Category Archives: essential oils

Shop Live Seasoned

by Katie | Leave a comment

Yesterday we shared a sneak peak of our elving and today we’re back with more gifting ideas. You may have seen a snap or two of our new products on Instagram and now it’s official, our etsy shop, Live Seasoned is stocked with new goodies. We took a break over the summer to come up not only with new potions, but new ways to present them.

First off, we tweaked the way we stock our shop.  From now on, we’ll be offering our lip balms, salves and other potions in batches. What does that mean? Well, instead of having a few set flavors and scents, we’ll be making and mixing as we see fit. Depending on the season, our mood and inspiration, we’ll create different batches of each item in limited numbers. If you order something and fall in love with it, it’s best to order more immediately since there’s no way of knowing when we’ll create a similar batch.  Working in batches instead of trying to stick to a set inventory helps us stay motivated and feel inspired with our selection of products. It also allows us to tweak and adjust our potions as we see fit. We’re pretty pumped about this transition and we’re hoping you feel the same.

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On that same note, as the seasons sway us this way and that, we’re thinking up new products. Some silly, some serious. We love filling our homes with the scent of burning Palo Santo just as much as we enjoy stuffing cockroach soaps into our buddies’ stockings. Dino lovers in your life? We have something for them too.

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We are also introducing cardboard balm tubes, woohoo! This was something we wanted to do from day one, but were hesitant about because there’s quite a price difference between cardboard and plastic. After a year of dealing with (and not totally loving) the plastic tubes, we caved (or did we evolve?) and purchased cardboard tubes. Truth be told, we couldn’t be happier with the look and feel of these tubes. Added bonus?  They take less energy to produce and dispose of. To us, they just feel right. What do you think? We’re all ears.roach_soap If you’re on the batch bus or you’ve called your seat in the cardboard car, then hop over to our Live Seasoned etsy shop and browse our handmade line of goods for your healthy home.

DIY Fragrances

by Katie | 12 Comments

Vanilla is our ingredient of the season. So far we’ve made some vanilla-infused vodka (great for milkshakes!), a double vanilla cake, and a savory roasted chicken with vanilla bean. And this is just one in a series of essential oil posts.  Check out the rest here.

The idea of creating my own fragrance slowly developed over the past year or so after buying a vial of Victory Wolf. A few things about that purchase : a. it does smell just like a campfire! b. I would have never thought to create a fragrance that smells like smoke, but that inspired me to think outside of the “normal” perfume scents, c. I always thought that perfumes contained a bit of hocus pocus, and maybe they do, but with that purchase I realized that they can be just essential oils in a carrier oil.

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This is our first foray into blending essential oils, so we are by no means experts, but happily, our three blends turned out beautifully and we’re excited to share them today. Throughout the post we provide links to a few resources we found helpful for learning about blending essential oils to create fragrances.

With vanilla as our ingredient of the season, we thought it would be the perfect base note to build upon while trying to create some DIY fragrances. Going into this project, my plan was to create three distinct scents: something minty/fresh, something floral, and something spicy & citrus.

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Go Away! Natural DIY Spider Detterent Spray

by Sarah | Leave a comment

Oh spiders. I love them, but I’m also terrified of them. I definitely keep a handful of them in my house to get rid of little flying pests, but big furry spiders? GET OUT! This past week, we had to catch and release a spider every.single.night. They’re big, brown, and hairy and I’m sick of seizing up in fear every time I see one, so I made this natural DIY spider repellent.  Full disclosure, today is the first day I’m using it so I will definitely report back to let you know how effective it is. live seasoned spring 16 spiders go away spray-2 copy

Apparently spiders are discouraged by strong scents like garlic, lemon, peppermint, citronella, and eucalyptus. According to my research, spiders also detest the taste of tea tree oil. While there are plenty of combinations you can mix up to deter spiders, here’s how I went about it:

Add 3 Tablespoons of Dr. Bronner’s Tea Tree Oil Soap & 5 drops of Eucalyptus Oil to a spray bottle and spritz it around all the windows and doors and other area where spiders may enter your house. Don’t spray it directly on spiders, I mean you could, but that’s just cruel.

You could also spray this solution inside, but I’d test an inconspicuous area first to make sure it doesn’t leave soap or oil stains your paint. It didn’t leave stains on my walls, but not all interior paints are created equally 😉  I chose Dr. Bronner’s soap because it’s biodegradable. Interested in other biodegradable bath products? Check out this post.

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I chose to try this DIY natural spider repellent instead of using toxic chemicals (they’re harmful to kids, pets, plants, insects, animals, our waterways and the earth in general) because they’re just plain overkill. I think very few instances call for harsh chemicals to be used. Often times you can find a natural repellent to tackle your pest problem. Along with the DIY spider repellent, these are a few other tricks to discourage arachnids from entering the apartment.

  • Thoroughly clean around doors and windows inside and outside the house.
  • Clean up any clutter in the corners of the cupboards and house in general.
  • Turn off porch lights so as not to attract flying insects aka a spider’s dinner.
  • Move stacks of wood and other debris far away from your home’s foundation.
  • Seal cracks in the home’s foundation and under doors and around windows.
  • Dust often! Spreading signs of activity and life to normally sleepy corners of your house will prevent spiders from parking there.

Happy spider-free homes to y’all!

 

Vanilla Lavender Room Spray

by Katie | Leave a comment

Vanilla is our ingredient of the season. So far we’ve made some vanilla-infused vodka (great for milkshakes!) and a double vanilla cake. Today we’re venturing out of the kitchen and using vanilla essential oil. If you like experimenting with essential oils, check out our archive of posts.

It’s been almost two years since we shared a room spray, which is surprising because these are so easy to make and do a fantastic job of freshening up a room without any of the overbearing artificial fragrances found in many store-bought sprays.

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Whereas the rosemary and peppermint created an energizing combination, the lavender and vanilla combination in this spray provides a calming aroma. I added some fir balsam to this spray because I wanted something a little more complex. The fir balsam essential oil does a great job of bringing some of the outdoors in when it’s still a touch too cold to have the windows open here in the mountains.

To further enhance the vanilla aroma of the spray, I used our vanilla-infused vodka for the alcohol.

Ingredients and Hints :

  • 3 ounces filtered water
  • 8 drops vanilla essential oil
  • 8 drops lavender essential oil
  • 8 drops fir balsam essential oil
  • 1.5 ounces alcohol (I used our vanilla-infused vodka!)
  • spray or misting bottle

Pour everything into the bottle, give it a good shake, and spray away! You will have to shake it before every use. Really, it’s that simple!

And as we mentioned in the previous room spray post:

  • If you don’t have the alcohol, you can use all water, but the aroma won’t linger as long.
  • Of course, you can use any combination of oils, and increase or decrease the number of drops depending upon how intense you want the scent to be

How to : Cultivate a Creative Life

by Katie | Leave a comment

If you like this post, you may want to read Sarah’s post on how to Cultivate a Life of Travel, but be warned that you’ll have the sudden urge to buy a plane ticket or two!

We’re coming up on a year of living in our house, and I’m still organizing things. Unfortunately (for me) one of the last places to get some special treatment has been my office, but I just recently spent a couple of days unpacking the final boxes and during the process I thought about the things I do around the house to encourage creativity (mine, the boys’, and visitors).

Sarah and I grew up in a house that encouraged creativity in all aspects of life, and I’m working to do the same now, whether it’s trying a new recipe, playing musical instruments, working in the garden, knitting or sewing. So even if you aren’t “crafty”, I hope you’ll find some useful advice in this post.

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DIY Bath Bombs

by Sarah | 3 Comments

 We love mixing and stirring potions around here. Check out the full beauty potion archive here. Click here for our Etsy shop full of lip balms, sunscreens and other natural goodies.

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Today’s post is brought to you Kristin, our middle sister, she’s been known to make a simple craft or two.  She actually makes lots of really neat decor. I think we’ve bugged her enough that she will be contributing here more often. Another thing about Kris? She gives the best gifts! Last year I was gifted the sweetest smelling candles and this year a whole pile of soaps and bath bombs. I’m making a mental note (and a virtual one?!) to get her candle recipe for you too, but we’ll start with what we have and that’s a fiz-tastic recipe for DIY bath bombs. Add that to Webster’s.

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Floral Lip Balm

by Katie | 2 Comments

This is just one in a series of essential oil posts. Read this post if you’d like a basic primer on essentials, and this one for more information about carrier oils. Oh, and if you’d like more ideas for your Valentine, look here.

I have to admit, it wasn’t my idea to create a floral-scented lip balm, as I often shy away from flowery smells in favor of something spicy. Our sister Kristin suggested it, and then I smelled the rose essential oil, and well, now I’m hooked. And what perfect timing, because this is yet another way (in addition to our rose tea, cake, and jam) to give someone flowers for Valentine’s Day without actually buying the bouquet.

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Since this is the first lip balm recipe that we’re sharing on the blog, it’s a little long-winded as I provide some general information about both the ingredients and tools needed to make lip balm at home.

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Invigorating Essential Oil Solution for Instant Sinus Pressure Relief

by Sarah | 2 Comments

This is just one in a series of essential oil posts.  Check out the rest here.
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This! This little concoction has made my days in Colorado a little bit better.  I suffer from chronic sinus pain and pressure.  When I travel to locations that are particularly dry like Colorado, my sinuses swell and create intense pressure in my entire face.  I mixed up this invigorating essential oil solution for instant sinus pressure relief.  On a daily basis, it basically feels like my head weighs fifty pounds and whichever way I move it I feel the pressure shift and it causes pain and irritation.  You know that feeling when your ears pop when you travel up or down in altitude? How about the feeling when you know your ears need to pop, but they won’t?  Like your entire head is full of something? That’s what it feels like too.  It’s kind of a bummer and it puts me in a bit of a fog.  I become irritated easier and instead of enjoying moments of calm, I’m focused on the nagging pain.

Dealing with sinus pressure is really a way of life for me.  Sinus pain interrupts my favorite activities like yoga and hiking so I’m always seeking relief.  At home, I sleep with a humidifier running.  I’m always downing liquids in hopes that I’ll hydrate my system.  Anywhere there is steam, you’ll find me standing over it.  I’m constantly putting wet washcloths in the microwave and then laying them over my face in hopes of a few minutes relief.  Sometimes I even resort to Aleve or some other pain medication.  If it’s really bad, I’ll stand under a scalding hot shower until the water runs cold.  Even with access to a steam room here in Colorado, I was looking for a quick solution that would be easy and safe for multiple uses throughout the day.  I looked in a few homeopathic guides and this invigorating essential oil solution is the best remedy I’ve found for instant sinus pressure relief.output_VKzxSs

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Lemon Foot Scrub

by Katie | Leave a comment

Lemon is our ingredient of the season! So far we’ve used it in a buckle, in bars, in a savory pasta, and in the shower. Oh, and there are a couple of lemon popsicle recipes! This is also one of our many essential oil posts.

Hands down, one of our favorite perks at the beach is the outdoor shower. We love it for clearing away the sand after a day at the beach, but we also love to bring sand INTO the shower in the form of scrubs. Today’s lemon, sugar, and sand scrub is the perfect zesty indulgence as we’re looking to make the most of these late summer days.

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Clothes Moths : Our Common Household Pest

by Katie | 1 Comment

Today we mention the use of essential oils to deter moths. If you’re interested in more essential oil posts, check out our archive. It’s also National Moth Week! Want to know the difference between moths and butterflies?

While we love moths and try to live in harmony with nature, there’s something we just can’t come to peace with, and that’s moths eating our clothes (and yarn!). Since it’s moth week, it’s the perfect time to discuss the ugly underbelly of the moth world, as we like to think of them, and offer suggestions for keeping your house free of these pests.

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If you’ve never suffered through infestations from these moths, count your blessings. On the other hand, if you have had the displeasure of trying to eradicate these moths from your house, we’re here to commiserate, and to share our strategies for keeping our closets moth-free.

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