Solid perfume (a tutorial)

As promised, I present the tutorial for making solid perfume! I saw this on Pinterest a while ago and pinned it to my {Crafty things I need to do} board. And finally got around to trying it out!

{original pin here}

I searched and searched for a vintage pocket watch or locket to fill with perfume, but after a few weeks I became way too impatient and ended up picking one up for $5 from Michaels. Then I realized I had NONE of the ingredients I needed to make solid perfume. Argh. So I spent a few weeks researching and and comparing products and waiting for everything to come in the mail. Why I bought ingredients online and waited around for them to arrive escapes me. Wait, that's a lie. It's because it was much cheaper that way. Getting off topic...

Yay! If you follow me on {facebook} you're probably sick of seeing these, they are the newest addition to my shop! But they are so much fun (and addicting) to make, I thought I'd share the how-to as well!

To make solid perfume, you will need:

• Beeswax
• Carrier oil (I use a combo of sweet almond oil and coconut oil.)
• Essential oils
• Oral syringe (find it in the medicine aisle of the grocery store)
• Locket
• Old metal/glass bowl that you will never use for food again.
• Plastic spoon

I didn't really follow the pinned tutorial very well. I researched several different recipes and sort of mashed them together and came up with my own. Through experimentation, I discovered that a 1:1 beeswax/carrier oil made the best perfume base. Not too solid, not too lip balmy. Since I decided to use a combo of two different carrier oils (sweet almond and coconut) it comes out to be a 2:1:1 beeswax:sweet almond:coconut oil ratio.

 For this huge locket, I did a teaspoon of beeswax...

...and a half teaspoon of the oils. It ended up being way too much. 

Bring a small amount of water to a boil in a pot small enough to NOT let metal/glass bowl fit in. We're making a double boiler here. 

Combine all three into the bowl and place it on top of the boiling pot of water. The steam will quickly melt the three together. I mean in like less than a minute. 

Stir with the plastic spoon to combine. Stir really well, otherwise you'll end up with pockets of oil in the beeswax. Not cool. 

It really does melt fast! Stir, stir, stir, then turn the heat off. 

Add your oils. For this particular locket I used a headache relief blend (since I am an almost daily sufferer...) a 50/50 peppermint/lavender. Mix really well again, but do this quickly because the perfume will harden pretty quickly. The amount of essential oils added was different everywhere I looked, so I just had to wing it. I added about 25-30 drops total. 

Fill the oral syringe with your perfume. This makes it a lot easier to fill the locket. 

....though it's not a perfect science. 

Let the perfume harden for at least 15 minutes before disturbing it. (10 BFF points if you sang that.)

Then comes the fun part, turning it into something beautiful!

To apply solid perfume, rub your fingers on the perfume and smooth it onto your pressure points. Wrists, behind the ears, etc. Since I made this amazing headache relief batch, I massage it into my temples and at the nape of my neck to work in the magic. 

Another added bonus: Your body acts like a candle warmer. The heat from your body will release the oils in the locket and you will smell gorgeous all day. I've now made three of these for myself (and another half dozen that I've sold) and the scent really sticks with you. All in all, a wonderful pin. I hope you enjoy it! 

I'm linking this up to...

Because Becca inspired me to actually do one of my pins! And linking up to a few other fun {parties}

The button belt {a tutorial}

I made this a few weeks ago for a Pinterest Challenge over at {Better Life Bags}. My inspiration?

{via the swell life}

My version?

Love it! And it was way easier than I thought it would be to make a belt! A little time consuming with all those buttons, but still simple.

Yeah, it's awesome. It's fun and interesting and made a tiny dent in my button stash. Wanna make one too? We could be twinies!

You will need:

• Lots and lots and lots of buttons (I had all of my button organizers spread out but they didn't fit in the picture)
• Long strip of felt
• Inch wide satin ribbon (I think I used...a yardish. 18 inches one each end of the belt)
• Scrap of faux leather
• Glue gun with at least five extra glue sticks
• Scissors

I was a little too quick for myself and started working on it before taking pictures. First thing you need to do is cut a strip of felt 2-3 inches wide and long enough to wrap around your body minus an inch or two. You need room to tie the bow. So if you want it around your waist, measure around your waist and subtract and inch or two to leave room for the bow. Same if you want it around your hips. THEN you cut these two faux leather rectangles for the ends. Make sure they are just as wide as your belt. Mine were like....2" x 6"? I hate measuring.

Cut a small slit right through the middle of the rectangle just barely wide enough to thread the ribbon through. Do this for both pieces.

See how nicely it fits? Hot glue the ribbon down.

Liberally glue the inside of your leather rectangles and sandwich the felt in between. Do this for both sides and in less than 5 minutes you've got yourself a belt!

Then glue, and glue, and glue, and glue all those buttons on. I chose mostly pale colored buttons in neutral themes and designs, with a few funky ones thrown in. I wanted it to be able to wear it with multiple outfits.

Ok, maybe I had a lot of funky ones in there. I just love buttons! I used over 100 and my stash doesn't even look like it has been touched.

I've really got to get a picture of me sporting all the button crap I've made! That would be one intense pictures. Hmmm...what other crap can I make with buttons....

Linking up {here}

What I like Wednesdays- Colorfest

Welcome to another addition of What I like Wednesdays! This week I like Colorfest, an amazing craft fair I went to this weekend with my mom and hubby. It was a blast, the best craft fair I've ever been to! There were hundreds and hundreds and HUNDREDS of vendors with so many crafts we didn't even get to see them all. (And we were there from 8:30am to 5pm!!) My feet were in agony by the end of the day, but it was so much fun. :) I don't think David had fun...he was basically our pack mule for the day, but my mom and I sure did!

We were booking it and I mean booking it the entire day, so I wasn't able to get pictures of everything. :( But here are some goodies to drool over! I hope you can find some inspiration from what you see because I know I sure as heck did.

 Just as a warning, there are lots of kitty crafts. C'mon, the blog name is Kitty Cats and Airplanes. You should expect it. :)

 Do you see the size of the stem?? It's like as thick as my forearm! It was massive!

 I was so in love with this quilt. SO IN LOVE. I really, really, really wanted it, but I just didn't have the money. I need a fancy machine to quilt like that and add pretty embroidery like this! Come to think of it, a machine like that would cost more than this quilt. Nevermind...

 Teeny tiny little vases! Aren't they adorable!!

 I really want to try this. A dried pepper wreath! And it smelled just as good as it looks.This would be such a great housewarming gift!

 This painting makes me want to watercolor paint again.

 These were all made from recycled materials! Not only are they super cool, what a great way to make money off of old junk. :)

 Those are crab shells! Painted as kitties! Two of my favorite things in one, yes please!

 Dressed up pumpkins!! I love it. This is totally do-able, I think it would look excellent with some orange burlap with some freezer paper stenciling! Future project maybe?

Me and the hubs in Spongebob hats. Because I love the old Spongebob episodes. ("Is this is Krusty Krab?" "No, this is Patrick.")

 He was such a good pack mule. :)

 I love the kitties on this, but look at that ridiculously happy pumpkin behind it all.I smile just looking at it!

I loved this. You change the tile for every season so you always have matching decor! Brilliant!

This was David's favorite part. :) Shows how much fun he had! Too bad, at least me and my mom had fun. :)

Other things I like:

My mom used these adorable candle holders on a lot of mine and my other brother's birthday cakes, but they kind of got lost and weren't used as much for the two younger kiddos. But my mom busted these out and we were all giddy over them. Aren't they so cute???

My brother's reaction to the present we got him. Amazing that he's 17 and not 7. :)