#crafts and #hobbies

Fri: Crafts/hobbies
All week I’ve been focusing on essential oils. I use them for just about everything. They help focus me in my writing, they make my cooking yummy, and they give me activities to keep my kiddos busy. We like to make our own lip balm and lotions using essential oils. They are a bazillion times better for your skin since many conventional lotions contain chemicals and things I can’t pronounce.

I get my shea butter and beeswax on Amazon, along with cocoa butter, which is occasionally called for in these homemade recipes. The coconut oil, both solid and liquid, I find at the grocery story in the olive oil section. You can even play with the liquid oils until you find one that’s perfect for you. Almond oil, Jojoba oil, and grapeseed oil are some great alternatives.

My ten year old and four year old love to help me with these simple essential oil recipes:

Lotion 1 c solid coconut oil 1-2 T Shea Butter Melt Shea butter in microwave Pour into coconut oil  Whip with hand mixer Add 10 drops or a mix of 10 drops of essential oils. Pour into small tubs. Makes 4 jelly jar sized tubs.

Lip Balm 1 oz beeswax (About 3 T) 1 oz solid coconut oil (About 2 T) ½ oz shea butter (About 1 T) ½ oz cocoa butter (About 1 T) 30 drops of essential oils—your choice (peppermint/orange) Melt all but EOs in double boiler. Let cool 2-3 minutes. Add Eo’s.  Mix. Pour into lip balm containers. Makes about 18.

So, I talked this week a little more about my oil business than I did about my writing, so I’ll give you that part of my life condensed: I write books for teens.

There’s not much to do growing up in a small town in Western, NY, so J. Andersen wrote stories and won high school writing contests. But in college her writing was limited to term papers. While teaching middle school she began to read young adult books and got serious about writing. J now writes full time, volunteers at the town library, helps to run a School of the Arts at her church, and sings in the church band. She enjoys good coffee—read: home roasted by her husband—crafts, baking, running a small essential oil business, and chasing after her children. You’ll rarely see J without a book in her hands, and that’s the way she’d like to keep it.

(author of THE BREEDING TREE)

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It was a refreshing week having J. Andersen here and learning about essential oils. So glad we had her over! It sounds wonderful to make money doing something you enjoy!