Whipped Body Butter

I finally made a body butter that my husband LOVES. He has super dry skin and has to use a moisturizer everyday. I on the other hand do not like the feeling of lotion so I only use it on occasion. I'm sure he will have better skin than me 20 years from now! Whipped Body Butter takes time and patience so set aside some time when making this.  I played with this recipe until I felt that it was perfect. It's important to use a scale that measures ounces.  I found an inexpensive one on amazon.

Whipped Cocoa Butter

3 oz Cocoa Butter

6 oz Almond Oil

1/2 tsp Vitamin E oil

Melt Cocoa butter with almond oil in a double boiler. Remove bowl with melted cocoa butter and almond oil from the double boiler and set it in a lager bowl with ice water to cool it down. Add the vitamin E oil now. The melted mixture will be transparent until it starts to cool and then it will become opaque. Once it becomes cool and starts thickening slightly, start whipping it in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer on medium speed.  You could even keep the bowl in the ice water bath and whip it with a hand whisk. If you use a stand mixer you will have to alternate between mixing and putting it into the freezer to cool it down.  Scrape the sides of the bowl while mixing. You may think it will never whip up but it will. It's important to cool it down slowly so that you can whip air into it at the same time making it a nice mouse consistency.

Cocoa Butter from Mountain Rose Herbs

This is after it had been whipped a little. It's developing volume.  If you keep whipping it and never chill it in the freezer or ice water bath every few minutes then it warms up and breaks down again.  That is why it's important to chill it from time to time while mixing.

I switched to a hand whisk and whipped it while the bowl sat in the ice water bath.  This whipped it up very quickly.  I think I will start off with a hand whisk and the ice water bath from the get go next time.

Look how luscious and smooth this looks! I love watching it come together. It's finished when it holds soft to semi-stiff peaks.

I filled a nice airtight glass jar with my wonderfully rich Whipped Body Butter.  This goes a long way.  It melts perfectly in the hands and spreads really well. I would say it lasts a few months and that is with my husband using it everyday!  It may look good enough to eat but don't do it!

Wordless Wednesday

I decided to start, "Wordless Wednesdays".

4th of July Weekend 2011!

It felt like we celebrated the 4th of July all Weekend! Busy swimming and barbecuing on Saturday, lunch and shopping with friends on Sunday and then Monday we slept in and laid around until the afternoon. We walked around a local small town called Los Gatos and then Monday night we went to another BBQ where we swam and watched fireworks. We ate and we ate and we ate.

I spent Saturday lounging by the pool in my retro inspired bathing suit and the wrap skirt I bought while I lived in Guatemala. My garden hat is from Colonial Williamsburg! I love that hat!

Amelia wanted to learn how to swim so bad.  She has no fear of the water.  That's good and bad.

My honey trying to rest from his horrible sciatica pain. :-(

Hot and tired on the 4th of July.  We are wearing matching milkmaid braids! I love them!!

Making wishes in the fountain. She started singing Snow White's wishing well song! So cute!

Amelia loves picking the blackberries and eating them straight from the bush.

Our blackberries are ripening everyday! I tend to pick them too early though.

My cucumbers are growing nicely.  I planted pickling cucumbers this year. I would love to make relish and pickles. Amelia just loves pickles!

Planted my sad heirloom tomato plants that I grew from seed.  The cool weather we had here in Spring and the beginning of Summer was not working for my seedlings. I hope they aren't stunted now. My green onions and Spanish onions are doing good though.

You can see my green beans growing on the trellis I made. My green beans always do really well. We enjoying cooking them and making dilly beans.

I hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th!

Favorite Finds

I came across a Youtube video about "press on nails" and decided to try them out because they looked amazing!  I bought the Broadway Deception nails in the short length. This style has a more subtle french tip and even has the half moons at the top so they look amazingly real. These worked great for me because of their shape. These have more of a flat shape for the nail bed instead of the extreme curved shape that a lot of the other fake nails have.  I cant grow my nails long because they break very easily so glue on nails are a great option for those of us who don't want to spend a lot of money on semi-permanent nails from the salon but want nice nails for special occasions.  I would like paint these to see how they look in red!

The Happy Summer Giveaway winner is.....

Stamping With Jill is the winner of the Happy Summer Giveaway! Congratulations Jill for winning the apron!!

Happy Summer Giveaway! (Closed)

I'm participating in a huge giveaway sponsored by Forgiven. Love Much. I am so excited because this is my first giveaway on my blog! She is listing links to all the Blogs that are participating in the Happy Summer Giveaway so that means you have a chance to enter and win a lot of giveaways! Yay! So head on over to her blog and check out the giveaways that will be held July 1st & 2nd. Winners will be announced on July 3rd.

I'm giving away a colorful halter top apron with cute cupcakes and cakes on the bottom. I wish I had time to make one for the giveaway but I've been a little busy this week but this one is so sweet!

I love the colors!

Pretty polka dot ruffle on the top.

All you have to do to enter my giveaway is to leave a comment on this post with your name and email address and I will draw a name and announce the winner on July 3rd! I will ship out the prize by July 6th.

Please don't forget to check out Forgiven. Love Much. There will be many more giveaways highlighted on her blog!

I'm still alive!

It's been crazy around here. Between traveling, sewing 2 Easter dresses, a 3 day flu, and more traveling I have not been able to blog.  I did get a new computer for my 6 year anniversary present! Yay!! The new computer should ensure more consistent blogging. ;-)

We were supposed to fly home yesterday but Amelia woke up with an ear infection and fever so we changed our flight to Monday.  That will give Amelia time to heal and I can spend father's day with my dad. The garlic ear oil seems to be working fast. Praise the Lord!

When I get back I plan on blogging about the Easter dresses and tie I made, my time in Va this month and a few tutorials.

Take Care!