Hearts and Bramble

Share the love There's something particularly special about making your own anything, but I have to say I particularly take pleasure in blending my love for making with my love for the outdoors and all things natural.  With a little bit of science thrown in there too, I'm in my element!  But like most things, the real pleasure is not just in the making, but it's in the sharing of the things you love with others.  So here's my guide to making your own lip balm.  It's super easy and because you're creating something personal, you can choose to play it safe or be a little more experimental.  These also make really sweet gifts! Minimum ingredients At the simplest level, all you need is oil and wax.  You may wish to add essences, tinctures or infusions to your oil to give extra scents, flavours and properties but I'll come to that further down. I use the following ratio, but you can play about with it to get the consistenc...

Freya Skye Goldsbro (almost 6 months old) FTM; Home birth; Water birth Born - 29/01/19 at 01:19 (40+2)  -  3kg (6lb,6)  Birth doesn't have to be scary... My perception of birth had been long built on negative and traumatic stories from the media and other mums, including my own. I'd grown up hearing how my mum had two very difficult pregnancies with me and my sister and then went on to have very long difficult hospital labours. I later had the privilege of being my sister's birth partner and to confirm the 'family tradition', her labour was also difficult and drawn out (3 days!) and required medical intervention. My personal experiences seemed to reaffirm the scary stories I'd been surrounded by about childbirth. As you can imagine, I'd formed quite a bit of anxiety around childbirth and when my partner and I decided to have a baby, I banned him and anyone else from talking about the labour bit as I was terrified of it.  ...