DIY Life

My scented candles began gathering dust immediately after the birth of my daughter in 2006. Having a child around, I was way too distracted and sleep-deprived to be supervising an open flame in my house -- no matter how sweet the smell!

Happily, I soon received a reed diffuser as a gift. Decorative, yes. However, it also brought delicious and natural citrus and floral fragrances back into my life. Best of all, I discovered reed diffusers are a worry-free alternative to scented candles.

The diffuser consists of a small glass vase or bottle containing perfumed oil or an oil blend, plus other mixers. The fragrance contained therein wends its way towards your olfactory cells via tall reed straws placed upright in the oil.

It seems that when I look at our budget, the greater portion of our expenses seem to be spent on food. Yes, we are self-proclaimed Foodies, so we tend to splurge on good things to eat. The good news is that there are ways to save money in the kitchen; your love of food doesn't have to break the bank.

1. Make a weekly menu and shop accordingly: Creative meal planning wastes less. You'll be less apt to buy things that aren't on your grocery list, and you'll have everything you need for the week's meals, thereby saving gas on fewer trips to the grocery store.

2. Use extra foods to make soups or stews: It's OK to buy that jumbo bag of broccoli florets. After you use what you need in Tuesday's stir-fry, throw the rest into a pot with onions, broth, some dried beans, and some seasonings. The result will be a healthy soup that you can freeze for lunches later. Some of my favorite meals have been the clean-out-the-refrigerator-stews!

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.

There's nothing like a cool drink to refresh on a hot summer day. Last week, we explored drinks made with fresh mint and essential oils. Now it's time to think beyond the mint.

Did you know that most citrus and herbal essential oils are sold to large food companies as flavoring? Hydrosols, which are the water left behind when plants are steam-distilled into essential oils, are also safe to ingest in small quantities when they're organic and top quality, according to Suzanne Catty, author of Hydrosols: The Next Aromatherapy.

Make sure your oils and hydrosols are organically grown and of good quality, then read on after the break for drink recipes -- citrus, herbal, and even some floral -- made with essential oils, herbs, and hydrosols.

Mothering Magazine is my favorite publication these days. Partly because I have an all-consuming three-year-old, but mostly because of the message of empowerment it sends to parents: rely on yourselves, create your vision of parenting, and do it your own way. Talk about DIY parenting!

Mothering's website has a new article, 'Scents of Childhood,' that encourages parents to heal and soothe their kids using essential oils. If you read my Scentual Life column, you are beginning to understand the diversity and usefulness of essential oils and herbs. Now, put them to use to help your kids.

I think most people would agree that bath products make a nice gift. Unfortunately, they're a little over-gifted, if you know what I mean. But, if you take some effort to make your own products and to personalize them, what was old-hat suddenly becomes new again. Whipup's bath bomb surprises are a perfect gift idea that you can personalize for anyone.

You'll need baking soda, citric acid, your choice of essential oil, a spray bottle with witch hazel, and your choice of trinkets to insert in the bath bombs. You'll also need a large bowl, a whisk, an ice cream scoop with a release mechanism, and a tray covered with wax paper.

To make the bath bombs, combine the baking soda and citric acid. Then slowly spray in the essential oils. Adding the witch hazel can be a bit tricky as you need just the right amount of moisture. Once the consistency is right, you'll be able to use the ice cream scoop to create the halves of the bath bomb. Then insert the trinket and put the two halves together. Whipup has the details.

Keep reading for different gift ideas with these "surprise inside" bath bombs.

If I told you how many essential oils I have in my collection, you probably wouldn't believe me. Suffice it to say, I've got a bunch, and I couldn't live without any of them. Probably you don't need -- or want! -- as many as I have, but having a basic collection can be useful.

There are a few essential oils that every home should have, and one of these is sweet orange oil. I've written in the past about uses for peppermint essential oil; now you'll know what unique things you can do with your sweet orange oil as well.

Pest control
The d-limonene in sweet orange oil repels insects, so it is a good essential oil to spray on your plants to keep away mealybugs and white flies. Science backs this one up!

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:

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.

You have soft, smooth feet from our pedicure of two weeks ago. Your face is aglow with healthy skin after last week's facial. What about the rest of you?

Get ready to pamper yourself (or a loved one) with the gift of relaxation and cared-for skin -- all over!

After the break, I'll share recipes for relaxing bath salts, a detoxifying body scrub, a gentle hand scrub, and body oil, along with packaging ideas to make lovely gifts of these homemade products.

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.

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.