Music to My Ears Blend

 Hello Everyone.....
Well, it's about time I posted again!  Phew, sorry that I've been AWOL. 

I had to come up with a new blend this weekend for my ears.  It was a strange phenomenon.  I woke up Sunday morning feeling like I had fluid in my ears.  I also had a ringing/echo type of thing going on.  ugh!

So, I got out my essential oil books and got online for some quick research.  And, I found some oils that will compliment each other and hopefully rid my ears of this fluid and stop the ringing/echo.

These are the oils I decided to put together in a blend, due to their properties and common uses for problems with the ear:

Basil  antibacterial, anti-inflamatory, decongestant
Eucalyptus  antibacterial, anti-inflamatory, antiviral, expectorant
Lavender   antihistamine, anti-inflamatory, regenerative
Peppermint  antibacterial, anti-inflamatory, antiviral

Here's the recipe:

Music To My Ears Blend

3 drops Basil Essential Oil

2 drops Peppermint Essential Oil

2 drops Eucalyptus Essential Oil

2 drops Lavender Essential Oil

Fractionated Coconut Oil

1/6 oz. roller bottle

This blend was a true help and I was even able to sing and worship at church on Sunday...although I did still have some ringing-it was much better and by mid-afternoon it was completely gone.  I'm still waking up with the slight feel of fluid in my ears, so I'm continuing to use it each morning and whenever I need it.  

I roll this blend behind my ears and down my neck right below them.  

 

Quick note: I am no longer an affiliate for Spark Naturals, due to their manufacturing, marketing and selling my ReFresh Blend without my consent.  So, I will no longer link to their oils in my posts.  If you are currently purchasing from them using my old code "sonshine" you need to find and use someone else's code.  Thanks so much for your support through the years. (Hopefully, throughout this summer I can revise all my old posts and remove the links.  Thanks for your patience.) 

I so appreciate you stopping by The Gray Area for a little bit of Sonshine in the Wildwood!!

Thanks,

Dawn

And the Winner Is.....Share the Love GIVEAWAY!

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Entry # 4601  Bonnie C.

Thanks to everyone who entered!  What an awesome giveaway!

Dawn

 

Share The Love Essential Oil GIVEAWAY!

I've teamed up with several blogger friends who are also Spark Naturals Affiliates to offer you a great GIVEAWAY!  

It's the "Share the Love" Essential Oil GIVEAWAY! 

A Spark Naturals essential oil 4-pack (contains 5ml bottles of Lemon, Lavender, Peppermint and Melaleuca Essential Oils), 
5 ml bottle of oregano, 
5 ml bottle of shield and 
2-10ml roller bottles for YOU 

and then another set to give to a FRIEND.  

If you win the giveaway~~Share the Love!

 Monday, Feb. 3rd-12:00 am PST to Friday, Feb. 10th-9:00 pm PST

The prize is:  

2 Essential Oil 4-Packs

2-5ml bottles of Oregano essential oil

 2-5ml bottles of Shield essential oil.

 4-10ml roller bottles

Check out the blogs below to get to know each blogger bringing you this awesome giveaway!

A Mouse In My Kitchen  
Patti's Place 
The Granola Mommy 
Life Inside Nickie's Little Bubble  
Just Trixie 
Bobbins N' Thread 
Clothesline Chic 
The Gray Area  
Abundance of Goodness  
Enjoy Life Anyway  
Natural Mama  
Curly Loves Essential Oils 
Backdoor Survival 
Haute Mess Mama  
Crunchy Urban Mom
Simple Sunsets 

Click here to enter:  a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

Winners must be US residents age 18 and older

The winning entry will be verified (if you say you liked a facebook page but didn't, you won't be eligible to win)

The winner will have 48 hours to reply to an email before a new winner will be selected.

I can't wait to see who wins!

Don't forget that all purchases from Spark Naturals can be discounted by 10% if you use the code "sonshine" during checkout!

Thanks for stopping by!

Dawn

Peppermint Essential Oil

Peppermint is one of my favorite essential oils!  I thought I'd write a blog post about it since it's the oil of the month at Spark Naturals!

Some tips about the Oil of the Month Club:

A 15 ml Peppermint Essential Oil at Spark Naturals is $18.45.  Each order you place is charged a $6.49 shipping fee unless your order is over $99.00.  

If you sign up for the Oil of the Month Club at Spark Naturals you can get this oil shipped to you free of charge and it's only $15.99!  It's a great deal! 

Here are some ways that we use Peppermint essential oil:

We use peppermint at the first sign of tummy issues.  Here's a previous post about a blend that we keep handy→TummyEase.

Have you heard that peppermint will help keep spiders away?  It will!! We add it to a spray bottle with witch hazel.→Spider Ban

We use peppermint when we are struggling to keep focus or if having a rough start to the morning due to sleepy minds or just fogginess as we start school.

We put 3 drops peppermint essential oil and 

3 drops wild orange essential oil

in the diffuser.

We use peppermint at the first sign of a headache.  Here's a post about another blend that we always keep handy→Headache Cease 

 
One of our most used EO (essential oil) blends is a salve that I make called Cold & Cough Chest Salve.  It contains peppermint along with a few other EO's. →Cold and Cough Chest Salve

We use peppermint if feeling queasy, have nausea, motion sickness or dizziness...especially in the car.  Try our Motion Potion blend.

Peppermint is a great essential oil to have handy at home or in your vehicle...

Purchase some today from Spark Naturals!  

Peppermint Essential Oil 

Or better yet, join the Oil of the Month Club and build up your EO supply at a great discount!

Oil of the Month Club

And, as always...use code "sonshine" for a 10% discount on any order at Spark Naturals.  (Discount code does not apply to the Oil of the Month Club--bummer, I know...but, hey! You're already getting such a great deal! :) )

Thanks for stopping by!

Dawn

ENERGIZE Me! Scrub

This is an incredible body scrub!  

Not only does it smell fabulous, but it really wakes you up in the morning and energizes you!!  

It is almost as good as having that first cup of morning coffee!

I first saw this scrub: Mint Java Body Scrub over at Creating Naturally and knew I had to try it (I mean, who wouldn't with a name like that, right?)  And, Mindy graciously allowed me to use her recipe and blog about it, too.  Thank you, Mindy. 

So, I tried it---oooh how wonderful it smells!!  

However, it was a little too runny and I wasn't very fond of having my bathtub or shower full of coffee grounds at the end! But, I really could excuse that and did...and kept using it.  I was so ENERGIZED after my bath and my skin felt so good and I smelled good!!

 

But, I got to thinking how to get rid of the coffee grounds and still have the flavor and energy from the coffee and a nice scrubby feel when using it.

So, I decided to steep the grounds in the almond oil.  I had no idea how long to do this to get a full coffee aroma.  Finally decided that I would leave it for two weeks and then strain out the grounds.

I did it and then added more sugar to the recipe to keep the scrubby feel since you lose some of that without the grounds in there.

ENERGIZE Me! Scrub

First

Steep 1/2 cup of sweet almond oil with 1 cup of coffee grounds in a glass jar for two weeks.

2 Weeks Later: 

2 cups sugar

1 cup brown sugar

30 drops peppermint essential oil

1/2 cup coffee flavored sweet almond oil

In a bowl, mix all ingredients together (inhale the yummy aroma!)  Be ENERGIZED!!

This will make about 3 - 8 oz. containers of scrub.  You could put this scrub into 4 oz. jars and make it go further.  

This scrub would make awesome gifts.  In fact, I made it and gave them all away...so fast in fact...that I don't have a picture of the scrub itself to show you.  And....I'm still waiting on my next batch to finish steeping so I can whip it up!!

RUN for the shower with your jar.  Don't let anyone else smell it or use it...or you won't have anymore.  Be sure to hide it and don't tell anyone about it....

um...
I mean make a double or triple batch, share it with the world, make another batch and another...and let's all unite with  
ENERGIZE Me! Scrub!

 Wouldn't you like some today??!!

Bummer, it takes 2 weeks to steep those grounds in the almond oil.  You might could do it for less time...or, you could possibly just click over to the Sonshine Botanicals store and purchase it...then you'll have it in just a few days!  How's that?!!

Or if you don't care about coffee grounds in your shower or bathtub...use Mindy's recipe!

I think it's a total win/win situation!

:)

Now, why should you use this scrub...besides the fact that it smells so yummy??

The sweet almond oil is moisturizing to your skin.

The antioxidants in coffee help to rid your skin of toxins.

The caffeine increases circulation and reduces water retention.

The caffeine also stimulates your blood flow by dilating the vessels and that will tone and tighten your skin and reduce the appearance of cellulite.

 The sugar exfoliates your skin.

The peppermint essential oil cools and refreshes the skin and elevates the senses. 

Thanks for stopping by!
Dawn

Don't forget you can purchase the sweet almond oil and the peppermint essential oil at Spark Naturals.
Be sure to use code "sonshine" for a 10% discount.

106th Wildcrafting Wednesday