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Poison Ivy soap recipe

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soap-main_thumbHow to Make a Natural Poison Ivy Soap
By JuDea Bentley from eHow.com

This is a very easy recipe for homemade soap that can be used for poison ivy or other uncomfortable rashes. This soap is also great for sensitive skin.

Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients:
2 cups melt and pour soap or re-batched soap. Or you can use  store bought soap.
4 tablespoons calamine lotion
4 tablespoons liquid glycerin
4 tablespoons finely ground oatmeal
microwave
plastic juice pitcher that fits in the microwave
A mold to use for the soap. I usually look around the house and see what I can find. A frosting can makes a nice round soap like in the picture.
Vegetable spray for mold
40 drops of rosemary essential oil

1. Cut the soap into small pieces. Place them in the pitcher. Heat on high for 20 to 30 seconds. Stir every 5 seconds. Repeat until all the soap is melted. This will be very hot when taken out of the microwave, so please use caution.

2. Allow the soap to cool slightly. Then stir in the glycerin, calamine lotion, and oatmeal. Then place the rosemary essential oil into the soap. This is a good preservative.

3. Next spray you mold with vegetable spray. I use a lot of household items for molds. The silicon cake pans are great for mold. The cake rosette silicon pan make adorable soaps. For the round soaps I just use a 16oz frosting plastic tub.

4.  After you spray the containers pour the soap in slowly. Let the soap sit until hard. What I like to do is to put the mold in the freezer for a few hours before I pop it out of the mold. If you should decide to us a frosting tub you can always cut the tub if you cannot get it to pop out. Then cut the soap into 1 inch thick pieces. Happy Soap Making!

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Back to School Cross Stitch Patterns

Back to school time is right around the corner where I live as I write this, and school-themed cross stitch patterns are super cute to make as a teacher gift or to personalize something like a pencil bag or backpack tag. 

This school supply cross stitch design from 7StitchesTN is meant to be horizontal, but I think you could turn the letters the other direction (or not) and make this into a bookmark. It can also be repeated to make a border around a project. As shown it is 64 by 30 stitches, which is 6.7 by 2.1 inches/17.1 by 5.4 cm on 14 count fabric. It uses 15 colors. 

Italia Print has a little set of school themed cross stitch patterns you can make as a single design as shown, or use individual patterns on different projects. The full design is 76 by 66 stitches, which is about 5.4 by 4.7 inches, or 13.8 by 12 cm, and it uses 18 colors. 

Speaking of designs that can be worked separately, there’s also this pattern from Bella Rose Craft, which could easily be divided into its different parts or you could use some of the pieces as a border on another project. The full design is shown in a 4-inch hoop and measures 2.71 by 2.64 inches/6.8 by 6.7 cm on 14 count fabric. 

This lovely set of teacher themed cross stitch patterns would be lovely to make as a teacher gift at the beginning or end of the year or for the holidays. From The Stitch Patterns, it is a set of five designs that includes books, flowers blooming from a book, a tulip, pencil cup and pencil drawing a heart. Each one is about 7 inches/17.78 cm square. 

This cute class in session design from Plaid Online would be another cute one to make for a teacher. It uses seven colors (including black for the back stitching on the ruler) and is about 2 inches/5.08 cm square.

And Craft with Cartwright has this funny and cute worm and apples design that would be cute for back to school. It uses seven colors and is 78 by 52 stitches, or 5.5 by 3.7 inches/14.15 by 9.43 cm on 14 count fabric. The apples by themselves would be cute on a project, too.