Essential Oils Soap Making - Is It A Sure Way To Earn Extra Income?

By Anne Henry

Soap making is becoming to be very popular home-based business. I guess it is because it is fairly easy to do and you only need a small amount of investment. You don't really need to start big to get into soap making; small simple steps are all you need to take to succeed in this business.

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But first, you have to learn how to make soaps. And then once you've perfected the craft, you can now explore new ways on how to improve on your soap. One of the ways to improve on your homemade soap is to get into essential oils soap making. This simply means the use of essential oils to enhance the overall quality of your homemade soap.

There are several oils that you can choose from. But personally, I have my favorites. And this is what I will share with you in this article. I will try to help you create your own version of essential oil products that will enhance your overall well-being. So, let's begin with the basics, the knowledge of oils and its many uses.

The first in the list is Frankincense. Do you know that this is one of the most valuable essential oils? Yes, it is true. In fact, its history dates back all the way to the time of Jesus Christ. Do you remember one of the kings who gave frankincense as a gift to the baby Jesus? Frankincense can actually transcend the barrier of the brain and activate its different areas, such that it can help cure both emotional and physical ailments.

It helps in the healing of depression, brain damage and even tumors or cancer. Other uses of frankincense are for the treatment of allergies, help combat infection and therefore improve on the immune system.

The next essential oil that you can add to your soap is peppermint. Although peppermint has become popular as food ingredient, it is also good to know that it can be a very effective soap making additive.

One of its many known uses is it can relieve several kinds of aches all over the body and it is the only oil that can truly reduce headaches. It has also been found out that peppermint can actually help a person recover from jet lag by reversing your natural time clock to normal. So, by putting this powerful essential oil to your soaps, you can actually get all these benefits in one.

Another popular essential oil that is worth looking at is cedarwood. Do you know that it has a unique name among essential oil enthusiasts? It is known as the oil of "harmony". One of its many benefits is that it has been proven to be a help in curing impotence. So, how's that for an essential oil use? No wonder, cedarwood is a popular male scent, mostly used in soaps and other personal care products targeted for men. But it can also be beneficial to women as this can help relieve symptoms of asthma.

These are only three essential oils that you can use for your soap making project. But I am sure that once you get yourself familiarized with other kinds of oils, you can add more to you collection of essential oils soap making products.

How To Make a Basic Dried Flower Arrangement

By MaryAnne Mathis

If you want a Class A decoration, do you need to have a Class A wallet (i.e., a wallet that's filled to the brim with cash)? Not necessarily.

As far as floral ornaments are concerned, there are more affordable and, consequently, better alternatives than using fresh and exquisite flowers.

One alternative is the use of dried flowers.

Dried flowers don't just come cheaper than their fresh counterparts-they're also more available (they don't have to be in season) and they last longer. What's more is that they are more flexible and easy to handle when you utilize them in floral arrangements.

Actually, the best part about dried flowers is how you can make them epitomes of beauty without a genius's know-how on floral arrangement.

These tips on dried flower arrangement can get you through any floral decorating endeavor:

• Your vase or basket of dried flowers will look excellent on a lazy susan. Easily use floral clay to fasten your vase basket onto the lazy susan. Arrange it such that you can turn it to view your arrangement from all sides.
• First establish the overall structure of the design using line materials and fillers like dried or preserved grasses, lavender, wheat or straw. Dried foliage like maidenhair fern, caspia gyp flax or galax leaves is best for filling the center.
• Large dried flowers like Hydrangeas and cockscomb should be inserted prior to medium-size flowers like dried roses and straw flowers. Space the flowers evenly.
• To accent the overall shape, add additional fillers like larkspur or delphinium. Ferns can be used to fill in empty spaces. To add volume and fullness, use dried flax.
• You can also opt to move a notch higher by using small trees with real branches for the trunk and cone-shaped dry foam for the tree. Line a container with slivers of floral foam, and then add a mixture of plaster of Paris. Insert the trunk such that it rests on the bottom of the pot and, when the plaster is dry, push the cone-shaped foam onto the trunk while covering it with moss. Ornament the tree by hot gluing dried flowers and leaves to the top of the moss. And voila! You have a dried tree!
  

Large scale and Class A floral arrangements need not be difficult to make and they are not expensive. With just a few stems of dried delphinium, preserved orchids and rose heads, a small piece of floral foam, a pot, moss and, most important, a wisp of creativity-you can come up with a striking dried flower arrangement.