DIY Natural Antibacterial Yoga Mat Spray

Last week the Twitter-verse provided me with a reminder article on just how many germs live on my yoga mat. You may have seen it. In case you haven't: "What's living on your yoga mat?"

Now. I am a firm believer that we've been over sanitizing our lives and that a little germs are actually a good thing (there's actually some pretty legit science behind this belief). That said, I also recognize that perhaps I need to admit that my yoga mat, on my floor being run over by my cats and sweat on by my body, may collect some nasty stuff in it's spongy, read porous germ home, and maybe disinfecting is not such a bad idea.

The article suggests a few things that are a bit of an over-kill (and SUPER wasteful) in my opinion:

1. Antibacterial washes/wipes: I don't think I need to even say why we're not going there. Right? You're reading this eco-blog because you already know that wipes are wasteful and antibacterial is filled with some sketchy chemicals.
2. Throw out your mat every year.... OMG I can't even. I mean... they may as well have suggested you build a bonfire and burn the mother effer while screaming "BURN BABY!!!". If I could get beyond the fact that we would be throwing out millions of yoga mats filling the landfills, which I can't, just the cost would be astronomical. A good yoga mat, particularly an environmentally friendly one, isn't cheap. An absolutely ridiculous suggestion. 
3. Use some combo of essential oil combo to kill the bacteria.

Ok. So on that last one. Some essential oils have antibacterial properties, such as lavender, tea tree oil and thyme oil. But are they really enough to kill bacteria on a yoga mat? A quick google search (which isn't really enough, but ya know), shows that yes essential oils are showing some very real antibacterial properties... but a lot of the studies have them undiluted and sitting on the substance for long periods of time (like 60minutes).

Maybe essential oils are an ingredient to support the BIG GUN:

Hydrogen Peroxide.

Yep. This stuff has been shown to be a killer of germs extraordinaire.

Recently I heard an interview on the CBC with "The Germ Guy": A microbiologist and specialist in microbes... aka germs. His reactions weren't 100% anti-green cleaning, which was refreshing. His perspective on vinegar and water was one I had heard before- good for light cleaning, lifting dirt but not so great for intense germ killing. He suggested hydrogen peroxide as THE natural heavy weight for germ killing.

Since my previous recipes have involved variations of vinegar and water, it was time I revisited my mat cleaner. That and the next time I practiced yoga I was completely grossed out with the reality that I hadn't cleaned my mat in MONTHS. (ick, I know, don't judge me).

Hydrogen Peroxide, although scary sounding in name, is actually very safe and easy on the planet. Woohoo!

Recipes that I could find generally suggested a 1 part HP (3% concentration) to 2 part water ratio. I decided to also add a few drops of tea tree oil (we will remember that last time I put too much and had an allergic reaction which resulted in swollen hands after my yoga practice.... Always know whether essential oils are for you!). Other EO options include lavender or thyme oil.

Natural AntiBacterial Yoga Mat Spray:

(In a spray bottle):

1 part hydrogen peroxide

2 parts water

10-15 drops of EO of choice

The key with hydrogen peroxide is to spray it on and leave it for a good 10 minutes to let the germ killing really take place. In my tub I sprayed the mat all over liberally and left the germs to die a horrible death while I did other house chore stuff (ie cleaning).

After about 45min (cuz I totally forgot about the mat), I took a cleaning rag (we use our old wash cloths as rags for cleaning the bathroom), ran some water and rinsed off the mat. Then I hung it up on the shower rod and let it dry for two whole days. Truly, the trick to cleaning a rubber mat is to allow enough time for all the water to dry from the porous, spongy holes. For my mats that has meant at least one, even better for two, days.

Three yoga practices later and no allergic reaction, my mat smells and feels great and we're good to go for another six months few weeks!

Extra Soft Chocolate Orange Whipped Body Butter (Pro-Tip Version)

If you aren't from the Canadian Maritimes then you *may* have seen the photos of the ridiculous amounts of snow and storm after storm (#stormchips !!!) we got in February. Perhaps, if you are the states, you may have seen a news shot of some snow in Prince Edward Island with the tagline "Prince Edward Island, ONTARIO"....

Just in case- PEI is not in Ontario, they are separate provinces (our equivalents to a "state") and one is an ISLAND. And Canada is not in fact referred to now as the country of "Ontario". Rant over.

Anyhoo, regardless it has been cold and snowy and dismal. Last night, the night before leaving for a three day work trip to even colder Cape Breton, that I ran out of body butter.

OMG I am OUT of body butter *screams internally while waving arms in a panic*.

So, despite the fact that I accidentally picked up and BOUGHT the tester for cocoa butter, I decided that desperate times called for throwing caution in the wind (and really, it looked like it was just opened so people could sniff the delicious chocolate-y goodness, and we live in Halifax where people aren't crazy so.... I felt pretty safe).

I realized as I was throwing the ingredients together frantically that I've adjusted or maybe "pro-tipped" my original recipe over time to make it faster and more efficient. And of course I thought I could share it with you! This recipe has less ingredients (cuz who can afford to buy cocoa butter AND shea butter these days??), takes about an hour start to finish and has some definite body butter tips. Enjoy!

(My Chocolate Orange batch- actually  made a whole other 500ml mason jar that isn't in the pic)

Pro-Tip Version of Whipped Body Butter (Extra softening version):

Ingredients:
5 tablespoons of cocoa butter
5 tablespoons of unrefined coconut oil
5 tablespoons of almond oil
1 tablespoon of castor oil (optional)
20-25 drops of EO choice (optional)

*EO Note: For stronger scents like peppermint or anise, less is probably good. I used orange this time and found it needed at least 23 drops for it to smell like those Yulemas time chocolate oranges. I suggest trying 10-15 and cautiously taking a smell to decide whether you need more. There are health cautions with using EOs- please look into it if you have any health conditions (or are pregnant).
*Castor oil: I added this oil since I had it already for making soap and it's "extra softening". So far, I love the tiny bit of extra silky smooth it's had for my skin!

Place stand mixer bowl in the fridge to cool while you're melting the oils. (This will help speed up the cooling process that takes the biggest chunk of time).

In a double boiler (or pot with 2 inches of water and a stainless steel bowl on top) add all the oils. Keep the heat at medium so you don't over heat or boil over. Once melted, add essential oils.

Pour oil mixture into the chilled stand mixer bowl and place in the freezer. Let chill until the oils harden to roughly an inch ring around the edge and pudding-y type texture in the middle. This may actually take 20-30min, depending on your freezer temperature. That said, the already chilled bowl AND using the freezer instead of the fridge shave off about 15-20min of wait time.

Scrape away the sides of the congealed oils using a spoon before starting to whip. Set standmixer to the highest setting (make sure you have the shield in place since the oils fly everywhere) and let'er rip for about 5-8min. If it was cold enough, the oils should quickly form white fluffy peaks but continue whipping (it's not like whipped cream, you won't "break" it). Continued whipping allows for more oxygen to enter the body butter and makes for a more creamy, melt in your hand while keeping the "whip" shape.

Halfway through whipping, slow to a stop the mixing and scrape the sides to make sure no congealed oils are missing the attachment. Start'er up again.

Once done, scoop out into 1 cup mason jars. This recipe makes about two to two and a half cups. Store one in the fridge. If you live in a hot/warm climate or home you might want to store them both. For myself, even in the summer, as long as it's out of the sun it doesn't melt.

Application tips:

• This recipe does need a bit more time to soak into the skin. It's definitely different than chemical filled lotions. All you need to do is melt a piece in your hand, apply and I dunno, brush your teeth while you wait for it to seep in. Honestly though, I've been using it for years and rarely wait longer than 2-3min and the oils have never damaged my clothing. (Though I don't wear silk... so...).
• This stuff also works amazingly on your face. Especially as a heavy night cream.
• It should last at least a month, if not longer.
• If it starts to smell "nuttier" or look kinda wonky- throw it out! Oils can and do go rancid, so keeping it in a cool, dark, dry place is best (My bedroom is usually dark during the day since we keep the blinds shut to preserve heat...). 

WHERE TO PURCHASE INGREDIENTS

In Halifax: I buy the cocoa butter and castor oil at Petes Frootique. So far it's the cheapest place I've found, but if you know of somewhere cheaper, let me know!
You can also purchase sweet almond oil and coconut oil at Petes, but some Superstores and Sobeys also carry it, and it's usually cheaper there.

Outside of Halifax: Most natural food stores carry these ingredients. Or you could order them online... although I am unsure it would be worth the shipping at that point.

Enjoy!

DIY Natural Orange-Vanilla Scent for Your Home

Today marks the weekend before my two weeks of vacation are over... and I return to work. I will say that I greatly enjoyed having a little over two weeks off, after a particularly sick-filled and stressful autumn it was necessary.

Vacation means quiet afternoons for reading and making suet blocks out of saved bacon fat (and searching through pinterest on the best ways to attract cardinals... still alluding us sadly). After which the entire house smelled like bacon fat... which actually smells quite a bit less alluring than you might expect.

Earlier in the season I caved and bought smelly candles, but they really do smell something awful- just a tinge of chemical scent that reminded me of those silly smelly candle stores filled with ridiculous country knickknacks. Instead of filling my house with a yummy smell, I was constantly reminded of indoor air pollution and icky chemicals.

I remembered, suddenly, that earlier in the week I had purchased an orange on a whim (I usually don't, since they are definitely NOT local, but I was craving orange juice) and that we had some whole spices left over from the Yulemas Mulled Wine. A quick pinterest search revealed a "How to" for stove top simmering scents and storage. I thought I'd give it a try.

And wow, it smells absolutely scrumptious and I am only mildly concerned about the state of having a pot left on "low" heat. I've heated my concoction in a small pot, but we do happen to have a fondu thingy-ma-jigger that I'm going to look into rigging up as a possible contender for the next batch!

For the inspiration (and fabulous tips for different scents and methods) check out "The Yummy Life".

Orange-Vanilla Stove Top Room Scent:

Half an orange, sliced
3 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon cloves
3 star anise
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add ingredients to a small pot. Add water until covered. Bring to a boil. Lower temperature to "low". Monitor to assure water doesn't evaporate. Afterwards, pour mixture into mason jar, top up with water if necessary and refrigerate. Good for a few more uses.

Storage:
In a mason jar put the other half of the orange and all other ingredients except the vanilla, fill with water. Store in fridge for 1-2 weeks.

I'm actually very excited to go gather some fir and pine needles to try a few of "The Yummy Life's" other scent suggestions! I also really like that for the most part this recipe uses only things that we'd have already in our pantry and that I can store ready-to-use pots in jars.

If you have other scent suggestions- please leave them below- I'd love to try them!

DIY Gentle Coffee/Oats Face Exfoliant

Why Hello There.

I hope you all had such a fabulous Yule and holiday season! Here in the EcoYogini house the past month has been a flutter with decorating, organic tree putting up and trimming, holiday party hosting and culminating with my brother's surprise wedding, organized in 8 days.

(Incidentally, I was also interviewed via skype for Accidental Yogist's "Yoga Chat" radio show on different winter holiday celebrations- my bit was on paganism and Yule :) I'm at the end, around the 1.5hr mark). 

This month has also been awful for my skin, particularly on my face. In recent years the skin on my face has become horrendously dry, I mean flaking off in embarrassingly large quantities with red spots of "not quite acne, but not quite rosacea" along my cheeks to finish it off. I mean really, is it even necessary?

I was so desperate that I started using my whipped body butter (with cocoa butter, shea butter and coconut oil) on my face every morning... to no avail. It was like the oils just sat on TOP of the flaky dry skin. Even the oil cleansing method, for which I only have time in the evenings to do, wasn't enough.

One morning I was so desperate that I used the body scrub made from coffee grinds, sugar and almond oil on my face (VERY gently). And whaddaya know? It worked!

Now, my face, being extremely sensitive (refer to rosacea comment), straight up coffee grinds (that I grind myself, so not uniform) with their jagged edges isn't truly the best approach to a face exfoliant. However, there is a lot to be said for using coffee on aging skin, as it is known to have a toning and antioxidant that can calm red skin effect. Plus a fresh supply will always be on hand.

I also have used with great success oats as part of my face routine. Oatmeal is filled with nutrients and vitamins that help nourish your skin, soothe dry itchy skin and helps to lock in moisture. However, due to my extremely sensitive skin, even using whole, slightly crushed oats, can be tricky as they still have sharp, jagged edges.

Finally, I wanted to choose my oils to add mindfully. Coconut oil has never been the be all and end all in moisturizers for my body. I always found lip balms, body butters and face moisturizers with coconut oils to be absorbed quickly and their benefits just as brief. It was like water on my skin. A quick search and I see I'm not alone in my (gasp!) sacrilegious views on coconut oil.

So... after much thought and research here is what I ended up with! It works beautifully, smells like a coffee-vanilla heaven and leaves my skin soft, moisturized and happy. Feel free to modify the recipe to best suit your skin, choosing oils that make sense for your skin type and NOT just because some blogger said it was the best oil ever. Facial skin is personal, yo.

Coffee Vanilla Gentle Face Scrub


1/4 cup of used coffee grinds
1/4 cup of ground oats
3 teaspoons of brown sugar
3 teaspoons of sweet almond oil
3 teaspoons of grapeseed oil
3/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

(Local Haligonians: North Mountain Coffee not only makes the BEST tasting, ethical, organic coffees but the resulting grinds are more like a lovely paste and make the BEST scrubs! You can purchase their coffee at Smiling Goat and Petes Frootique!)

(Coffee grinds all soft and ready!)

For coffee grinds and ground oats use a mesh strainer and massage the grinds through, essentially leaving out any larger, more sharp grinds and oats. It may take a few minutes and you may have to do this in batches, but it's worth it!

Use a fork to mix the dry ingredients together and then add oil. You can always use less oil (2 tsp each was just a tad under oily for my liking, but would probably work just fine!). You can also leave off the vanilla- it just adds a bit of extra yummy smell.

Store in a small glass container. Use a spoon to extract about a teaspoon's worth in the palm of your hand (be careful not to get any water in the jar- it will go bad much more quickly with water), massage in gentle circles on your face. Gently rinse/wipe away either under the shower (close eyes, hold breath!) or using a wash cloth. Only downside? Your tub has little brown coffee grind bits that you'll need to wipe away. Pat dry!

DIY Rustic Yulemas Tree Ornaments

My first ever DIY ornaments!

The day after Halloween, Andrew and I went Yulemas shopping.

I know. I am now that person.

I just couldn't resist, there were these gorgeous, rustic, woodland type ornaments... and I fell in love... so we bought four. Sigh. I will admit that I am a sucker for fancy, coordinated Yulemas trees. I love the organized pretty, the match-y colours or themes. It's awful, I know.

I've also grown up watching my mom slowly amass a few ornaments a year for her tree- since the really nice ones are so darn expensive. So... I could just do that.

OR- as my bestie Heather pointed out, I could just make my own!!!

I then spent HOURS on pinterest, came up with some ideas, fabricated a reason to go to Michael's and OH: how convenient, all the Christmas stuff is 50% including clear glass ornaments?? PERFECT.

Tonight I finished my first six and I will say that a) it wasn't as easy as I had hoped and b) they don't look AS classy as the ones I bought at Thornbloom. Still... I like them!

So I thought I'd share here what I did and what I learned:

Lessons:

1. Reusing styrofoam that came in moving stuff as "snow" might *seem* like a good idea... but the end result is just an ornament with styrofoam balls inside. You aren't fooling anyone.
2. Glitter literally gets everywhere. You have been warned.
3. A funnel is your best friend.
4. You can't shred paper in tiny, perfect, "snow" pieces using a nutmeg grater. That just results in paper dust that you will need to sweep. Actually, it is basically impossible to do anyway, so let that dream go.
5. Shaking the ornament to distribute the epsom "snow" salts is a BAD idea.

First step- branches!

For these ornaments I used weeping birch branches I had cut for my Halloween branch drink tag tree. It's important that you choose a type of tree that is bendy and won't easily snap. I pre-bent them carefully to make sure that any "break-y" pieces would snap pre-ornament insertion and so I could get a cool spiral look. I also tried to choose pieces that had some interesting aspects like a few extra branches or buds.

Styrofoam as "snow" looks exactly like styrofoam as snow... #snowfail

I decided on epsom salts for my fake snow- but seriously, don't shake them! I'm now super paranoid that they will get shaken and look all cloudy.... If anyone has a way to shred paper into tiny bits, please let me know! #Ineedpapersnow

(don't shake the ornament! this one is my winner, I will hide the cloudy one on the side of the tree... in it's cloudy shame)

I also had some little fake berries that had fallen off another decoration that I used to drop into the snow+branch themed ones which I thought looked super cute!

ouuuu glitter!

Originally I had glitter remorse when I realized that the glitter I had purchased was the larger flakes... except for these ornaments they are perfect! The glitter tends to stick very well with a little shake and remind me of a more modern type style. 

There you have it! I also have more of larger styles that I plan on trying terrariums in at least a few... we'll see how that goes!

All six in their disgusting plastic tray! Although- a handy place for storage after the holiday season...

Halloween DIY: Harry Potter Great Hall Floating Candles

Tomorrow is Halloween... and I am pumped!

Definitely my favourite holiday of the year, especially the magical, fun and joyful feeling in the air!

This year, finally, we will have at least some trick or treaters and I began to get excited for Halloween in early September. Crazy? Well, thank goodness I got an early start because my favourite decoration this year actually took that long to create.

While looking on Pinterest I decided that I would create something magical, something fantastical for our house and carefully save it in a special "Halloween Box" now that we have a basement. I saw a pin for Harry Potter's Great Hall with floating candles and drooled a little. The link was to a blog post where the author posted pictures of her friend's Great Hall with the description of: "painted sky, painted toilet paper rolls and LED lights". I can totally do that!

Ahem. Right. So... it turns out that the author's friend was holding out- cuz logistically that was some complicated crafting right there.

But guess what? I TOTALLY did it. And... today won the "Nightmare on Mainstreet" CBC spooktacular decoration award! Yay!

I thought perhaps I'd share a tutorial for how the eff I managed to make a Harry Potter floating candle Great Hall- for all you peeps planning for next year!

Harry Potter Great Hall Tutorial:

(sky in the final stages, pre-stars)

1. Making the sky
I really wanted my sky to be gorgeously ethereal and dark with swirls of galaxies and such. Taking an old hemp shower curtain, lining the floor with flattened cardboard boxes underneath, I used water based paints and have at 'er. It took 4-5 one to two hour sessions before I was able to complete it. One afternoon in September I painted outside on the deck as it was so gorgeous out. I painted during the entire three weeks of my death cold. I used the back of the paintbrush to dot out the stars.

In the end, I was pretty pleased with the result. It wasn't AS magical as I would have liked, but it would do (the lack of blue paint really restricted me...).

(Sky with the beginnings of the stars, almost done!)

2. Making the candles
I knew I needed different sized candles, and since we're a no-papertowel family, I had to beg friends to save their paper towel rolls for me. Which yielded 4 paper towels (I was thankful they didn't waste papertowel just for my Great Hall). I also had to paint the candles in stages as I used up toilet paper. Each candle was painted an off white and had to dry.

In the end, 4 paper towel rolls wasn't enough so I taped together three duos of toilet paper rolls and instead of painting glue gunned paper to cover up the seams. I also then had to cut down the paper towel rolls as they just looked weirdly long in comparison to the toilet paper.

All along, as candles dried I was glue gunning LED tea lights to the inside of the toilet paper rolls. This happened over the course of weeks (we needed a lot of toilet paper rolls). I soon realized that the toilet paper was not the same size circumference as the tea lights, which meant there was a gap along one side. Which meant the candles were lopsided in weight. This was important when it came to the logistics of hanging the candles.

3. Attaching the candles to the sky
Closer to Halloween my friends were asking how I was going to hang the candles. Good question. I had this vague idea that I would attach them individually to the sky using white thread. But... this would have been a nightmare of accurately measuring the string and there was no way I was tacking on a zillion thumbtacks into our ceiling.

My friend Heather suggested I "sew" the candles in a loop through the sky, attaching both ends to the candle. Brilliant.

Except... when it came time to actually sew the candles I quickly realized it was going to take HOURS. And it did.

(Candles, sewn and placed!)

First I placed all the candles approximately where I wanted them on the sky (which was on the floor) in a sort of "dry run". Then I took a piece of cardboard and held it up to the ceiling to decide where i wanted the candle bottoms to be. I then put both the toilet paper rolls and the paper towel rolls against the bottom of the cardboard to give me guidelines for measuring the string (shorter string for the paper towel and longer for the toilet paper so the bottoms of all the candles were about at the same height).

Then, using a needle, I thread white string through one side, tied it together with the end, thread it through the sky at about two finger lengths "stitch" (the width of the toilet paper) and back down. This is where it got really tricky since I couldn't just attach it directly across from the first knot since the weight wasn't evenly distributed. That meant I had to guestimate how much I should off shoot the second tie, test run it by holding both strings up, and re-poke another hole if it was lopsided and try again. I then double checked the length against my cardboard measurement before tying it off.

I did this for 21 candles. Thank goodness my friend Heather was there- she did all 7 larger candles. Three hours later we were ready to hang the sucker.

4. Attaching the sky to the ceiling

(in the light of day... a miracle they are still up two days later)

I had no idea why I thought it would be a piece of cake to hang this monstrosity up. With 28 candles, it was no longer simply some fabric, but a heavier Great Hall. Since thumb tacks and nails were out of the question, my friend Diana suggested the heavy duty picture hanging velcro. A trip to Home Depot and we were set (I thought).

Except, that stuff doesn't stick to fabric. As we stood there, four of us, each holding a corner while the candles dangled precariously within our cats' reach, I honestly thought we we'd have to sew each velcro on individually. After three hours of sewing I was ready to give up.

"Do you have a stapler?" BEST SUGGESTION EVER

We stapled the suckers to the fabric.

We then set up the ladder and stuck the velcro up one corner at a time along with some velcro in the middle to decrease sagging. We conceded in the end TWO thumbtacks.

Amazingly, the whole thing has stayed up since Tuesday night.

5. Turning on each light
While gluing the LED lights I realized... how the heck was I going to reach under to turn them on? My fly by the seat of my pants plan? Using some sort of utensil to lever them from underneath. Thankfully Andrew has long fingers so he is able to turn on all the toilet paper sized candles and with some finagling a butter knife works for the longer candles. AND because they are looped through the sky, if they are easily adjustable to be made straight!

6. The end result: RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME.

Ok, so yes it was a phenomenal amount of work. I'd say close to 20hrs worth. But. It just looks so darn cool when it's all lit up. Honestly, these pictures do not even come close to how magical it looks. Was it worth it? Oh yes.

Carefully into the Halloween Box it will go so next year the work:awesome ration will be significantly less...

Happy Halloween!!

DIY Mud Pie Sparkly Soap (Or Sparkly Chocolate Liquorice Healing Soap): RECIPE

I am on a soap making BINGE.

(My new fancy soap- looking like the galaxy soap on the outside, just not especially "outerspace" on the inside like I wanted)

(Post baking and 24hr heated curing. Looks promising...)

Since we moved into a space that has a basement and larger kitchen, making soap really is so much easier. I now have space to mix the lye without leaving it in a bucket in the parking lot (can we say breaking bad, Meth making?) and a place to safely cure my soaps away from the cats... as opposed to on top of our bookcases.

Which was smelly. And kinda ugly looking to have soap all over every single high surface in our 700 square foot abode.

Now all my supplies have their own shelf in the basement AND I even have a basement sink to rinse out my lye bucket (everyone needs one!). That said- I was VERY successful at soap making in my tiny apartment. If you'd like a primer on basic soap making check out my original blog post:   "DIY Beautiful Soap Bars: Surprisingly Easy."

Recently I have discovered a local soap maker (whom I went to school with!):

Bad Mouth Soap.

Her soaps have amazing names (like "The Dude" and "Pon Far"), look fantastical and have lovely scent combinations. She sells them at Alderney Landing Market, 1st Sunday of every month and I will guarantee you that I will be stopping by the first of June to pick up a few!

Looking at her soaps I was inspired. It's been a while that I've been meaning to try something a bit more fancy, more ambitious with my soap making. I wanted my soap to be pretty like hers! 

Sadly, I didn't come as close as I would have liked (another reason to go check out her soaps!), but I did manage to create something a bit more fancy and cooler than your average bear soap. I promised a friend to post the recipe and how I did it: so here it goes!

(The Inside of Mud Pie Soap: rich chocolate colour with some sparkly bronze seepage, as if the Diva sparkle just can't be held within!)

 Mud Pie Sparkle Soap

Chocolate Black Liquorice Healing Soap:

Ingredients:

5 oz coconut oil (natural)

5.5 oz shea butter

16 oz olive oil

5 oz Sweet Almond oil

4.22 oz lye

12 oz of tea water (1/2 cup of David's Tea Read my Lips loose chocolate tea, steeped in 12 oz of water, drained out of the water prior to mixing)

Scents:

2tbsp of anise essential oil

2tbsp of orange essential oil (for sweetness of scent)

Extras:

3tbsp of French Green Clay (add with oils prior to lye-water mixture. Stir thoroughly)

1tbsp Bronze Mica (ethically sourced)

(This was my end top swirl result. At this point I was hopeful... until I cut the soap. Then my hopes were somewhat dashed... or dimmed maybe)

Follow the steps in DIY Beautiful Soap Bars: Surprisingly Easy... until:

POURING IN WOODEN MOLD

Pour half of the soap in and STOP. Sprinkle on all of the mica. Cover with the remainder of the soap batter. Using a stick or stirring implement, swirl the mica around, making criss cross eight patterns. Continue as otherwise in recipe.

(this is the swirl I wanted all throughout my soap. Sadly, it only seeped down the sides so the sides end ugly ends look great...)

What you can adjust: 

OILS: if you change the oils, make sure you put in the amounts in this Lye Calculator so you know how much lye to use. It definitely changes the nature of the soap, and is very easy to use and will yield the best soap. Cocoa butter would be a nice choice in this soap.

TEA: Honestly, any tea would work. I've used super red herbal tea with great colouring success. Just make sure you use a LOT of tea while steeping if you want the scent to come through. I used a metal strainer to drain out the tea (having steeped it in a mason jar).

(Look closely, you can see the sparkle lines and bronze "seepy" holes!)

(You could leave these two out)

SPARKLE: This was just to try to be fancy. I used mica eye shadow I had purchased from etsy and never used. I also have some loose eye shadow I never use that I want to try next. I would say that if you are using your own eye shadow; please share with others prior to giving this soap away: eye shadow of low quality can have other elements and nasty bits that you don't want on your body or in your soap. I would recommend NOT giving or selling unless you purchase safe, high quality mica. (and still, mica has it's own sketchy backstory of child labour- which is why I probably won't ever purchase mica for soap)

CLAY: Again, this was just to add extra healing and richness to my own personal soap, and I happened to have it around. I didn't seem to change much of the actual curing/mixing process so the 3tbsp amount seems good.

So- as you can see the soap didn't sparkle or swirl internally like I would have liked. But then, I also made it super dark (since I wanted the chocolate smell to come through and wanted it to be a rich dark colour). I will say that initial handling does leave a bronze colour on my hands... that is easily washed away with water. So this sparkle should only be for show, and shouldn't actually colour my body (which is ideal. I wouldn't want to look like a weird sparkly fake tan lady).

Ways to encourage that the sparkle will show: use lighter oils (I believe this is a reason to use palm oil, however it has such an awful rap sheet- causing rainforest deforestation and all, that I just can't bring myself to use it. You can purchase ethically sourced palm oil- so that would be my go to). Other lighter oils- light olive oil (or less olive oil, more shea/cocoa butter/grapeseed oils). Use light essential oils or don't use tea to colour the water.

DIY Gingersnap Chocolate Coffee Mix

(Gingersnap chocolate coffee mix- ready to enjoy!)

As many of you know, I love coffee conditionally. Yep, coffee and me, we have a love-hate relationship stemming from my first year master's and long nights drinking mochas at Café Dépot in the Plateau. Since I could only tolerate coffee with loads of chocolate, my mocha habit soon became quite expensive. My solution? Purchase a coffee maker, travel mug and bars of dark chocolate to chop up and dump into my coffee.

(Offensive straight up cocoa powder...)

Over the years I have moved to drinking my coffee black with a bit of honey, but my preference for something spicy and chocolatey hasn't abated.

(whole nutmegs are the best spice investment I have ever made)

Since we were gifted the Aeropress I've been melting about half a cup of dark chocolate icecream and milk (poor stomach!) and adding it to my coffee on the weekends. This is a crazy plan though, since a) ice cream hurts my stomach and b) I should just get some sort of mix. Since I don't like hot chocolate, and figured that these mixes would be too sweet or "milk chocolate" tasting, I recently purchased a tin of dark cocoa powder. To my absolute horror, I wanted to spit out my first mouthful, it was that awful.

Note: I like some sugar.

(Even better would have been dark brown sugar...)

I decided that instead of wasting the entire tin of organic cocoa powder, I should make my very own chocolate mix exactly how I like it: a bit spicy and sweet. The result? A delicious gingersnap flavour that is *just* sweet enough to make me happy.

(Complete and ready for enjoyment!)

Chocolate Gingersnap Coffee Mix:

Ingredients:
(I highly recommend you taste as you go and adjust accordingly)

1/2 cup of organic cocoa powder
1/2 cup and 2 teaspoons of brown sugar
4 teaspoons of ginger
1/4 cup of cinnamon (I may have added closer to 1/3...)
2 teaspoons of clove
8 scrapes of fresh nutmeg (or a pinch of powder)

In a medium bowl add the drink ingredients. Using a small whisk, sift together. If you have sugar clumps, use a spoon to mash against the side of the bowl. Grate in the nutmeg. Whisk.
Add to a large mason jar.

1 teaspoon (or more) per cup of coffee. Enjoy!

Delicious Simple Holiday DIY Lip Sugar Scrubs

I have discovered the most beautiful (and easy) lip sugar scrubs.

I've seen sugar scrubs at Lush (yes, my love/hate relationship persists, don't judge me), and thought: "I bet I could make those at home".

Yes, yes I can. And so can you!

Here are two recipes I found online that I thought I would include simply because the original recipes didn't include measurements... They take two seconds to make, taste fabulous and are a gentle exfoliant on dried out, chapped lips.

(Refrigerate, should keep for up to 2 weeks, allow to sit for a few minutes to warm up before use)

(Original recipes from Brit+Co Nov 12th 2013)

Peppermint Rosemary
125ml mason jar

3 tablespoons of white sugar
3 tablespoons of coconut oil
1 tablespoon of fresh chopped rosemary
1 teaspoon of peppermint extra

In a bowl, using a fork gently mix the ingredients together (use the fork like you would a pastry cutter). Transfer to the mason jar and voila- tasty, breath freshening lip scrubs!

Orange Clove
125ml mason jar

3 tablespoons of white sugar
3 tablespoons of coconut oil
1 tablespoon of freshly squeeze (organic) orange juice
1 tablespoon of local honey
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves (I actually ground mine in a mortar)
1 teaspoon of orange zest

In a bowl, using a fork gently mix the ingredients together. Transfer to the mason jar and enjoy the moisturizing deliciousness of the holiday scents!

DIY Gift Package How To

This year I am truly investing on DIY portions of the gift giving. Just to family (since our friend group decided no-gift exchange this year), but after FIVE batches of soap and a quick DIY body butter, search for free holiday gift labels on Pinterest and some voluntold hubby help we are well on our way to having our gift packages good to go.

(part of our gift packages- all wrapped up and labeled!)

How to Create a DIY EcoYogini Gift Package:

Firstly, spend a weekend (or evening) making some fabulous, environmentally friendly and relatively simple beauty/skin care products. Here are some that I included:
- Chocolate Whipped Body Butter
- Soap (takes 2 weeks to cure)
- Bath Oil
- Lip Scrubs
- Lavender oat face scrub

Other ideas include lip balms and hair pomade.

Find some small glass jars (either reuse some jam jars or purchase some small mason jars). Think of this package as sample sizes gift pack, so the jars can be smaller.

Print off some fabulous printable gift labels (mine are two rustic versions: here and here) off of Pinterest. Hole punch and write the ingredients of the products on the back (and label them something great, like "Cinnamon snap soap"). Tie to the jar or around the soap using cooking string. Done!

For the Soap:
If you have large soaps, cut them in half. Using parchment paper cut in 4inch wide pieces, fold the edges (all four), wrap up the soap, tie with the cooking string and attach the label.

Organize and place gifts in a small paper bag or nestle in a box and wrap up! (try some funky coloured newspaper for wrapping, trust me it can look fantastic!).

There you have it, beautiful DIY gifts that are easy on your pocket and the environment.

DIY Gift Idea: Delicious Chocolate Coconut Bath & Body Oil

My obsession with baths (which isn't very green of me) has resulted in quite a bit of moolah spent at Lush. We all know of my love-hate relationship with Lush, no need to revisit that here.

As my bath melts weren't my favourite (nor time saving) Lush replacement, a few months ago I made some bath oil just from straight up sweet almond oil and essential oils. It was ok... but I thought I would pizzazz it up a bit...

The result? A delicious smelling, perfectly moisturizing bath oil that is easy and cheap to make! It's been test run (three baths so far!) with glowing results.

Bonus? It makes a lovely environmentally friendly Yulemas gift!

Divine Chocolate Coconut Bath and Body Oil

(Recipe fills a small, 125 ml, glass jar. For larger batches, double or triple)

Hardware: Double boiler (or large pot w some water and metal bowl)
                  Glass jar
(I saved tincture jars from my Naturopath since they have smaller openings and are tinted glass which keeps oil longer. That said, I'm fairly certain you could just use a jam jar)
                 Measuring cup w spout (for easy pouring)              
                 Optional: paint for the label

Ingredients: 1 tablespoon of coconut oil (unrefined so you get the yummy coconut smell!)
                  1 tablespoon of cocoa butter
                  8 tablespoons of sweet almond oil (or another oil of your choice)
                  10-15 drops of the essential oils of your choice (mine: Rosemary & Peppermint-split)

STEPS:
1. Set up the double boiler, add the cocoa butter (melt in microwave so you can scrape out the tablespoon) and coconut oils. Allow to melt.
2. Add the sweet almond oil.
3. Pour mixture into the measuring cup (or bowl)- add essential oils to preference.
4. Mix together and pour into your jar.

That's it! I've found about 2 teaspoons per bath (under running water) is perfect. Be careful though! The tub gets slippery afterwards, so make sure you exit safely and clean out the tub.

I've also test run the oil as a body oil and it is lovely. Not too heavy, so perfect on these increasingly dry days as a mid day moisturizing up or a night body moisturizer.

Tie a ribbon, add a pretty label and Voilà! You have a gorgeous, healthy and eco-friendly Yulemas gift!

Eco-Holiday Gift: Gorgeous DIY Soap Bars

This year I am going to try to be an eco-DIY gift giving yogini. With a potential house purchase looming on the horizon and the lesser environmental footprint of a usable, homemade sans synthetic chemicals, gift it seems like a win-win situation.

I thought over the next few weeks I could share some of my favourite DIY recipes for gift giving this holiday season.

One DIY holiday gift that is actually time sensitive is homemade soap. It will take two weeks to cure, so the next few weekends will be the ideal time to get your soap making skillz ON.

(our red hibiscus-lemon soap: the colour is from water steeped in red hibiscus tea overnight)

The beauty of making soap is that it is actually EASY. No really. Friends and I made three batches this weekend (and I plan on making a few more tomorrow night). The total prep time needed is about 3 hrs, 1.5hrs of that is the soap warming in the oven.

 The two big road blocks to soap making are:

1. Finding the wooden boxes (a friend of mine's dad makes them, but you could easily make them yourself or even see about having someone at a home building store make them for you)
2. Finding the lye (in HRM it is only sold at Home Hardware).

(Christine from Fit Hippie Chick, and I mixing the lye)

The other ingredients and hardware (stick blender, digital scale, bucket) are all cheaply bought at Canadian Tire (or other hardware store).

Our three batches produced 12 bars of soap each with scents ranging from lemon-hibiscus, sweet cinnamon and chai. I'm keeping some for myself and some to gift.

So go on, get your holiday soap on:

DIY Beautiful Soap Bars, Surprisingly Easy!

The Magic of Face Cleansing that is the Oil Cleansing Method

For the past week I have been cleaning my face each night with oil.

Yep, pure oil. Oil Cleansing Method or OCM for us cool peeps.

And I love it. My face looks and feels like magic (the youthful Harry Potter, happy kind, not the Magicians Lev Grossman kind), I have *less* (again: LESS) acne and basically it's like a party on my pores. A pores partay if you will.

You may think I am completely bonkers, but the oil cleansing method is actually a "THING". A Thing that I have pehshawed (shamefully) as being for the Other, AlreadyAcneFreePeople. You know who they are; the mystical perfectskinpeople.

However, I will assure you, there is a GatewayOilCleanser to this fantasticalness: Lush's Ultrabland. This Gatewaydrugcleanser actually looks more like a lotion- hence the higher acceptability quotient. After a week of using it though, it quickly became apparent that Ultrabland is really a glorified oil cleanser.

(My beautiful oils!)

So- when Yancy at FiveSeed made the sad and courageous decision to close up her natural beauty product shop and had a blowout sale, I took a deep breath and bought her Panacea oil cleanser and her Flower Elixer (which I had already purchased and loved). (ps- there are still some unbelievable products available at 40% off- check em out!).

I am converted. Forever. And so should you. Your face will thank you.

Why Oil Cleansers Actually Work:
We are so used to having a foamy, dry, oil sucking sensation from our cleansers equal "clean". However, the reality is that our face NEEDS oil to be healthy. Our skin secretes oil naturally, all.the.time.

You know how oil doesn't dissolve in water? As chemistry would have it, the concept of 'like dissolves like' means that oil dissolves oil. This means that we are allowing cleansing, natural, healing oils melt away and replace icky, dirty face-oil.

This beautiful, natural, healing oil PREVENTS your skin from working overtime to replace stripped away oils (like it would from traditional cleansers), which in turn prevents irritation, the overproduction of oil and in summation: acne. Booyah!

What Oils Work Best?
According to Crunchy Betty the number one reason why the OCM isn't working for you may be the use of coconut and olive oil. Apparently they are NOT ideal for cleansing and can cause acne and irritation (read the comments section for more personal stories on this).

I find Crunchy Betty's "Nitty Gritty on the Oil Cleansing Method" the best place for figuring out the type of oil that works for your skin and the ratio of mixing those oils. It all comes down to getting yourself some castor oil and finding the right carrier oil for you.

How Do you DO IT?

• Massage a quarter sized oil blob directly onto your DRY skin. Massage slowly upwards for about a minute. 
• Using a facecloth wet from very warm (almost hot) water, slowly and gently remove all traces of oil from your face. You can hold the facecloth on your face for several seconds for extra goodness before removing the oil. This 'steaming' of your pores by placing the washcloth on your face for several seconds helps remove impurities and really cleanse your skin.

DONE!

(I actually finish with massaging the healing Flower Elixer for my sensitive, damaged and scarred skin...but you may find that you don't need anything else!)

Options:

• You don't have to do this every night. I have been, and it's been wonderful, but maybe you'd like to start out with a MWF type routine. 
• Instead of traditional cleansers on your "off oil" nights try something natural and less skin-confusing such as honey. (yep, I said Honey. I am just going all bonkers in this place! I wash my face with honey every morning and not only does it taste delicious, it works!)
• Consider trying for a weekly or bi-weekly uber cleanse and a quicker, less oil and less massage-steam cleanser for your regular routine. (This description, at the bottom of the post, for the uber cleanse is fantastic).
• Add a few drops of essential oils depending on what your skin needs! Just be sure to check for your own skin sensitivity to the essential oils first.

Have you tried OCM before? Go on out, give yourself and your face a green treat and come back here, letting me know how it went! I dares ya :)

Don't Make Soap on Three Hours of Sleep

I am now on my fifth batch of soap making experience- I think that makes me a soap maker, officially like.

The last batch I added extra cocoa butter and moisturizing oils and got ten gorgeous bars that smelled like gingersnap cookies.

Unfortunately, the only downside is that these soaps require a bit more special care- they dissolve a lot easier and turn to mush if you aren't careful. I had to explain the care they need to a friend when I gave her a bar and she looked at me like I was some weird crazy soap lady.

But really, it's either take care of the soap the proper way and have it last a few weeks, or treat it like the crappy, synthetic chemical soap and have it gone within a few days. Since it isn't exactly free to make soap, nor the easiest thing to do, I tend to lean more on the "take care of my precious soap dammit!!!!" team.

Anyhoo.

Thursday I needed to make a new batch. It was supposed to be vanilla+liquorice. I was functioning on three hours of sleep (don't ask, not for fun reasons). Within an hour in the oven smoke was curling out and we opened the door to a bubbling seething monstrosity. Kinda like what you imagine from a weird goop monster of boils.

The box was even a bit black. (eek).

It wasn't until the next day after I had had a regular night of sleep that I remembered perhaps I had turned the oven to 375 degrees instead of 175..... oops!

In any case, my do-over soap- liquorice and cloves- seems to have been successful. They smell like liquorice baby gummy candy... mmmm.....

Lesson: don't try to make soap on 3 hours of sleep.

DIY Delicious Dark Chocolate Quinoa Granola

I love granola, especially the sweeter, sugar filled the better. It's like pretending I'm eating something that is good for me...

My favourite 'bought' granola is the SchoolHouse Gluten-Free granola- the quinoa is just simply delicious. Unfortunately, SchoolHouse granola is pricey and I eat through it too quickly for my liking.

Since I now have more time on my hands, I decided to see if I couldn't try to make granola with quinoa using a recipe I found a few years back. I purchased some ingredients in bulk, realized I was missing a few ingredients at home, substituted some, made a delicious mistake involving chocolate and came up with the most yummy, delectable, sinful granola there ever has existed.

Lucky you, I am sharing!

Delicious Dark Chocolate Quinoa Granola

(Modified from Crunchy Domestic Goddess's recipe)

(NB: granola is a very forgiving product; you can replace ingredients, decrease sugars, add ingredients and it should be fine as long as you respect quantity and ratios. So if you look at this and think- whoa sugar! feel free to cut out the brown sugar, or use more honey and less maple syrup, or more oil and less sugar products. I also think you could just replace all the oats with quinoa and it would be fantastic).

Sauce:

1/3 cup of olive oil+1 tbsp

2 tbsp water

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

4 tbsp of maple syrup

4 tbsp of honey

Body:

3 cups of rolled oats

3 cups of puffed quinoa

4 tbsp of dark brown sugar

2/3 cup of chopped almonds

2/3 cup of pumpkin seeds

Post baking additions:

2/3 cup of dried cranberries

2/3 cup of dried blueberries

1 cup of dark 72% chocolate chopped

Pre-heat the oven at 275 degrees and using butter grease two baking sheets.

In a small sauce pan bring the sauce ingredients to a simmer over low heat.

In a large bowl mixed together the "body" ingredients. Pour the sauce and mix together. Scoop the granola onto the baking sheets, patting with a spoon to create an even layer (about 1cm thick). 

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove, attempt to flip and stir the granola and pat back down to 1cm layer. Bake for another 15 minutes (or until golden brown).

Remove, scoop into a large bowl and allow to cool for a few minutes. Add the dried fruit and chocolate while still somewhat warm. Mix together to coat the chocolate throughout the granola. (If you prefer chocolate chunks, allow the granola to cool completely before adding).

Now you have the most delicious tasting granola on the planet. Yum!

DIY Beautiful Soap Bars: Surprisingly Easy

Almost four years ago (wow, already!), as part of our switch from plastic wrapped pump to bar I attempted to make soap. My memories are that of terrible clumpy messes, lye burns and entire afternoon spent in soap making. The results were weirdly misshapen clumps that looked more like a high school art experiment gone wrong than soap.

I resigned myself to spending between 4-6$ a bar for high quality, palm oil-free, handmade soap. And then she stopped making soap.

While I frantically scoured the farmer's markets and crafter's fairs for palm-oil free, quality, affordable handmade soap, a few high school friends in my childhood village started making their own. After my friend Amy gifted me a few bars one Yulemas I realized they were as amazingly wonderful as my long lost soapmaker's.

To my complete disbelief, Amy claimed it was EASY as pie to make soap.

Three weeks ago, I finally bit the bullet and armed with a few supplies, a recipe and friends, I realized she was right. Making soap by hand IS and should be easy.

(This is vanilla orange, or creamsicle!)

Here's how we did it:
Steph, Heather and I spent a few weeks gathering supplies. (Steph also took many of the fabulous photos!). We used a basic recipe provided for by Amy and supplemented it with a few DIY how-to's found on The Nerdy Farmwife. She has a Soap Making 101 post which is informative, if a bit overwhelming (it really isn't that complicated) and a Customizing Soap post that is very helpful.

(the chai soap! the beautiful colour came from the tea)

One stumbling block that proved essential was the soap boxes. I was fortunate enough that Amy's dad makes and sells these boxes (out of cedar) for 10$ a piece. They are simple to make, and I think the actual cost of the wood would be about 10$. If you purchased them online they are much more expensive, so I highly recommend making your own if you have a table saw, or finding a friend who can make them for you.

(the cedar soap box handmade by Amy's dad!)

What you need to source or purchase ONLY for soap making
(cuz of the lye, they shouldn't be used for food):
- wooden boxes
- a handmixer (Heather donated a cheap one she had never used)
- two bowls (I have a small plastic bowl for lye & medium stainless steel for oils)
- a mixing thingy (spoon, spatula, whatever)
- a bucket (to mix lye and water)
- gloves, masks and eye protection (for the lye)
- parchment paper

(you also need a digital scale if you don't already have one. You can get them for super cheap)

Ingredients (makes 12 bars or one batch):
Lye: 4.8 oz
(in Halifax the ONLY place to purchase lye is at Home Hardware... trust me, we checked)
coconut oil: 10.5 oz (unrefined is best)
castor oil: 2 tbsp
olive oil: 21 oz (1 lb 5 oz)
essential oil(s) of choice: 4 tbsp (not measuring, real spoons)
water: 12 oz (with tea steeped overnight for extra scent and colour)

 (steeped tea for our citrus-licorice soap. This is David's tea that had a lot of chamomile, I'm hoping some of the healing properties will have transfered in the steeped water)

(we added two vanilla bean bits to our third batch)

(If you want to replace some oils, please check out this handy lye calculator)

(Lining with parchment paper, I cut then guesstimated and folded the edges)

1. Line your boxes with parchment paper. This took LOTS of finagling for me and involved a lot of swearing and loud grumbling and crumpling. Andrew wisely stayed away. Finally, I figured out that you need to fold the paper on both edges, lining width first and length second.

2. Digitally weigh out your coconut oil and in a double oiler, melt. In a large ceramic bowl, add the digitally weighed olive oil, coconut oil and bit of castor oil.

3. Digitally weigh out your water. A trick we learned- steeping the water in tea overnight adds scent and colour.. for us it was chai. Add the water to the bucket.

(Mixing the lye, really much less "Breaking Bad" than it looks)

4. Donning your gloves, masks and eye spectacles, step outside to digitally weigh out the lye in a plastic bowl. Slowly stir in the lye to the water. It should start to smoke (chemical reaction) and heat up. Leave the bucket outside in the cool air (or in a sink filled with ice) once the majority of the smoke has cleared so it will cool. If it's inside- keep a window open.

(see the trace?)

5. Slowly add the water to the oil with the handmixer already in the bowl and start mixing. Continue until the mixture thickens, add the essential oils of choice. Mix until it comes to trace, which when you raise the mixer it should leave a circle imprint in the oils.

6. Pour mixture into the box and place in the oven at 170 degrees for 1.5 hrs. Afterwards, remove, wrap in a towel for 24 hours (or the following evening).

Up until this point, after the initial first time, should only take an hour of prep and then 1.5hrs of waiting, so easily one evening of minimal effort. If you had two boxes like we do, while the soap is cooking in the oven you can quickly wash out your utensils and whip up another, different scented, batch.

(wrapped and ready for 24 hour warming)

7. Remove the towel, gently remove the soap by pulling on the parchment paper and score (12 for us) 2cm bars. Using a large knife, cut bars. Line them somewhere where cats can't eat them and allow them to cure for two weeks, turning every other day. If you can let them cure 3 weeks that would be even better.

(First cut, by Andrew since I'm terrible at it, of our licorice-lime soap!)

The start up cost of soap can be pricey. It will cost about 100$ to start, so going in with friends can be helpful. Afterwards it's only the cost of ingredients (and the lye should last forever). I've calculated with the cheapest ingredients (not always ideal but to start) a batch equals about 1.50 to 2.00$ a bar. Which compared to 4-6$ that we were paying is pretty darn awesome.

(the curing place. Be prepared for your space to smell like whatever scent you chose. As the soap cures, though, the scent does fade)

This weekend I tried the chai soap for the first time. It is perfection! I'm already scheming on what to do for my next batch of soap (oils to replace, scents to try) and have found the cheapest essential oils are in Yarmouth... most likely due to all the soap making.

So gather a few peeps together, split the cost and making a soap making weekend- you'll be surprised just how easy and fun it can be!