Homemade peppermint cocoa foot scrub - Ittybit's Body Care

So I've been wanting to make a foot scrub for sometime now to simply pamper my feet. I've come across some really great recipes but when my sister sent me a recipe for one that she wanted to try I jumped at the chance.  Here's the link to the recipe but I've already started tweaking it a bit. I know I will be using different essential oils as well.  This was a starter.  

Here are the ingredients I used: kosher sea salt (instead of coarse sea salt- which was used in the original recipe), coconut oil, cocoa powder, mint leaves, peppermint essential oil.  

It's recommended to do this at night but I decided to do this after my shower.  I used a foot pumice paddle that I purchased at Target.  I simply used it on my heels to remove any calluses. After that I just scooped a bit of the scrub from the plastic container that I placed it in and started applying in a circular motion.  All I have to say is OH MY GOODNESS...something orgasmic was definitely going on with my feet.  They felt so silky smooth and rejuvenated. I've never applied a scrub to my feet before but after this experience I will be doing this a lot more.  

I made a batch to give to my sister as a special gift the other day and waiting to hear back. But I'm sure she will be enjoying very much. 

       Packaged homemade peppermint cocoa foot scrub and pumice paddle. 

Until next time...happy foot scrubing
Ittybit

Hand Crocheted Shoulder Purse - Fashion Passion

I hand crocheted this shoulder bag for a special friend of mine as a birthday gift.  She loves purple.  The total measurement for this bag were 5"w x 7"h.  And since she's not very tall the strap was approx 39" long.  I used a clear decorative button so that the flap could be secured to the front.  I used some white yarn and embroidered a flower and finished it off with a pink button.

I used a beige colored fabric to the line the inside so that no items would slip through.  I used purple embroidery yarn to secure the lining to the top of the purse. 

I added a few items: a small travel size lotion from Bath & Body "Fresh Picked - First Bloom", a rose shaped lip gloss container and a compact travel mirror. 

An Italian/Polish Birthday

Last month we celebrated two very important birthdays, my husband's grandparents.  Not only have they been married for over 70 years but the lives they both have lived on this earth have been enjoyed to the fullest.  When my mother-in-law asked me to create some cookies for these two very special people it meant so much to me.  Since this was an Italian/Polish birthday a sunflower and grape themed party was perfect.  The day of  their party was beautiful.  Sunny, warm and not a cloud in the sky.  A small family and friend affair with some delicious food to say the least.  Everything was fresh for each course.  It was nice to sit and relax with family while listening to the fountain in the background.  Memories were captured on film from this special day. 

Below are some pictures including what the fountain looked like to the dessert table which displayed the handmade shortbread cookies that I made for them (which were decorated with royal icing) some beautiful (and tasty I might add) cakes, stuffed cannoli's which were absolutely delicious and biscotti.  

                            Decorated table with the fountain in the background.

                                      Full view display of all the yummy goodies.

 

Right side view of dessert table.  

                                               Left side view of dessert table.

                                Grape cluster shortbread cookies packaged.

Close up of grape cluster shortbread cookie.

                                       Sunflower shortbread cookies packaged.

                                   Close up of sunflower shortbread cookie.

                                            Packaged birthday plaque sayings.

                                           Buon Appetito ("enjoy your meal")
                                     La Dolce Vita ("the sweet life")
                         Buon Compleanno (Happy Birthday in Italian)
                           Z Okazji Urodzin (Happy Birthday in Polish)

All Natural Lip Balms

So I decided that I wanted to try and start making my own lip balms/glosses as well as cuticle and nail balms and at some point lotions.  I wanted my lip balm product line to be all natural and chemical free.  So I started doing research on the natural ingredients that I wanted them to have. I read that coconut butter has many health benefits and I could make it myself at home since it includes one ingredient: shredded organic unsweetened coconut. All I'm doing is blending it in a mixer.  Super I thought.  So off I went.  Once I had my coconut butter and soy wax I was ready.  But my excitement turned quickly into disappointment. One thing I noticed once I made my first batch with soy wax it really didn't solidify the way I wanted it to. It almost was a bit too creamy.   Back to the drawing board.  I then decided I would eliminate the coconut butter keep the soy wax and combine it cocoa and Shea butter. From there I can add any essential and flavor oils that I wanted to.  With the addition of Vitamin E, jojoba, Avacado oil, sweet almond oil...you get the idea. 

So now that I had the first batch experience under my belt I decided to try a few more. The three that I made after this came out much better and get my stamp of approval. 

Each of the three include: soy wax, Shea and cocoa butter and a few more ingredients which I will list next to each description. 

Lower left:  Chocolate and peppermint scented.  This smells absolutely wonderful.  I added a few organic chocolate chips to this one.  

Middle: Raspberry flavor scented.  I added some mineral mauve eyeshadow to give a little color.  

Upper right:  Chocolate and Raspberry flavor scented.   This also smells wonderful.  And yes...I also added a few more organic chocolate chips to this one as well.

Again, these are natural.  Each one has been poured into a .25 oz clear pot. 

Those of you who may be interested in purchasing these or other scented lip balms I hope to have these listed in my Etsy shop soon.  If you are not huge fan of the lip balm pots I will also have them available in the lip balm tubes as well.  These little clear pots were readily available at Michael's and I was ready to start making them.

With there being so many wonderful flavor oils out there I will be working on other delicious and tempting smelling combinations.  

As mentioned above I plan on making cuticle and nail balms and hope to add lotions to my new product line as well.

               

           

                                                            All natural lip balms

Dark Brown Dresser Face Lift

 I've had this dark brown dresser for awhile (that my sister gave me a while back ago) and decided I needed to give it a face lift.  I also needed a place to store additional make up and smaller things that really didn't have a place to "call home" and jewelry pieces like bracelets, rings and earrings.  So my first original thought was to paint it all white and accent it with a baby pink.  But as time progressed I wanted it to look a little more antiqued.  I also used clear knobs instead of painting the original wooden ones that were on it.  The second drawer down had a built in shape that I decided to pain white and paint a simple design in the center.  Overall I like how it came out.

                                                    Before being sanded.

                                                           Sanded.

                                              All stained and newly decorated.
     

"Fun Things" HAUL - Charming Charlie, Victoria Secret, Bath & Body, eos, and Travalo

Hi!  I wanted to share a small "haul" with you on a few things that I bought. I visited a local mall today because over the past few days (watching some youtube videos) I saw a few things I wanted to purchase to try out myself. My first stop was my local CVS pharmacy which carries the eos lip balm.  I was unable to find the honeydew melon flavor so I decided to buy the mint flavor instead.  As you can tell by the packaging I couldn't wait to try it out.  I'm pretty pleased with this.  It does feel pretty nice once I applied it to my lips.  And yes...you can smell the mint which is really nice. 

My second stop was by Perfumania which is where I found the Travalo refillable perfume atomizer spray. I was so excited to see that they carried it in the metallic pink color.  This product is really cool.  I haven't tried it out yet as you can see it's still packaged up nicely.  I do have one question regarding this product...if you have more than one perfume that you would like to carry in your purse I'm guessing you may need to purchase more than one of these Travalo's because I can't see how you can clean it out to refill it with another scent.  It's almost as if it needs to be dedicated to one scent and that's it.  That's the only con about this.  But I am very excited about trying it out. 

I stopped by Charming Charlie because I was trying to find a certain bracelet which unfortunately they were sold out of.  But I did find a few good things that were on sale!  The first is the sunflower decorative 3 prong photo clip.  I've been trying to find one that would hold three photos.   I couldn't pass this up.  The other two items were a pink rosette eye glass case (which I absolutely love) and the matching contact case.  Both were on sale and I couldn't pass that up.  Yes...they are girly but way too cute. 

On to Victoria's Secret.  They are currently having a lip gloss sale and the two that I really liked were the Mocktail Hour and Just Brilliant.  Mocktail Hour is more of the neutral brown with shimmer in it.  Absolutely beautiful.  Just Brilliant is pink with shimmer which was also very pretty.  I can't wait to try these out and do a review on them. 

My last stop was Bath & Body Works.   All I saw were the words "SALE!!!" I needed to get more of the wallflower scents and to my surprise they had some really cute wallflower plug in designs for the upcoming holiday season.  I saw the pumpkin and knew I had to get this one for my kitchen and of course I had to purchase the Pumpkin Caramel Latte scent for it.  I also bought the Paris Amour and Japanese Cherry Blossom scents. I purchased three travel sized lotions in Paris Amour (this smells wonderful), Pink Chiffon (another favorite), and Moonlight Path (very fresh smelling.) I couldn't resist purchasing the new Paris Eiffel Tower antibacterial holder either. 

All in all it was a great day and bought some really great things that I can't wait to try out. 

I will make sure to post a Travalo review once I try it out.  I've heard nothing but great reviews for this product.

                                                Charming Charlie Accessories                                
                  

Victoria's Secret Lips Glosses

                                                 Bath & Body Works Fun Things                         
                               

                                                eos lip balm in mint flavor

                             Travalo Refillable Perfume Atomizer Bottle Spray

Carob Mint Cupcakes for Dogs

While shopping in Petco the other day I came across these carob mint cupcakes made for dogs. The box is titled "Gourmet Trails" and includes the name Doggy Delirious but when I visited the Doggy Delirious website it states "for more information visit "Wet Noses" website."  So I checked out "Wet Noses" and it appears that they sell some really good looking treats for dogs.  So I may have to order some because I'm sure they will be paw approved since these carob mint cupcakes already were, as you can tell by the second picture.   The day I bought these they also had some peanut butter cupcakes. 

The ingredients listed for these carob mint cupcakes includes: 

organic rye flour, eggs, canola oil, carob powder, ground peanuts, cane molasses, baking powder,. 

Icing: maltodextrins, yogurt blend [whey solids, yogurt powder (milk and yogurt culture)], corn starch, mint extract, guar gum, water, propylene glycol, FD&C yellow #5, caramel color, FD&C red #40, FD&C yellow #6, and FD&C blue #1.