Lip Balms

I love my lip balms. I use them constantly throughout the day. Constantly. My lips are always so dry, and I find balms that I buy way too waxy, so I started making my own, easing off of the wax a bit. Now that I've discovered the wonder of coconut oil, I always add some into my balms. It softens the balm, helping it melt at body temperature and helps your lips absorb moisture as well as protect from wind burn. I've made many different blends, but a few stick out as favorites that I'll likely make again and again. Peppermint on its own is so simply wonderful and invigorating. Sweet Orange & Clove is one of my favorite scent blends, and made for awesome gifties to myself, family and friends. I made an amazing Mint, Hyssop & Melissa blend that will most definitely be a staple around here with my tendency to cold sores. And my latest little lovely lip balm is Angelica, Hyssop & Clove that was born because I'm a big Laini Taylor fan, and in one of her awesome books, Faeries of Dreamdark: Blackbringer, there is a balm made with these ingredients to help a healer repair faerie wings! I knew it had to be a lip balm for me! It smells divine and is wonderfully soothing.

Savvy Salves

I came up with two salve recipes that I'm quite proud of. One is a Sweet Warming Salve that I created while I was taking a Circus Arts class and needed a safe salve to use on my hands. The class was great fun, but doing the silks is a hand-joint killer, and I could not safely leave BenGay on my hands because if you get it into your eyes accidentally, it can damage them. So I wanted just a gentle warming that would help ease the pain in my hands that I could leave on without worry. I developed this incredible smelling salve that works wonderfully. My mom, who also struggles with arthritis, is hooked on it. She says she uses it every night and loves how it soothes her hands and feet. It has the added benefit of warming up cold feet in the winter before bed!

I also came up with a hemorrhoid balm that is awesome! My mom is also a big fan of this one, and she says, "It's not only eased the pain of the hemorrhoids, it's actually shrunken them!" which she said no other store-bought product has been able to do for her. I use it also to relieve itching and just calm down an inflamed bum. I have IBS, and that area gets way too much activity, so I always need a calming, cooling kind of moisturizer to use down there. This salve is gentle, soft and creamy to apply, pain and itch-relieving, and also smalls absolutely wonderful!

Mild Mouth Rinse

I've decided to alter my recipe for my mouth rinse. After asking my Mum about an odd, moldy taste in my mouth lately, we had an interesting discussion about the proper chemistry of the mouth (she's an RN), she suggested that I use a milder mouth rinse. She said the ideal environment in the mouth (or anywhere, really) is one that encourages the growth of beneficial flora and inhibits the growth of harmful flora. She said that my recipe was too strong and because of the vodka, killing ALL flora, and used way too much baking soda.

The recipe I currently use is 2 tsp of baking soda, 1 tsp vodka, 3-4 drops of essential oil to 8 oz of water. She advised eliminating the vodka, and reducing the baking soda to 1/4 tsp and adding 1/4 tsp of salt. She even suggested eliminating the baking soda and only using that recipe once per month. I like the baking soda because it helps whiten my teeth, but I also want to have a healthy mouth that doesn't taste like mold.

I make a couple of herbal mouth rinses that freshen the breath and kill icky bacteria through the properties of the herbs used, such as rosemary or parsley, combined with spearmint or peppermint and anise. They spoil quickly, however, as it is an infusion. Update: For daily use, I've been using just 1/4 tsp salt, 8 oz water and 3 drops spearmint essential oil. I usually mix up a new batch every couple of weeks, and my mouth feels great!

Starting Out

Howdy!
I'm a Minneapolitan who loves to witch around in the kitchen! I make Lip Shit/Lip Shine, Bathing Salts, Sugar Scrubs, Exfoliating Body Bags, Mouth Rinses, Body Oil Slicks, Savvy Salves, Sticky Potpourri, Woo-Woo Oils and other miscellaneous potions. I do lots of other "crafty beavering" like door charms, beaded jewelry and netted bags, poppets, amulets and talismans, witch bottles, desk and tree ornament terrariums, photo greeting cards, woodburned items, stuffy monsters, and little purses.

In the blog here, I'll take photos of my products and tell you about them.
Happy Kitchen Witching!