A lavender bottle sachet / La bouteille de lavande

I was browsing facebook this morning and noticed the prettiest lavender wand sachet made by Irina from Belarus (JewelryFloren). She got so many blooms this year that she was able to make 25 pretty sticks from just 2 lavender bushes.

I love this idea because all the sweet buds stay inside after the stick has dried out and it still will look pretty and ready to do its job to refresh your linen closet or dresser draw. The idea of  "La bouteille de lavande" came from France where lavender is a part of culture and history. Oh so romantic!

All you need to make 1 stick like this is about 25 to 30 lavender stems, 2 1/2 yards of narrow satin ribbon (about 1/4" wide) in your favorite color and a sewing thread.

Сlean your lavender stems from the leaves and bottom flowers. Gather them together and tie the stems tight right under the flower heads with a sewing thread. Now, bend the stems to the sides to cage the flower heads inside. Run one end of the ribbon along side the flowers to poke out of the bottom of the flower cage. Tie your pretty satin ribbon on top of sewing thread and start weaving the other loose end of the ribbon around the top of flower cage using basic under-and-over basket weaving technique. Push the sticking-out flowers back to cage with a toothpick.

Keep weaving tightly (very important since the lavender will shrink as it dries) to get a bottle shape.

Tie both ribbon ends tight around the base a few times and make a pretty bow. 

Voilà! It's ready to use, just let it dry and enjoy!

Thank you, Irina, for this great idea!

Lavender lemon bath salt

It is the middle of the hot summer and we are not getting any relief from the heat. So we mostly stay indoors and try to treat ourselves with whatever will make us feel better.

I found it very pleasing to have a lukewarm bath and soak my feet. I mix the salt for the bath myself and it is very aromatic and soothing. So I'd like to share the recipe with you. If you pack it nicely it can be also very good gift for a friend.

In a large bowl combine 1 cup of Epsom salt, 1 table spoon of dried lavender bath and 3 drops of lemon essential oil. Mix it thoroughly and transfer to a pretty, air tight glass jar. Label and decorate as desired.

To use, simply add it to your warm bath water. Enjoy!

My "whats-going-on"

I am preparing for my trip to Ukraine and very excited about it. It is a rush trip but it is going to be fun. I will even have a mini Etsy meeting there!

I have so many great ideas on how to improve my shops and I just simply don't have time right now. I am making notes and hope I will start working on them in August when I am back.

Summer is very hot and exhausting this year. This is the first summer when I realized what a siesta actually means. Stay indoor 12 noon to 4 PM and have a nap if possible. The sun is the killer right now so stay cool and drink lots of water.

Now, back to packing - have a happy summer!

Carrot and Zucchini bars

Summer is here and I'd like to get as much fresh fruits and vegetables as possible. The nectarine season is over in our garden but we celebrated our harvest with lots of ripe fruit right off the tree and fresh baked nectarine pies.

I renewed my subscription to the Better Homes and Gardens magazine and I received a couple of wonderful gifts, 2 recipe books. Everything looks so good but I was anxious to try this carrot and zucchini bars recipe so much. The recipe is very simple, nutritious and there is 2 1/2 cups of shredded vegetables in them!

I change a recipe slightly, I used a yellow squash instead of green but the bars turned out just wonderful. So I baked them, let them cool and spread a cream cheese citrus frosting on top.
It's very good, try it!

Here is the recipe:

Carrot and Zucchini Bars

Ingredients for the dough:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 cups shredded carrot

1 medium zucchini, shredded (1 cup)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup cooking oil

1/4 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

Ingredients for the citrus-cream cheese frosting:

1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon lemon or orange peel, finely shredded

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, ginger, and baking soda. In another large bowl stir together eggs, carrot, zucchini, brown sugar, raisins, walnuts, oil, honey, and vanilla. Add carrot mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until combined.

Spread batter into an ungreased 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Bake about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

Make citrus-cream cheese frosting: In a medium mixing bowl beat cream cheese and powdered sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy. Stir in lemon or orange peel.

Frost cake with citrus-cream cheese frosting and cut into bars.

Knit cotton cuffs

These cuffs are simply wonderful. We made them thinking of a sunny summer and vacation but when we prepare to do a photo shot the wedding dress idea came out.It turned out to be a perfect accessory for the wedding outfit! With yarn available in many colors it will mach any dress.We are also working on other patterns and are excited about many of our ideas. The best part, you can wear them with any outfit you want during the year!The model you see here is also embellished with vintage buttons. I bought them a long time ago during my trip to Europe. I was hoping to make a nice something for myself but it turned out I never used them. I hope you like how they look.

See these cuffs at Socksandmittens

Stay Cool :)

Wonderful, wonderful summer! I have always loved it for the fresh mornings and a warm afternoons, tea parties in a garden and gathering with friends.

But here in Arizona it's different... You are spending you time mostly indoor, running from air-conditioning car to home or office or a store trying to park as close as possible.

It has been a 3 days already of excessive heat warning, in fact, it is 114'F (about 46'C) outside while I am typing!

We are cooking without charcoal ... we all are going to die here :) like a little baked lobsters :))))

Relaxing days

Summer is here - the weather is staying hot during day and not much you'd like to do outside at this time... well, maybe, just jump to a pool to cool yourself from time to time. The garden is still beautiful and romantic and grown mourning doves are almost ready to leave their nest.

The spring was too short - I am missing it already :)

NEW at Socksandmittens - summer cotton headbands!

These are lovely, don't you think? I could use one anywhere -

on a plane (don't you hate it when the air conditioning is just too strong and you wish you could cover your ears),

in a tropical paradise - it's the easiest stylish hairdo when I just want to wear my hair back,

on a spa day,

or simply sipping my morning coffee in it!

The possibilities are endless. If you'd like to have one please visit our store today! :)

Make It Colorful! New treasury on Etsy!

I am in a desperate need
of
color! :)

That's why I was going through some stores on Etsy and made this treasury yesterday.

Take a look, there is a lot of lovely colorful items there!




Featured stores:
1. Arctida 2. TomBjornDesigns 3. Lirigal
4. Beautyland 5. herbolution 6. lisaroy
7. JuliaFelt 8. Socksandmittens 9. ciaobellaphotograppy
10. lightkeeping 11. katrineshine 12. StudioElenus