lavender and make it smoother, dreamier, almost good enough to eat.

3 parts lavender
1 part vanilla infusion
Add just a titch of vetiver and ylang ylang to this for balanced blend perfection.

3 parts lavender
1 part pink grapefruit
1 part vanilla infusion
Now, for the titch . . . jasmine. Yes, that's right, just a drop or two, don't over do it, and you'll have the magic.

Lavender: Earthy and Deep

You know you love the dirty stank of patchouli, when you blend it just right. So why not try:

4 parts lavender
1 part patchouli
Leave this one alone! Oh OK, add a little jasmine, you'll see!

4 parts lavender
1 part vetiver
Smooth this one with a titch of vanilla infusion, or maybe enhance with cinnamon.

In The Fragrant Mind, Valerie Worwood refers to lavender as "the mother, or grandmother of essential oils" and states that it is "harmonious, calming, healing, caring, compassionate and embracing."

Gabriel Mojay, in Aromatherapy for Healing the Spirit, tells us that in 1660, Richard Surflet writes that distilled lavender "healeth the swoonings and disease of the heart."

Lavender is all of those things, but so much more.

Join me each week as I explore the naturally aromatic side of DIY.
herbs, and other botanicals to soap-making, body care products and other useful blends.

Peppermint . . . candy canes, peppermint patties, toothpaste and tea. I'm sure that when you think of peppermint, these are some of the images conjured up for you. OK, maybe some of those yummy mint melt-a-way candies too. Or perhaps even indigestion tablets. I think you get the point.

There are a myriad of uses for peppermint essential oil that just may shift your long-ingrained minty paradigms, so read on.

Before you create any of these mint-a-licious recipes, be sure you are getting a quality peppermint essential oil from a reputable source. It should be organic or wild-grown.

1. Chocolate Mint Lip balm
This is so easy, you are going to make enough for everyone you know, I am sure of it. Peppermint is also reputed to help plump up the lips, so your kisser will not only taste great, it'll look great too.

• 1 tsp. beeswax
• 2 tsp. prime-pressed cocoa butter
• 3 tsp. any liquid oil you like. I love rice bran oil and jojoba (not really an oil, but a wax), but you can use the olive oil in your kitchen cabinet and get great results.
• 5-10 drops peppermint essential oil