DIY

Rose Petal Beads DIY

by
Dried rose petals

I’ve wanted to make beads from rose petals for years but for one reason or another, I just never got around to it. Now seemed like the right time to fulfill my hankering for this particular craft after I recently read a blurb about Canadian scientists publishing research linking heart health and mental/emotional wellness. This news reminded me of the organization, Heartmath, which has been studying this very concept for years, with guidelines, apps, and products of its own. The connection between the heart and emotions has long been intuitively understood, with hearts being the most recognizable and universal symbol of love in the world, and anyone who has suffered a break-up or loss can attest to the very real chest pain that ensues. Just as there is a connection between the gut and mental and emotional health, the same is true for the heart, as the Ottawa Heart Institute has recently scientifically confirmed.

What does this have to do with rose petal beads?

Roses are not only the romantics of the plant world, they also have a long history of being traditionally connected to heart health, overall cardiovascular health, supporting aging, and emotional support especially concerning grief and depression. There are traditional uses beyond health that focus on connecting the earthly to the ethereal, most often seen in religious contexts. In the ancient days of gods and goddesses, rose garlands were often put on goddesses’ statues to honor them. In A.D. times, when Mary, Jesus’ mother, took the place of the former goddesses, her statues were the ones graced with rose garlands. These garlands eventually turned into prayer beads which have been part of religious practices since at least ancient Buddhism and Hinduism, but in the Catholic church they are known as a rosary. The rose petal rosaries are therefore the most common use of rose petal beads, but they can and are used in other forms of jewelry and crafts.

How to:

Starting with fresh rose petals is ideal, and if you can gather them in the morning they’ll retain the most scent. I only have dried rose petals right now so that’s what I’m using. To start with dry petals, rehydrate them by soaking them in water for about an hour. Next, drain them, then add them to a blender with a small amount of water to make a paste. I’m starting with 2 cups of petals, and will add 1/4 cup of water at a time. Fresh petals do not need to soak, only rinsed, then put them into the blender with the same proportions of 2 cups petals to 1/4 cup water to start. Add more water as necessary to make a paste. (The traditional method is to use a mortar and pestle instead of an electric blender, but I’ve never been proficient with that particular tool myself. Feel free to get your arm workout in though if that suits you better!)

Step 2

After the mixture is a paste-y consistency, warm it up on the stove to get some of the excess water out. This is also a good time to work the mixture with a wooden spoon a bit more, and if using cast iron, the mixture resulting beads will turn out darker than any other pot or pan material. The goal is just to get excess moisture to evaporate, not to cook the roses at all because then the scent will dissipate before making it into the finished product, which would be quite a shame.

Step 3

Let the mixture cool a few minutes in order to be able to handle holding small amounts and rolling into balls. Keep in mind that the balls will shrink as they dry, so aim to make them twice as big as you actually want them to be when they are finished. If you are planning on threading them, it’s important to go ahead and create a hole by poking through a needle. Since the balls shrink, so will the holes, so making a bigger hole than you expect to need is important, and you can even dry them with needles or thread stuck through them to prevent the holes from closing. While the beads dry, be sure to rotate them around the string or needle to keep them from melding together.

Step 4

Place them on a towel to dry in a place where they can remain for about a week, depending on how much water you were able to get out during the warming on the stove step. Be sure to turn them a couple of times every day so they dry evenly and without flat spots.

That’s it!

Now you can make them into earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rosaries or other prayer beads, or anything else that you want to do with them. Some other home ideas would be to string together a small number of them to place into drawers for scenting, keep some around for adding to ribbons around gifts, or place them in bowls to set out to subtly scent rooms. Let me know what you make if you try this! (My beads are still drying so I’ll update this post with pictures once they are completely dry and ready to use.)

Last Thoughts

Mother’s Day is approaching so it just might be the perfect time to create something unique with rose petals, or if you are getting married soon or have bouquet for another reason, a beautiful way to keep those flowers around forever is to make beads from them. Scent, after all, has the most direct route to the memory part of the brain so that would be such a lovely way to spark memories of a special day.

May your spring be full of flowers and your days sweetly scented🌹.

**I am affiliated with Mountain Rose Herbs and could earn a small commission on links to MRH. This does not affect what I share or promote.**

Roots and Blooms

by
Cherry Blossoms in full bloom

Spring is springing in spurts and gusts as it tends to do in late March. It’s hard not to marvel at the small blooms that not only hold on through the rains and winds, but even seem to thrive on brittle branches and in over damp soil. Spring brings promise, hope, and the kind of surprising beauty that is unbidden, so all the more delightful.

Disorientation

I wish I could say my spirit has been soaring along with the eagles and the heron I regularly see on my morning runs, but the truth is that I can’t shake the feeling of disorientation. The petals and colors of spring do lift me a bit, temporarily, but this moment we are living in is so strange, loathsome on many levels, and angering that it feels like our great big gorgeous earth has tipped over into its own shadow, and the future could go either way.

Honestly, I don’t see anyone thriving at this moment. It seems like everyone is in survival mode where energy is getting stuck in fear and anger, and as much as I try to avoid the trap of anger, I must admit that it’s been a valuable force in my runs lately. Anger is energy and creates adrenaline which feels good in ways, so it’s easy to see why some people get stuck in the trap of cultivating it. It can also trigger feelings of being ‘right’ and ‘better’ than others which creates dopamine, and thus a cycle of addiction. If you have ever found yourself jonesing to get on social media and spout ‘truth’ and argue with others, you have experienced this cycle first hand. I’m not saying anger isn’t warranted, but it’s not a creative force, and if we want a stake in creating the future, our own and/or the collective’s, we need to find a way out of anger and into energy that moves forward.

Moving Forward

It seems to me, that requires digging down and digging in. The blossoms that are surviving the spring winds and rains are rooted in soil and on trees that don’t fret and squander resources. In order to blossom, we too must tap into our roots, what we value, what adds to our life, the small and the big things that could be traditions or are unique specialties all of our own. A small thing for me for example, is when I cook a meal, I feel more like myself. It’s not always what I feel like doing, but when I do it, the satisfaction of the process and product feed me in a way that little else does. The act of creating is so important to feeling fulfilled as a human, that I really do think it’s an essential ingredient in turning survival mode into thriving.

Homemade pizzas
Roasting sweet potatoes, garlic, and leeks
Crust rising for the pizza.

In a further effort to root and bloom out of disorientation, I intend to start making herbal concoctions again now that I am teaching less spring quarter. Although there are many aspects about teaching English to immigrants and international students that I love, there is something deeply exhausting about it for me. Any time in my life that I’ve been teaching a lot of hours, my capacity for creativity has fallen dramatically. Teaching English demands creativity too, but in different ways, heady ways, whereas working with herbs is far more of a sensory experience. The intellectual brain is online, but instead of being a key player, it’s more of a supporting actor, which is where it’s most comfortable in my personal noggin. I haven’t decided what my first creation will be in this new season, but once I decide I will share it here and would love to hear how others are connecting to their creative sides during destructive times.

Cherry Blossoms

The blooms picture above, are cherry blossoms. In the Pacific Northwest, as well as in Japan and in many other places, some of the most famous spring buds are the cherry blossoms, which are not only beautiful, but they are also beautifying. Cherry blossoms are used in beauty products all over the world, such as in Stella McCartney’s Restore Cream which touts cherry blossom extract as its most important ingredient. In Japan, they are not only known as beautiful and beautifying, but also as edible. Cherry blossom tea and specialty foods such as candies, mochi, and preserved blossoms are made in Japan as well as cocktails with the blossoms. The University of Washington’s Seattle campus is a draw for cherry blossom lovers all over. You can watch the live cam of them here.

May your spring be full of all the best blooming 🌸🌿🌷.

Craftivism

by
Sun rising through winter trees

This term, craftivism, first got my attention 5 to 10 years ago in the form of knitters and embroiders making political statements with their crafts. I think this movement has a bigger mission now, with people turning to crafting in large numbers to ease anxiety, experience flow, and simply create. Creating is such a fundamental aspect of being human, and the opportunities to be creative seem to dwindle each year unless one actively seeks them out. The digital world has brought us many positive aspects, but the more it takes over our days, hours, and lives, the less time we have to create in the physical world around us, and it’s taking a toll.  

Not surprisingly, the Millennials are leading the crafting boom as that generation seems to echo the cycle of the 60s. In the 1960s there was a crafting boom among those in the counter-culture movement to the dominant mass-market thought. It’s also not surprising that the 1950s, the decade when every house had a TV and commercialism and conformity reigned supreme, were then followed by the 1960s with the back to nature movement, homesteaders, and crafters. We’ve now had over a decade of social media with its copycat culture and aspirational nature that has left people wanting something real, something authentic, something that is unique and created by their own hands and informed by their own aesthetic and intuition. We humans crave community, but we also need individuality, and crafting is a small way to get in touch with the parts of ourselves that hold our originality and authenticity.  

Art changes the world, as well as reflects it, and we have a desire to contribute to the world around us. I think it’s taken longer for social media to create the backlash that TV did because TV is completely passive while social media gives a sense of creativity to users. To be fair, some people are indeed creative on the platforms, but most of the time it’s used to scroll through or post imitations of what has already been around thousands of times. There is also the back and forth, so community is mimicked, but it doesn’t have the same fulfilling quality as true community. Having real community, where it’s deeply satisfying to be with one another and exchange thoughts and feelings, embrace challenges and help each other out as we walk and work and play beside each other and with each other through all the ups and downs of life, that’s where real community lies and what our ancient bodies, slowly evolving brains, and connected hearts truly crave. 

In that effort, I’ve seen crafting clubs, maker spaces, and dinner clubs spring up and I love the idea of all those. It gives me hope to see people getting together around making crafts, food, and art instead of participating in the division culture of our time. Bringing people together who might have different beliefs, religions, food choices, perspectives on the world, was a no-brainer not so long ago. Now we live in such divided times where everyone lives within their own curated algorithm, and there seems to be little effort or ability to connect over those digitally mandated lines. Let’s create together once again, and focus on building, connecting, and experiencing fulfilling relationships through community and partnerships. We can honor our individuality and what we uniquely have to offer at the same time as fostering unity. That would be the biggest craftivism rebellion of all, if we all took back our autonomy and creative natures and used them for connection and unity, and it speaks to the smallest actions leading to the biggest changes, because of course they do.  

What do you want to create? 

Happy week of the Lunar New Year🔥🐴! May the Fire Horse brighten our futures and our paths✨. 

Release Day

by

Just a quick note before I head off to campus for work that today is the release day of my book in French. I love the French language and this just makes me so happy to see! Here it is on the publisher’s site. It looks like it’s coming to Amazon but I don’t know when. I need to reach out to the publisher and get one myself! Unless I can order it through an independent bookstore which would be ideal.

Enjoy your day!

Herbal Inhalant

by

My considerate colleague just got back from a trip to Thailand, and she brought us all back these individual herbal inhalant mixtures which is just so unique. It reminds me of old-fashioned smelling salts, although I have no idea what was in those or how they were made, but this is an herbal blend intended to be inhaled when in need of a decongestant. It is incredibly strong, so I imagine it would certainly bring someone back from a fainting spell though or at least help revive them when they start to come to. The ingredients are camphor, menthol, borneol, eucalyptus oil, and, surprisingly, bergamot. 

As soon as I experienced this little treasure, I knew I had to make a version myself! Mine are not perfect, but I wanted to use what I had on hand, so this is what I did for my first go at it.  

DIY:  

I have had a blend called EMC for many, many years, and I believe it is a fragrance oil instead of pure essential oils, which I do not recommend, but since I had it, I wanted to go ahead and use it. 

EMC stands for eucalyptus, menthol, and camphor, which is a common blend not only for inhalants but also for topical pain relief. I used some dried herbs and containers that I already had on hand as well. The herbs are astragalus, because I wanted something woody, rose buds for their soft porousness, and star anise. 

I filled the containers with the herbs, then dropped about 10-15 drops of the EMC blend right on them, allowing the liquid to penetrate the woody astragalus and soft rose buds.

https://youtube.com/shorts/yL5X0txDQkE?feature=share

The star anise was more to add a bit of its own scent, especially since star anise is traditionally used for immune boosting and other health benefits around cold, flu, and digestive issues.  

The Kentucky tin had peppermints in it at one point, and I have always wanted to use the tin again for something else. Since I will be visiting my family again soon in KY, I thought this would be a suitable time to reuse the container.  

I love how every culture has their own herbal traditions, just as every culture has their own culinary customs. What are some herbal traditions from around the world that you particularly like or find especially unique? 🌿 

Simple Summertime Hack

by
Sunshine through trees

I realize we are heading toward fall here in the northern hemisphere, but where I live, we are experiencing a late heat wave so sunscreen is still on my mind. Also, it is my understanding that stinging bugs, like bees and wasps, start to get aggressive as summer winds down, so repelling insects remains more important than ever these days.  

Making your own bug repellent is easy and a great way to use all natural ingredients instead of toxic alternatives, but in a pinch it’s really easy to just add essential oils directly to sunscreen before rubbing the mix onto your body. The proportion should be about 2 drops of essential oil into about a tablespoon of sunscreen, with important precautions below.  

You can use just about any essential oil, though some essential oils are more effective than others, all have some repelling qualities to them. Just do not use any citrus oils, meaning orange, lemon, lime, bergamot, grapefruit, or any others that I might be missing. This is because citrus oils attract the sun and can cause hyperpigmentation, which undermines sunscreen. Also be aware that even though peppermint is particularly repelling to bugs, only use one drop in approximately a tablespoon of sunscreen because it is strong and can be irritating to skin. Other essential oils known for being excellent insect repellents are thyme, lemon eucalyptus (not a citrus), citronella, and all of the mints.  

I love Mountain Rose Herbs and have been buying herbs, essential oils, and related supplies for well over two decades, so I am thrilled to partner with them as an affiliate. Not only are they a reputable company with quality products, but they also sponsor my favorite public radio station, KEXP, which has increased my respect for them even more. When you find a company, organization, person, station, etc, that you just resonate with so fully, it’s just such a pleasure to share them with the world. I think these current chaotic times have just made me especially grateful for the like-minded people and organizations out there.

Here’s my short video on the hack that I put on social media:

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel

Happy late summer! ☀️ 

Late Summer

by

How is it already moving toward fall? I have been seeing ‘Back to School’ promos all over and it seems like this summer has not even gotten started! The mid-August to mid-September time of year has been my favorite in recent years, so I am not really complaining, although the speed of time passing does unnerve me as we seem to be getting collectively busier and busier.

Part of the reason this summer has particularly been a blur is that I’ve been teaching at a new college four days a week, which means a new campus, new procedures, new course material, new students, and new workplace culture dynamics. I’ve also been teaching my first fully remote class with the college that I normally teach at, which has also meant a learning curve with unforeseen challenges. Now that both of those classes are past their zenith and will be over by the end of August, I’m more than ready to turn my attention to some herbal crafting to prep for the fall.

Mountain Rose Herbs is having a 20% flash sale. I'm using this as my signal to slow down and honor the late summer to early fall season with some herbal crafting.
Campus

Lucky for me (and you!) Mountain Rose Herbs is having a rare sitewide sale where everything is 20% off. I’m an affiliate so they made sure that I knew about it in order to share this information with you and I’m so glad that they did because it would have passed me by without my even noticing in the swirl of information that is modern life.

Here are a few things on my list: I’ve been interested in the “hair and body perfume sprays” that I’ve been seeing more and more often lately, and I’d like to try to make my own. From what I can tell, it looks like a lighter perfume than one that is just intended for the pulse points on the body, so I am planning on using a combination of witch hazel and vanilla infused vodka (otherwise known as vanilla extract) which I need to make. I’ll add the essential oils that fit my mood when the vanilla extract is ready, but since that will be occurring in mid fall, I already know it will include sandalwood and nutmeg (just a drop or two!).

I also want to look at gathering a few stocking stuffers, such as these little ceramic diffusers because there is always another corner or car that needs a diffuser.

I have more things I’ll be looking at when I’m home from work, but right now I need to get dressed to get to campus. I just wanted to share this as soon as possible because the sale will be over tomorrow, August 7th, at 11:59 PM PST.

Here are their details: The code is ORGANIC20 and is valid for 20% OFF ALL regularly priced items.

*Offer expires 8/7/2025 at 23:59, PST. Cannot be combined with other discounts or offers, including wholesale pricing or loyalty point redemptions. We are unable to apply this to previously placed orders. Valid online and at our physical retail locations. While supplies last.

Happy mid August! I hope you are having a great summer and are also looking forward to the cooler weather of fall. ✨🌿☀️

Quoi?! and Connection

by

I just had to share that quite by accident I found out that my book is being translated into French! It looks like it will be available in October. Here’s the link if you want to see the French version on Amazon. This news just delighted me to no end and I hope to see it published in other languages as well.

In other news, I have become a subscriber to Tangle. I highly recommend checking it out, especially if you are in America and have relationships that are struggling due to political differences. It is a free newsletter, although there is also a paid version that is ad free, that takes a news item and gives a short synopsis of how the right and the left are presenting the event or situation. It then gives the founder’s take which sifts through the propaganda of both sides and drills down on key facts and his critical analysis. It is a rare gem in that it offers journalistic integrity that somehow manages to reach both sides of the political divide with an avid readership that spans the spectrum. Here is a link to yesterday’s newsletter.

I found out about Tangle through an episode on This American Life back before the November election. At the time I was too tired of the election coverage to look into it myself, but it stayed with me and I finally looked it up and am pleasantly pleased with what I found. If you are interested in hearing about it through great storytelling, check out the episode. You won’t regret it.

I hope you too have some unexpected, great news this week and that hope and connection find you, support you, and hold you tight.

Summer Bug Repellent Reminder

by
Shady lane on a sunny summer day

In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s that time of year again when longer hours are spent outdoors alongside our insect frenemies. We can’t live without them, but I think we’d all prefer to not be their snack nor their targets for taking out their buzzy ire. If you find yourself particularly tasty to mosquitos or simply irresistible to their more combative cousins, one way to shield yourself from the unwanted attention is to use essential oils. Bugs do not like essential oils, so you can make a body spray or body oil to use daily, or simply add a few drops into your sunscreen or lotion if you are in a hurry as I wrote in the post linked above. Here’s a recap of that post if you don’t feel like clicking through:

Instructions:

To make your sunscreen or body lotion into a bug repelling screen as well, all you need to do is squeeze about a tablespoon of sunscreen into your palm. Add 5 to 10 drops of essential oils into the sunscreen, mix it together, and then lather it on your body. This hack is for your neck down, not your face. Start on the lower end of that 5-10 range, so 5 or less drops of essential oils per tablespoon, to make sure your skin isn’t sensitive and then you can add more drops next time if you wish.

Which Essential Oils?

Almost any essential oil can be used and will be effective, but do not use citrus oils because they can cause hyperpigmentation. Citrus oils are mostly obvious, such as sweet orange, lemon, and lime, with one exception, bergamot. Please avoid these and any other citrus essential oils in your sunscreen. Particularly effective essential oils are citronella (of course!), lemon eucalyptus (not a citrus oil despite the name), thyme, and all the mints but especially peppermint. Be a little cautious with peppermint because it is a cooling essential oil but just as dry ice can burn, so can peppermint at certain levels and everyone’s skin sensitivity level is different. Mixing essential oils is recommended because some bugs are repelled more or less by certain scents, so your end result will be more effective with two, three, or more essential oils.

Make Your Own

If you prefer to make your own dedicated spray and/or oil, which I highly recommend because it is a fun way to scent yourself for summer with the added benefits of less bug bites, I have all the deets on this post (linked) but if you don’t want to click through, here are the most important paragraphs:

Body Oil

One way to take a precautionary measure before even getting dressed in the morning is to apply a body oil with essential oils on your arms, legs, and stomach. To make a body oil, you just need a base oil or a mix of base oils such as sweet almond oil, grapeseed oil, or jojoba oil, and add whichever essential oils you want to wear. Almost any essential oil or blend of essential oils will deter bugs, but especially good picks are lavender, peppermint, thyme, and lemongrass. You will want there to be 5-7 drops of essential oils per 1 teaspoon of base oil. (There are 6 teaspoons in an ounce, so aim for 30-42 drops of essential oils per ounce.) Make sure to shake the mixture before blending, and allow time for the oil to dry before putting your clothes on for the day to avoid oil stains. This can be reapplied throughout the day, but it is probably easier to make a spray for day time reapplication.

Body Spray

To make a bug spray, add essential oils to distilled water with at least a teaspoon of vodka, or use witch hazel instead, in a spray bottle (preferably dark glass) in the same proportion as above, 5-7 drops of essential oils per teaspoon of distilled water and vodka, or witch hazel. You can spray this as often as needed on yourself throughout the day and it will help deter bugs and also provide a nice little scent pick-me-up when you do so. Again, any essential oils will be helpful, but the ones mentioned above would be a great place to start. Of course, citronella is always an option too.

4573EC2A-90F2-4FA1-AEC9-5A5BAE907BA21.jpg

Travel

If you travel with essential oils, as I do, to secure your sleeping area you can put some drops on cotton balls to keep bugs away, especially around open windows or near your bed. I actually like to take a little terracotta diffuser with me when I travel. They are quite small and do not require any heat, so it’s a convenient option. These make cute little gifts as well, and are one way to easily use essential oils in your car or in other places where you don’t have the option to light a candle or use an outlet.

After Care

If you do happen to get bitten or stung by an insect, lavender can be applied neat to the area. Applying essential oils to the body without a carrier is 99% of the time NOT recommended, but lavender is one of the few that can be applied without a carrier and it actually is quite good for burns, bites, and other skin issues. Do use caution if you have sensitive skin though and always assume you do have sensitive skin and start small until proven otherwise.

Thanks for reading and enjoy your bug-free outdoor time! Please share this article with anyone who might be interested in flower powered bug repellent.

In case you missed the links above, here’s more information on making your own body oil: https://botanicalalchemyandapothecary.com/body-oils-diy/ and more details on making a body spray: https://botanicalalchemyandapothecary.com/essential-oil-sprays-for-body-and-home/.

Summer Hack for Repelling Bugs

by
Sunny day along Juanita Bay

*This post includes affiliate links to Mountain Rose Herbs. I highly recommend their essential oils, herbs, and crafting materials, but use whatever you have on hand first!

A couple of weeks ago my niece mentioned that her sunscreen, which she loves, attracts bugs, which she does not love. I recommended putting essential oils into the sunscreen container because bugs do not like essential oils. I realized later that it’d be more useful to actually add the essential oils right before you put sunscreen on, and an easy hack for anyone who would like some insect protection along with their sun damage protection. I’ll explain how to do just that in a moment, but also want to remind you how easy it is to make your own bug repelling sprays and body oils for when you are heading outside and maybe do not need sunscreen, such as enjoying summer nights out, or you just want to be able to spray yourself repeatedly throughout the day. I have all the details on making your own bug repellent here.

Instructions:

To make your sunscreen into a bug repelling screen as well, all you need to do is squeeze about a tablespoon of sunscreen into your palm. Add 5 to 10 drops of essential oils into the sunscreen, mix it together, and then lather it on your body. This hack is for your neck down, not your face. Start on the lower end of that 5-10 range, so 5 or less drops of essential oils per tablespoon, to make sure your skin isn’t sensitive and then you can add more drops next time if you wish.

Which Essential Oils?

Almost any essential oil can be used and will be effective, but do not use citrus oils because they can cause hyperpigmentation. Citrus oils are mostly obvious, such as sweet orange, lemon, and lime, with one exception, bergamot. Please avoid these and any other citrus essential oils in your sunscreen. Particularly effective essential oils are citronella (of course!), lemon eucalyptus (not a citrus oil despite the name), thyme, and all the mints but especially peppermint. Be a little cautious with peppermint because it is a cooling essential oil but just as dry ice can burn, so can peppermint at certain levels and everyone’s skin sensitivity level is different. Mixing essential oils is recommended because some bugs are repelled more or less by certain scents, so your end result will be more effective with two, three, or more essential oils.

Let me know if you try this and how it works out for you!

Happy Bug Repelling 🐜🚫 and remember, it’s good for the bugs too because if they aren’t bothering you, you aren’t bothering them! ☮