Faith

It takes a lot sometimes to hold complete faith; I am not simply speaking of faith in a deity, though that helps.  It isn't always easy to have faith in things working out the way they need to, faith in others, faith in yourself.  I try to practice complete trust and confidence in things each day, but sometimes it would nice to have a symbol to remind me to.  This gorgeous bangle by CREATIVEdesignbyTHAO on Etsy is on my wish list!

The jewelry comes from California and ships world wide.  It's available gold, silver and rose gold and in a variety of sizes, custom orders are accepted.

Clickety click. 

Charity Shopping Online: Oxfam

Pop the kettle on and snuggle up... You can now thrift from the comfort of your own home:

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/shop

Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organisations working in approximately 90 countries worldwide to find solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world.  It was originally founded in Oxford, UK, in 1942 as the Oxford Committee for Famine Reflief by a group of Quakers, social activists and Oxford academics; this is now Oxfam Great Britain.  In all of Oxfam's actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives.  Each organisation works together internationally to achieve a greater impact through collective efforts.   

Oxfam works on trade justice, fair trade, education, debt and aid, livelihoods, health, HIV/AIDS, gender equality, conflict and natural disasters, democracy, human rights and climate change.  It has a number of successful fundraising channels in addition to its high street shops.  

• Over half a million people in the UK make a regular financial contribution towards its work and vital funds are receives from gifts lets to the organisation in peoples wills.  
• Many London Marathon competitors run to raise money for the cause. 
• The organisation provides volunteer stewards at music festivals such as Glastonbury in return for funds. 
• The running of several Trailwalker events in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, the united Kingdom and Japan.  

Christopher McCandless, the subject of the book and film, Into the Wild, donated his life savings to Oxfam before leaving society for the Alaskan wilderness...

The Oil Cleansing Method

I will begin by admitting that I am one of these women that are on the constant look out for new beauty products. A trip into town will usually always result in returning home with something that I didn't set out to purchase down the cosmetic/skin care aisle.  I consistently fall for nice packaging and good marketing.  It's all a trick! Stripes, dots and aztec prints don't make a product... they do however seem to sell them. One really must never underestimate the power of excellent packaging...

I came across something new recently, the oil cleansing method (or OCM for short).  It's a back to basics skin care routine that promises big things if you can manage to swap all of your usual skin care  products for two types of oil. 

The skin care industry likes you to believe that you need cleansers, toners, moisturisers and primers to achieve clear, glowing and dewy looking skin. They market, "grease cutting", "antibacterial" products which strip the skin of all its natural oils leaving it dry and tight.  To compensate for these natural oils being removed your skin produces more oil to try and moisterise itself again. 

For years i've fallen into the cycle of purchasing products which are antibacterial or supposed to have a drying affect on skin. I would buy oil free moisterisers to avoid the greasy feeling.  I'd figured a long time ago that my skin didn't respond well to lots of chemicals in products so always tried to pick up things that were most natural with the least number of unknown ingredients.  I use Johnsons baby wipes as make up remover wipes, they seem to be friendlier on both my face and purse than all others that I have tried.

Johnsons baby skin care wipes 56 pack - £1.62 - Boots

Simple kind to skin cleansing facial wipes 25 pack - £3.25 - Boots

Neutrogena Norwegian formula hydrating cleansing wipes 25 pack - £4.99 - Boots

I've tried countless cleansers and moisterisers. The Body Shop has some great ranges designed for individual skin needs.  My favourite had always been the tea tree range, the tea tree oil toner always left my face feeling clean and fresh at the time of cleansing.  I'd noticed that many of the products i'd been using were very astringent and would have a drying affect on my skin.  I would have to compensate for this by using good moisterisers...  

This is where the oil cleansing method came in to break the viscous cycle...  by switching all of your regular skin care products for two oils you can avoid all of the fragranced and chemical filled products that can irritate, dry and inflame your skin.  

The first oil you need is, Castor Oil.  It has great anti-inflammatory, healing and cleansing properties. Since Castor Oil is so thick and its cleansing properties so strong it must be diluted with another oil of thinner consistency.  Many choose Sunflower Seed Oil or Extra Virgin Olive Oil. It is best to choose from natural, cold-pressed vegetable oils as these have nutrients, vitamins and fatty acids that mineral oil and other refined oils don't.

Depending on your skin type you will need to create your own personalised blend of oils:

• Oily skin: Try a blend of 30% Castor Oil to 70% Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Balanced skin: Try a blend of 20% Castor Oil to 80% Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Dry skin: Try a blend of 10% Castor Oil to 90% Extra Virgin Olive Oil

You can vary the percentages to match your own skin needs.  If your skin feels too dry, you'll need to use less Castor Oil and replace it with more Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

The Routine:

1. Pour about a teaspoon of oil into your palm, rub your hands together and massage all over dry face. (No need to remove makeup first)
2. Run a clean wash cloth under hot water, ring it out and place over face and let it steam for a short while. 
3. Rinse cloth and wipe off all of the oil and makeup.
4. Repeat if necessary, your skin will be left feeling clean and moisterised 

I dare you to give up your skin care routine for a week and give this a go!

Pineapple Farming

Oh my, we don't get too many snow days here, but when we do we make a big fuss and get very excited! Children tend to get a snow day or two away from class each year... (Generally when we have a colossal inch of the white stuff on the ground!) It's a bit embarrassing when you see how Canada manages to keep themselves together each year, however I am certainly not one to complain. 

Now snow days are fantastic when you manage to wing a day at home when you should be at work, but snow at the weekend gets a little dull! Thus, I decided to try something new!... Pineapple farming!

I came across a guy on pininterest recently with a video showing how he had been growing pineapples indoors, see here.  Apparently one can grow their own pineapple in twelve to eighteen months by following some simple steps.  Until pineapple harvest time you get to keep a great looking house plant! Win, win I say.  

Time to get tropical...

Step 1:  Find yourself a ripened pineapple (The more yellow the better.) Grab at the leaves and hold onto the pineapple fruit firmly.  Twist the leaves from the pineapple and pull away from the fruit.  

I am not going to lie, this required some muscles, and I called on family for help. It quickly turned into one of those, "Clearly I loosened it" moments. 

Step 2: Begin peeling away the leaves layer by layer.  After a short while little roots should begin to appear! (I know, amazing right!)  Keep peeling away the leaves until you reach about an inch in and there are no more roots becoming visible.

Step 3: Realise that the indoor activity you had planned is going to require a trip outside through snowmageddon.  Don winter wear and find a vacant plant pot and some regular potting soil... Plant your pineapple leaves and roots and press so firmly secured.  Moisten soil and leave out of direct sunlight until the roots have chance to develop and the leaves begin to grow.

All finished... Now go eat some pineapple and wait for Summer to arrive...

Wordles

I came across the website Wordle today.  It is a site that generates "word clouds" from the text that you provide.  The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text.  You can tweek the clouds with different fonts, layouts, and colour schemes.  The images that you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like.  I spent a good half an hour procrastinating from planning during my impromptu snow day today on Wordle and experimented by posting the URL of blogs with an Atom or RSS feed as the source text! 

All of a sudden I feel very self conscious at an apparent overuse of the word, "bath."

Nobody told Nick at Mid-Century Midwest to never say never... 

 Need a personalised gift?  Create a Wordle and get it printed and framed or put to canvas.

Everybody loves a little typography...

Vintage Scarf Bundles.

I love it when gift ideas pop into your head!  The inspiration for these little bundles came from countless trips to the cosmetic shop, "Lush".  The products are almost delectable but the prices are not quite as appetising.  

£7.95 will buy you a tiny soap and single bath bomb.  

A single bath bomb can cost up to £7.  Most average £3/£4 a piece.  Surely you cant just buy someone one enjoyable bath as a gift! You would want to buy two or three pieces to fill out your wrapping.

Lush also sells a a selection of synthetic vintage knot wraps for £3.95.  The marketing gimmick behind these is that they are the ultimate in reusable wrapping.  You get to choose the up-cycled scarf you wish to wrap your gift in.  Once it has been given to the lucky recipient they can wear it or use again as wrapping.  I appreciate the idea each and every time I visit a store but have never yet committed to a purchase.

I figured out that a nice gift from Lush would set me back approximately £15 for two small bath bombs, a soap and a vintage knot wrap.   The penny dropped when I realised I could make up my own bundles, with soaps of my choice and real vintage scarves to suit the individuals I am making them for.  

Ebay came up trumps...

+ 25 essential oil bath bomb hearts:

1. 5 x Blueberry and lavender - chamomile, sandalwood, blueberry decorated with lavender heads.
2. 5 x Violet and vanilla - violet and vanilla essential oils decorated with blue mallow.
3. 5 x Rose and ylang - rose and ylang ylang essential oils, decorated with rose petals. 
4. 5 x Passion - rose, patchouli, pine and ginger essential oils decorated with rose petals.
5. 5 x Tangerine - tangerine, pine, ginger, black pepper and orange essential oils, decorated with marigold petals. 

I regularly read Miss Thrifty's blog.  Last week she posted about The Body Shop and a deal of £10 off any £20 spend.  I purchased a selection of large heart soaps in vanilla and cranberry for £2 a piece. After visiting the Body Shop website through Quidco I managed to receive 18% cashback for the purchase which covered the shipping cost.

My finished wrapped bundles contain a soap and a selection of 5 bath bombs and cost:

• £1.80 (on average for each scarf)
• £1.76 (5 essential oil bath bombs)
• £2 (1 large vanilla or cranberry Body Shop soap)

Total: £5.56

... Just call me Miss Thrifty II.

Libby's Pumpkin Pie

It's been a good week.  It involved, some quality time with my Grandmother, decorating for christmas with my family, the discovery of a new item at Tesco's and a lovely, lovely, lovely surprise. (More on that later)

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In regards to the new item at Tesco...

Libby's canned pumpkin isn't actually a new product at at all, the company itself was founded in 1869 in Chicago.  Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie is a traditional holiday pie, the recipe of which has been on the labels of the can since the 1950's.  It's something i've eaten a lot in the Mid-West and it's delicious so i'm excited to be able to make it at home now too.  

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• 1 can (15 oz) of Libby's 100% pure pumpkin.
• 1 can (12 fl oz) Nestle carnation evaporated milk
• 1 unbaked 9-inch (4 cup volume) deep-dish pie shell
• Whipped cream (optional) 

Method:

1) Mix, sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in a small bowl.  

2) Beat eggs in large bowl.  Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture.  Gradually stir in evaporated milk

3) Pour into pie shell.

4) Bake in preheated oven at 425F for 15 minutes.

5) Reduce temperature to 350F and bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

6) Cool of a wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.  Top with whipped cream before serving.