Lip Balm and someone is in trouble.......

My lovely friend Deborah at Araignee's Tangled Web makes the most wonderful soap and lotion bars.  I have a few here at my house and they are gorgeous.  Well a while back she wrote on her blog that she also makes lip balm.  Really?  I mean I LOVE lip balm.  I am actually a lip balm freak.  See these are the things you don't know about me.  She most graciously had a tutorial on her blog about how to make this wonderful lip balm, you can find the link here.  As soon as I saw her post I went to the online store that Deb orders her supplies from which you can find at Wholesale Supplies Plus.  I ordered Shea Butter, Candelilla Wax, Beeswax, mica for color and 12 little containers for the balm.  My supplies arrived really fast, actually getting to my house on Tuesday.  I was way too busy with paperwork on Tuesday, and working on Wednesday to make my balm, but I had time today.

I printed out the directions from Deb's post and got busy.  Can I tell you that this was just the easiest thing imaginable?  Now that is not to say I did things perfectly, I did not but it was still so much fun.  I used Shea Butter instead of the Almond Butter suggested by Debbie.  I was afraid the almond butter would have a flavor, silly I know.  I heated up my ingredients, melting it slowly in a jar that was in a pan of heated water.  I added a few drops of vanilla and a tiny bit of pink mica.  I poured it into my six little containers and watched it harden.  I tell you I was so excited.

It looks so pink here in its liquid stage but it really wasn't pink at all.  I pored a bit out of each container to fill up number six and make them all even.  Well that just left a rim of balm around the edges that I did not like at all.  

Above you can see the rim forming as the balm solidifies.   Besides my lip balm and toilet paper obsession I have to admit I am a bit obsessive to get things right.  I HATE to be wrong, just ask my sister.  And when I feel like I can do better I obsess until I do it again.  I went to pick up Little Buddy at school, more of that story in a bit, came home took the balm out of the containers and remelted it.  This time I added about 10 drops of  100%  pure peppermint essential oil, a few drops of pure vanilla, and about 1/2 teaspoon of agave to give it a sweeter flavor.  I put in more mica, this time red the other color I ordered, and heated it all back up again.

Look it is done!  I am loving the way it looks and the red gives your lips just the faintest, faintest hint of color.  I should have added more color but live and learn.  I am not going to make another batch until this is gone, I am making myself behave.  Yet all I want to do it make lip balm now.  Maybe if I give it all away I can make more tomorrow!  I need to order more containers, how about little metal tins next time, and some flavored oils.  I see a watermelon mint lip balm in my future.  Please visit Araignee's Tangled Web to see the tutorial on making lip balm, and to see her weaving, knitting, soap making, cross stitch, spinning, I know it sort of makes me crazy how good she is at everything.

As for Little Buddy, well he is in the dog house.  Never a good thing when you arrive at school and the teacher takes you aside and says she had trouble today.  Apparently my darling was ramming the boy ahead of him in line with his walker.  And after being told to stop, he did not.  He had to sit by himself at lunch as he was doing this on the way to the cafeteria and again on the way back to the class.  He missed 5 minutes of playground time, too.  When I asked him what happened he covered his mouth and told me he was not talking, and then growled at me because he was mad!  So he is napping and I think I have sprouted a few more gray hairs.  This boy makes me laugh and infuriates me all at the sametime.  Typical little boy.  And as the saying goes, Thank God He Is Cute!