Quietly Content at Home

 I first made a mild healing salve in 2020 for our Boo Boo Bag which lives in the car. I remember it had olive oil, beeswax and a few other things in it and it worked a treat for minor scratches, cuts, mozzie bites and even a mild burn or two. But the blog I got the recipe from is gone. After some research and reading through my amazing books from Love Thy Oils  I came up with this recipe which is working well so far. Homemade healing salve 1 tb beeswax pellets 3 tb extra virgin olive oil 10 drops each of lavender, lemon, peppermint and frankincense Tins or small jar Method Melt together oil and beeswax using a double boiler or bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Add your essential oils. Decant into the tin using a dropper or your preferred method for transferring hot liquids without burning yourself.  This is a very small batch, less than 100 mls.  The dilution is very mild but please decrease the amount of oils even further if using for children under 5 years ol...

 Every year I try and make a batch of Farmhouse on Boone's Organic Peppermint Cocoa lip balm. I didn't get around to it in 2023 so I am very excited to get a new batch going. My last batch filled about 20 tubes and lasted 18 months. This is my husband's favourite and the peppermint cocoa flavour is such a winner. I cut the recipe in half this time and filled nine tubes to the brim. These make great Christmas presents and stocking stuffers or even teacher gifts bundled with a gift card or handwritten letter. Using organic ingredients not only improves the quality of the lip balm but gives you peace of mind that your lip balm is one less thing adding up exposure to questionable ingredients that can irritate skin. Small easy swaps add up over time. I am not that concerned over the plastic tube as beeswax is inert, I opt for BPA free/non toxic and the lip balm has never really melted even in school bags on warm days but paper tubes are a great way to make it even safer. My eld...

 My grandmother was studying embroidery, crochet lace and Irish lace with her church craft group when she passed away in 2011. I started decoding and working through her notes, unfinished pieces and vintage pattern books during the pandemic.  My December makes. 3mm perle cotton, 3mm hook. I've been making heirloom clothing, accessories and toys for a while now. I made a few lace pouches as Christmas gifts and am trying to decide on my favourite bookmark pattern. 2025 is the year I hope to expand into bridal.  Bookmarks will always be my favourite but there is something so special about seeing a piece of lace from an Edwardian pattern book come to life before your eyes. Wrapping something so special around your bridal bouquet then later around your baby's feet for their newborn photoshoot then her bridal bouquet and a grandchild... Memory, family and legacy all captured in those stitches. 

 I successfully taught my now 6 year old daughter how to read at 4 years old using the book  Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons  [Affiliate link] by Engleman et al after educating myself on the science behind reading instruction through La Trobe University, Australia, and scouring resources like SPELD NSW for advice.  Initial instruction only took 3 months or so but it is now 18 months later and she not only reads well but seeks out books and tries to read them to herself. To support and reinforce her phonics based explicit reading instruction, I took the Dolch sight words list from the MyHomeschool curriculum and created my own flashcards. Most flashcards were far too big for my (and my home printer's) liking so I opened the trusty Canva and created my own ten to a page format.  I have provided the PrePrimer level below for free. They are jpg files so just Right click and select Save As to save them to your computer to print later. I use a corner ...