Quick recipe to make your own lip balms

You can make your own lip balms quickly and easily with just a few simple ingredients.  Lip balm recipes vary but I've gone with the most basic of recipes which makes a firmer balm.  You could also add essential oils to it as it cools such as ginger to make a muscle rub balm (more about those later).

Ingredients You'll Need

Cosmetic grade beeswax
Shea Butter
Vitamin E oil

I don't use quantities, I just melt a few pellets in a saucepan and then add some more until I have a reasonable amount.  I then add in the Shea butter and stir in until it melts.  Once I've done that, then I add the Vitamin E and stir them in.  That's it.  You just pour it into empty lip balm pots or you can buy empty lip balm pots from eBay which is where I brought all of my ingredients.

For a fuller description on how to make lip balms you can visit:

http://www.squidoo.com/how-to-make-lip-balms

Using 'paint' to make backing papers and designs

If you have a Microsoft computer then you likely have a paint programme included on it which can be used to make backing papers for cards and other designs.

I find it useful for creating my own unique designs and you don't need to be artistic to use it - I'm certainly not.

Using the paint brush takes a bit of getting used to but with a few short cuts, you can creative colourful, eye catching designs. With paint, you have the options of choosing shapes such as hearts and stars and the option to block colour the shapes and the background. Once you've got used to the different options and how to use them, it takes minutes to do.

The designs made in paint can be printed off and the colours look good even on ordinary print paper.

If you have any tips for using paint to create designs then please let me know.

My first attempt at card making...

...in I don't know how long.  Years ago I used to make cards, cushions and other craft items and sell them in the run up to Christmas at local fairs.  A while ago I thought I'd would give it another go.

I used to make cards with pressed flowers and these used to sell well but I'm making them differently this time around and I've started by using card making kits and the kits that come with magazines just to get into it again.

I'm one of these people that can't seem to cut in a straight line so I've got a paper trimmer to get around that and make them look neater and I've brought a bone folder to make the edges crisper and more defined.

So far, I'm enjoying every minute of it, and it will be quite some time before I need to worry about buying Birthday or Christmas cards given the amount of craft materials I have.