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.

Making your own bath and body products is good fun on so many levels. Not only do you get to concoct what you like using all-natural ingredients, but you can customize your products for the season.

Here we are, about to embark on the three-month stretch that we call summer. My three favorite products to make for the sweltering days: powder, body spritz, and skin soother (for after sun exposure). After the break, I'll share recipes and scent blends.

I've indulged, oh yes, I have indulged. Last Friday, I spent the day at the spa. Before you go getting all jealous and resentful, it was my tenth wedding anniversary and the only time that my husband and I have ever done something like this together.

Did we enjoy our day there? Indeed we did, but what struck me the most was my phytotherapy massage. This was basically a Swedish massage using essential oils. Yes, it was a simple concept, but they really targeted mind, body, and spirit naturally during this treatment:

• the massage itself was all about the body, relaxing the muscles
• the relaxing music created an atmosphere ripe for calm, stress release, even meditation; just plain mental quiet
• it was an all-natural treatment, using only essential oils (from plants, hence the phyto-)
• the essential oils could be focused on what you needed the most; I chose the relaxing blend to help me zone out for the hour

After the break I'll tell you how you can create a phytotherapy massage experience at home.

The power of scent is phenomenal. It is the sense most linked to memory, and without it, we'd only taste five flavors. Inhalation is one of the most effective ways to get a substance into the bloodstream. And certain smells can even alter our moods.

Knowing how effective essential oils can be at mood enhancement, it makes sense that we'd want to get the essential oils into our environment in the most effective ways possible.

Diffusing may very well be the best way, and this is simply dispersing the essential oils throughout a room so you can inhale them, either for enjoyment, medicinal purposes, or quite possibly even spiritual healing.

Being down in the dumps, depressed, or just downright sad is just not fun. If you've got a mild case of the frumps, the Ririan Project has ten tips for you to trick yourself into feeling better.

Some really spoke to me, like wearing blue (for calming), and cleaning a room to eliminate visual confusion. I know certain colors (usually neons) make me feel tense and hyper, and blue does have a relaxing effect. And cleaning helps me on several levels: getting rid of the clutter makes a calmer environment and makes me feel satisfied with my progress. Crossing cleaning off the list lifts a huge weight!

One thing Ririan's list touches upon is the fact that nice smells, like a lemon, can help. Aromatherapy? Now I give just a little more credence to this list, because that is the pinnacle of all-natural mood alteration. Essential oils work better than any lemon will; try sniffing lavender for a relaxing calm, sandalwood for spiritual relaxation, and orange for a cheery calm.

Some other tricks that made Ririan's list were chopping food, eating ginger and broccoli, and clearing your mind. What tricks do you use to ease the blues?

[via Mercola]

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 know what you are thinking: Why, oh why, would I want to own that smelly tea tree oil? I certainly can't make something aromatic with it, so what aromatherapeutic good is it to me?

It's true, tea tree oil doesn't smell as pretty as some of the essential oils (it sure doesn't stink like some oils -- neem, for example), but it can enhance some blends, especially mints. For all of the following reasons, you'll want to have some tea tree oil around:

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.

Valentine's Day romance . . . red wine and chocolate, candlelight, a dozen red roses and . . . . cinnamon buns?

According to research done by Dr. Alan Hirsch, cinnamon buns are the most aphrodisiac scent for men. How can you incorporate their scent into your romantic Valentine's evening without baking up a batch?

Use some essential oils. Combining cinnamon essential oils with some of the less spendy ancient aphrodisiac scents makes a great romance enhancer. Scent the room and some body oil and you are on your way to a Valentine's to remember.


Next page: a recipe for romance

Heat therapy bags sooth sore muscles leaving. They are the perfect way to end a stressful day. They also make great Christmas gifts. The store bought ones are pretty bland in design and don't typically have essential oils or other special touches. Sew, Mama, Sew has a fabulous tutorial on making your own rice heat therapy bags. Here's what you'll need to make your own bag:

• Fabric scraps
• 1/4 yard of linen
• 1/4 yard of muslin
• 2lbs short or medium grain rice
• Essential oil of choice
• 4" long of 3/4" wide Velcro

Kristin's tutorial will show you how to turn those materials into a fashionable heat bag. I haven't used a heat bag with essential oils but I imagine the aromatherapy would be an added luxury in this soothing bag. She also talks about making a freezer bag. Calling it the "Boo-Boo bag", it's great for little ones when they hurt themselves. You could choose bright kid's fabric and make healing fun. Another project is the eye therapy bag. It refreshes tired eyes with flax seed. The bags have removable and washable covers which is really handy. She's thought of everything in this thorough tutorial and the super cute bags will make great stocking stuffers!