Homemade Cough Syrup & Decongestant

As I get older my seasonal allergies seem to get worse.  I don’t remember ever having them as a child, and then a few years back - BAM! – they hit me.  It settles in my sinuses, giving me a sore throat, stuffy nose, headache, making it nearly impossible to fall asleep at night.

I don’t like to take medicine – unless perhaps I have a really bad headache – so I didn’t even think of buying allergy medication.  I did, however, look around for some home remedies.  I found a promising homemade decongestant but didn’t have all the ingredients on hand (I don’t usually stock radishes and red onion), but then I found a really simple recipe that actually looked like it might taste good, too.

Maggie’s Cough Remedy consists of cayenne, ginger, cider vinegar, honey and water.  How easy is that?  I didn’t have the cayenne but settled for chili powder, which I think acts in the same way.  As you can imagine, with the pepper and ginger, it’s spicy – but a sweet spicy.  As the original recipe notes, it’s quite watery and the spices don’t completely dissolve, so you just shake it up each time you use it.  I made a small batch in a jelly jar and store it in the fridge.

It’s not a miracle elixir or anything, but I feel like it really helped, and the combination of ingredients seems to both tackle decongestion and soothe a sore throat.   Safe for the whole family – except for babies, who shouldn’t have honey -  and I don’t think you can overdose on pepper and ginger!

Maggie’s Cough Remedy
¼ teaspoon cayenne
¼ teaspoon ginger
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon honey

Dissolve the spices in the vinegar and water, then add the honey.  Take one tablespoon as needed.

GwendyLicious Goodies

I’ve had to whip up some inventory for Small Circle since a bunch of my handmade items sold over the holiday season.  I’m psyched that I’m able to make a little profit from my hobby!  The orange spice wheat therapy bags and crayon rolls seem to be the heavy hitters, but some other things are selling here and there and every now and then I like to whip up something new to try and add to their shelves.

First, a batch of therapy bags – these guys are heavy with over two pounds of wheat berries, and they smell heavenly with their spicy orange smell.  I love putting together interesting fabric combinations, though I have to admit I gravitate towards the florals and geometrics.  Making recycled cardboard tags with fabric scraps is a fun little touch.

Another product I thought I’d try are these wishing wands.  I already had the dowels, paint and some felt sheets on hand, but I picked up a few more felt colors, sequins and glitter.  I found it easiest to hand-stitch the sequins on one of the stars, sew them up by machine, hand-stitch sequins on the opposite star, stuff it with fiberfill then hand-stitch the whole thing closed.  I love how they turned out and plan on making more in different colors – especially since the kiddos immediately wanted one for themselves.  The only thing I omitted was the pocket on the back.

After making the Princess and the Pea set for Gwen’s birthday, I made another fabric doll to sell.  Well, someone bought it and I’m delighted to think of a little girl somewhere treasuring that dolly!  I decided to make a couple more fabric dolls.  The picture is a bit dark, but I used the leftover yarn from the baby hats I made recently, so one of the dolls has purple hair – I love it!  I tried some different embellishments, like buttons on the dress and fabric circles in the hair.  After sewing everything up, I’d say the hardest part is figuring out what to do with the face.  I painted Gwen’s but chose to sew on fabric embellishments on the last one.  Embroidery is not my strong suit, so I stuck to painted faces again and love how they turned out – especially the sleeping doll!

And I finally got around to another project on my to-do list: fabric rosettes.  I had already cut up one of my bridesmaid’s skirts to make a scarf and used some more scraps – along with other re-purposed materials – to make some rosettes.  So far I’ve been turing them into pins, but for the smallest rose I made a baby headband for my little girl arriving next month (not soon enough!).  I ordered some elastic from SkinnyElastic by Bitsy Bands on Etsy and plan on cranking out some more in different colors and sizes.

Part of the reason for my mad dash in creating more goodies is that Whimsies, another local shop, contacted me hoping to stock some of my things.  Woo-hoo!  I’m trying not to drive myself too crazy keeping up with crafting, kiddos, homeschooling, all the while lugging around this huge belly and waddling like a penguin. Good times!

*I recently decided to re-vamp my lil’ craft website to showcase some of the more recent items I’ve been working on.  Check ‘er out!

Small Circle

I’m so excited that Small Circle is becoming such a success!  Since my car has been having problems I haven’t made the trip to see the store and have been anxiously awaiting word as to how my products were selling since the grand opening on November 1st.  Apparently my crayon rolls are a big hit – time to make more!

A few other things have sold – a few  cedar sachets, wheat berry heating pack and headband – and I’m hoping some of the other things will go!

My inventory listings expired on Etsy and I haven’t bothered re-listing them since there are listings and selling fees. *sigh*  Why is it so hard to make a buck these days?

If you’re local and have a chance, check out Small Circle located on Wickenden St. in Providence.  The owners are awesome and it sounds like they have lots of neat things on their shelves.  Buy local – buy handmade!  Great time to get some Christmas shopping done.

Fleece Soaker Undies

I forgot to show y’all the fleece soaker undies I made around the same time as the wool soakers and longies for the new baby.  I used the same great pattern and cut the pieces from two fleece receiving blankets I had lying around, also making an extra layer in the wet zone.  One was a striped blanket, the other a pale blue, and as you can see I put the two together to make two pairs with alternate trim. 

Since fleece doesn’t fray I didn’t have to stress about the seams, which was nice.  When they were finished, I loved how they looked – but I thought they looked huge!  Well, since fleece isn’t stretchy, they ended up being just the right size – snug to pull up, but a great fit once they were on.

I’ve been a bit disappointed that Josiah has been having some potty setbacks; my mom wasn’t surprised and told me boys especially can have these problems so I guess it’s par for the course.  Since there have been quite a few mornings – or naptimes – he wakes up wet I thought these might do the trick.  He likes wearing them and doesn’t want to take them off in the morning!  I even resorted to taking out some of our old BumGenius pocket diapers, and he even seems excited to use them.  What gives?  Doesn’t he want to be a Big Boy?  It doesn’t really seem to bother him.  

Crafting for Baby and Building a Wool Stash

I’m so excited… now that I know that we’re having a girl, I can be a bit more focused in my baby crafting.  Shortly after I found out I was pregnant I upcycled some tees into some newborn undies, just like I did for the rest of the family.  I’m hoping to try elimination communication from the start and figured it couldn’t hurt to have these on hand.  And hey, they were free!  Since I have so many hand-me-down t-shirts I may make a few more.

I love Katrina’s patterns – they’re versatile and can be used for both undies and fleece or wool soakers.  In fact, when I decided that I was going to try wool for diapering this time around, I decided to upcycle some sweaters into soakers and longies (new ones can be really pricey).

I already had a beautiful, pink cashmere sweater that somehow got holes in it; it was laying around for the longest time because I didn’t want to throw it away and I didn’t know what to use it for.  I got another merino wool sweater at a secondhand store for a few bucks; it’s a men’s x-large or something so it’s quite big.  They were simple to whip up and I put an extra soaker layer in the wet zone. 

Since I have quite a bit of wool left I decided to make a pair of longies with another of Katrina’s patterns; I forgot to add the seam allowance and I messed up on the waist, but I think it came out really well.  I’ll probably make some bigger soakers then see how much material I have left. 

Is it weird that I’m excited about all this diapering stuff?  There’s just something so fulfilling about doing something healthy and natural for your baby, and wool has long been used for it’s beneficial properties.  Since most of my stash consists of one-size covers – which can be bulky on a newborn – I decided to add some smaller wool items.  In addition to the handmade items, I used some of my Etsy earnings to score some sweet secondhand deals on DiaperSwappers (DS): NB/SM Loveybums wool jersey cover (I was thrilled when I discovered that Loveybums is a family-owned business from the state next door), S Sugar Peas double-knit wool cover (these look very trim), S/M Clover wool wrap diaper cover (these look uber-adjustsable; because they’re inbetween sizing I’ll most likely get more use out of them), brand new one-size Tetro wool diaper cover (this is the only one-size item I purchased; I love how it adjusts and even though it was brand new it was being sold for a lot less) and two pairs of wool interlock longies (which can be used as their own cover).  If you have experience with wool diapering I’d love to hear about it.  

I wasn’t very successful at my attemps to make fitted diapers – but practice makes perfect!  I forget which tutorial I used – I’ve bookmarked so many! – but I turned a prefold into a fitted, which should fit nicely under the covers.  There are a couple other things I may try, like upcycling t-shirts into “daddy flats” and buying some bamboo fabric to make my own terry flats (like these).  *Check out my Eco-Friendly and Sewing for Babies Pinterest boards for more ideas and inspiration.

It’s been so long since I’ve picked up the knitting needles, but since I finished my sewing projects for Small Circle opening next month – yay!!! – I wanted a change of pace.  When I made a couple elf hats, I knew would want to make one if I had another baby - and now I have the chance!  It turned out more gender-neutral than I intended, but you can see bits of pink and purple in there.  Knitting takes longer than sewing, but if I have the time I would love to knit another in different colors, or perhaps try a different pattern (just check out all the patterns I have bookmarked!).  

Since Gwen and Josiah are both November babies, it feels like I should be almost done with this pregnancy… but then I remember I will be pregnant all winter!  *sigh*  I should have time for a few more projects.  Here’s what’s on my list:

credit: aestheticnest.com

credit: fabricenvy.blogspot.com

credit: go.tipjunkie.com

credit: thimblythings.com

credit: diaperswappers.com

credit: fivegreenacres.wordpress.com

And on my immediate project table are butterfly wings for Gwendolyn and her “Princess and the Pea” gift set (I’ve already made the doll and just need to finish the mattresses) - I’m so excited!  Here’s my inspiration:

 

credit: thismamamakesstuff.com

credit: thisismeinspired.blogspot.com

What are you up to these days?