Abundant Health™ Blog

May 6, 2015
by Abundant Health™
1 Comment

Aromatherapy Clay Jewelry for Mother's Day

Mother’s Day is quickly approaching! This year, give the special women in your life a handmade aromatherapy gift. Whether the mother in your life currently uses essential oils or not, she may love to keep a wonderful aroma around her with these personal diffuser pendants. And, even if she isn’t a jewelry person, you can give her a pendant diffuser that she can hang in her bathroom or closet instead!

Though they may seem complicated, these clay pendants are really pretty simple to make. Here is a breakdown of the process:

AH_Jewelry_Step-by-step

When you are finished making these cute little diffusers, just add a drop of your favorite essential oil and allow the oil to soak in before wearing. Then enjoy the scent for 1–2 days. Once the scent fades, simply add another drop of oil.

If you are gifting this to someone who doesn’t have essential oils, you can give them some in a little sample bottle so they can use this pendant diffuser right away.

AH_Necklace2

Aromatherapy Clay Jewelry

Time: 30–45 minutes active; 24–72 hours inactive | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

  • Air-dry white or terra-cotta clay (The Crayola Air-Dry brand works well.)
  • Food coloring (optional; used for dying the white clay any color you desire)
  • Rolling pin
  • Cutout object (This can be a circular hairspray cap, small cookie cutters, or anything else to cut out the clay into the shape you desire. When making pendants for necklaces, you will want the size to be less than 1 1/4 inch in diameter. If you are making bracelets, you will want the size to be around 3/4 inch in diameter. Other stationary objects like bathroom diffusers can be larger.)
  • Stamps (sized to fit the shape of your clay item)
  • Chopstick or shish kebab stick (This is used to make a hole for the cord. It needs to be big enough to fit 2 strands of string through.)
  • Wax paper
  • Sandpaper (optional)
  • Paints (optional)
  • Ribbon, string, cord, or other jewelry-making materials
  • Essential oil(s)

Instructions:

  1. Lay out a section of wax paper on a table to create your work station. This will help with cleanup and make it easier to roll out the clay and move the pieces.
  2. Optional step: Take a glob of the clay and color it using food coloring if desired. (Note: The clay always dries to be a lighter color.) (*Helpful hint: to make sure the food coloring stays in the clay and doesn’t drip off, create a well in the top of the piece of clay with your finger, drop only 2 drops of coloring in the well at a time, fold the clay so it closes over the well opening, and then continue to knead the clay as normal. If it starts to feel dry, just add a few drops of water.)
  3. Roll out the clay on the wax paper. You want it about 1/8–1/4 inch for pendants smaller than 1 1/4 inches. If you are creating larger pendant diffusers for a small room, you may want it to be thicker so it doesn’t break as easily.
  4. Use your cutout object to cut out the pendants. With the remaining clay, you can form beads by rolling it into small pieces and poking a hole through them with the chopstick or other stick.
  5. Stamp your design on the pendants, and poke a hole through each of them for the cord with the chopstick or other stick.
  6. Transfer pendants and beads to a paper plate, and allow them to air dry for 2–3 days.
  7. Once dry, you can sand rough edges with sandpaper, decorate with paint, and/or finish making them into a piece of jewelry.
  8. When figuring out the length of cord you will need, position the cord around the wrist or neck to the length you desire. Then cut double the length you think you will need. (You can always cut more off if it ends up being too long. We have found that adding any beads or knots takes up more string than you think it will).
  9. Put the ends together, creating a loop at the other end. String the pendant through the loop and the cut ends through the loop, securing the pendant in the middle before adding any beads.
  10. If desired, a bead can be used to make a clasp for a necklace or bracelet by tying the bead to one side and making a loop big enough to go around the bead on the other side and securing it with a knot.
  11. To use, simply place a drop of essential oil on the pendant, and rub the oil around. After a minute, the clay should have soaked up the oil and begun to diffuse. Reapply oil as the scent fades.

April 30, 2015
by Abundant Health™
3 Comments

Taco Salad with Tomatillo Lime Dressing

Impress the mom in your life this Mother’s Day with a delicious dinner of homemade taco salad that incorporates the benefits of pure lime essential oil. This recipe is also perfect for your Cinco de Mayo celebration. Taco-Salad-EOs

Taco Salad with Tomatillo Lime Dressing

Servings: Yield=8 | Time: 30 minutes | Difficulty: Easy

Dressing Ingredients:

  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1–2 drops lime essential oil
  • 1 packet dry ranch mix
  • 2 tomatillos, husks removed and diced
  • 1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 jalapeno

Salad Ingredients:

  • 4 cups cooked ground beef
  • 1 tsp. cumin
  • Salt and garlic pepper to taste
  • 1 head of lettuce, chopped
  • 2 tomatoes, diced
  • 1 can olives, sliced
  • 2 avocados, sliced
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 bag tortilla chips

Instructions:

  1. Combine all of the dressing ingredients in a blender. Blend on high until well combined (about 1 minute). Set aside.
  2. Stir together warm cooked ground beef, cumin, garlic pepper, and salt.
  3. Combine the meat mixture with the remaining salad ingredients in a large bowl, or layer all of the ingredients on plates.
  4. Drizzle the salad dressing over the top, and serve immediately.
  5. Enjoy!

April 22, 2015
by Abundant Health™
0 comments

Up-Cycle Your Essential Oil Bottles

It’s Earth Day, so what better way to celebrate than by taking all your old, empty essential oil bottles and up-cycling them! The possibilities are endless for what you can do with them!

UpcycledBottles

Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

  • Do you like to create your own customized blends? Use your empty bottles for storing your own essential oil blends.
  • Do you take essential oils in capsules? The easiest way to fill capsules is with a dropper cap. If you take specific oils or oil blends in capsules on a regular basis, putting those oils in a separate bottle with a dropper cap will make filling the capsules much easier!
  • Do you use hand sanitizer, air fresheners, or breath sprays? Simply add a misting spray top to an oil bottle to create your own personal spray!
  • Do you or your kids like to paint? When you are down to just a couple drops left in a bottle, you can add a little paint to have a more pleasant smell when painting.
  • Do you like your bathroom to smell fresh? Create a little room diffuser by mixing Jojoba Oil and 5–10 drops of essential oil in the bottle. Place rattan reeds (cut to 4–5″ tall) in the oil mixture. After a few hours, the reeds will suck up the oil and disperse the scent into the air.
  • Do you like to take essential oil baths? When you are down to a few drops of oil left in your bottle, remove the cap and orifice reducer and place them and the bottle in a jar of Epsom salts. After a couple days, the Epsom Salts will absorb the oil. Just sprinkle some Epsom salts in your next bath, and enjoy the aroma! You can add multiple “empty” bottles to a jar of Epsom salts depending on the scent you want.
  • Do you have empty 5 ml bottles? These little bottles are an excellent size for traveling. Refill these small bottles with the oils you use most often to create your own travel pack!
  • Do you travel a lot? These essential oil bottles are the perfect size for carrying a few days worth of shampoo, conditioner, body wash, face wash, tooth powder, carrier oil, etc.

Are you getting excited yet at all the possibilities for upcycling your old and empty bottles? Well, let’s talk about how to get started.

AH_EOBottles

First, you’ll want to gather your empty oil bottles. These next few steps are easier to do in bulk unless you are planning on still using the last few drops of oil. You may want to get a small bin or basket that you can throw your empty bottles in as you use your essential oils so they will already be gathered for you.

Next, you’ll need to decide if you want to use the remaining few drops of oil in the bottle. If you do, set them aside or group them together so you’ll know what oils are which and can leave the cap on while washing off the label. If not, remove the caps, orifice reducers, and as much of the label as you can; then place the bottles in a washing bin.

Fill the bin with scalding hot water and a little dish soap. Adding a few drops of lemon oil may help with this process. Once the water has cooled down a little, attempt to remove more of the label. Repeat the process until most of the label is removed. If you still have a little stickiness left, place a drop of lemon oil on the bottle. Rub the oil around the outside of the bottle for a minute before washing off.

If you don’t want to reuse your old caps and orifice reducers, you can always buy new caps at Abundant Health™ for about a quarter each. Abundant Health™ also carries various labels, including blank labels, preprinted labels, and vinyl labels that you can use as you repurpose your bottles.

Here are some ways our customers have repurposed their old oil bottles:

  • I like to use my [upcycled bottles] for gifting at holidays, birthdays, etc. The brown glass bottles wash easily and a quick dip in scalding water and they are ready for new oils, labels, and tops and they are ready to go……I love to up-cycle every chance I get. — Ronda Wheeler
  • I make up “sample” oils for my daughter to try while away at college. — Laura Anne Novotney
  • Bottles are perfect for carrying smelly, leaky liquids like apple cider vinegar.  I keep the drop reducer on to make it more airtight.   (I’m a flight attendant, who is always finding solutions for carrying my stuff!  Also, like to travel light at home or working.  So…I love the 5ml bottles & tiny sample size bottles from Abundant Health!) — Dolly

Do you have any ideas for what to do with your old bottles?

April 17, 2015
by Abundant Health™
0 comments

Spring Bliss Diffuser Blend

Bring the wonderful smell of a beautiful spring day into your home with this diffuser blend!

April 14, 2015
by Abundant Health™
1 Comment

Build Your Business with the Essential Oils Mini Reference Card

To be truly successful in the essential oil industry, you have to share your love of essential oils with everyone you meet. However, it’s hard for someone you talk with to internalize and remember everything you tell them about essential oils after just one meeting. You need to put something in their hands that they can take with them, refer back to, and use to learn more about the incredible benefits of pure essential oils. One great resource that we offer that is perfectly suited to this task is the “Reference Guide for Essential Oils Mini Reference Card.”

Blog-RG-Card9

This beautiful card features an alphabetical listing of common health conditions and suggests essential oils that many individuals have used to help with each condition. The card also includes basic information about how to use essential oils aromatically, topically, and internally so that your clients can have a starting point when learning to use essential oils. And the back of the card also includes a space at the bottom where you can place an address label with your contact information (this is a great place to list your personal website or blog too!) so that people can contact you when they want to learn more about essential oils.

This card is the perfect size to keep in your car or your purse, to use as a bookmark, to include with your essential oils first aid kit, and to hand out with a sample of your favorite essential oil or blend!

If you are looking for a great resource (that is also very affordable!) to help you share essential oils with others, we highly recommend this “Reference Guide for Essential Oils Mini Reference Card”!

 

March 31, 2015
by Abundant Health™
0 comments

Easter Egg Beeswax Candles

These cute little egg candles are fun to make and are a great table centerpiece or festive decoration for the Easter season! Get the kids involved and maybe even let them decorate other eggs at the same time!

Easter Egg Beeswax Candles

Time: 30–45 minutes | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

  • Awl/knife
  • Eggs (1 per egg candle)
  • White vinegar (2 Tbsp. per dye color)
  • Boiling water (1 cup per dye color)
  • Food coloring (10–20 drops per dye color)
  • Beeswax Pellets (1 oz. per egg candle)
  • Essential oils (1–2 drops per egg candle)
  • Waxed candle wicks with metal base (available at most craft stores)

Instructions:

  1. Start by poking a tiny hole in the top of your egg with a sharp object, like an awl or paring knife, and carefully chip away the top of the egg until you have a nice wide opening.
  2. Wash out the inside of the eggs, and let them dry while preparing the dye.
  3. Combine 2 Tbs. of white vinegar, 1 cup of boiling water, and 10–20 drops of your desired food coloring in a disposable paper or plastic cup (or other container that you are okay getting dye on). Submerge the eggs in the dye for 1–20 minutes, until you obtain your desired color.
  4. Let the eggs dry. We dried our eggs in the sun on bamboo skewers in a vase, as pictured to the right.
  5. While the eggs are drying, melt your beeswax in a double boiler on the stove. A Pyrex measuring cup in a pot of boiling water works great for this (and the measuring cup makes it easy to pour the beeswax later). You will need approximately 1 oz. of beeswax for each egg you make.
  6. Mix a few drops of essential oil into the melted beeswax (1–2 drops of oil for each candle you are making). If you want to vary which essential oil you use in each candle, you can add the essential oil after you pour the beeswax into the eggshells.
  7. Carefully pour the beeswax into the dried eggshells. Then place your wick in the middle of the eggshell, and let the beeswax harden. You can put your egg candles back in the egg carton to stabilize them while you pour the beeswax and insert the wick.
  8. Once the beeswax has hardened completely, move your egg candles to egg cups or any decorative container that will hold them upright.

Enjoy your beautiful Easter creation! These eggshell candles look great as a table centerpiece or as a decoration on a fireplace mantle, bookshelf, or anywhere else.
Adapted from: http://www.happinessishomemade.net/2011/04/13/egg-shell-candles/

March 19, 2015
by Abundant Health™
0 comments

Essential Oil Butternut Squash Bisque

AH-Squash-Soup

Warm up with this delicious soup made with the added benefits of essential oils.

Essential Oil Butternut Squash Bisque

Servings: Yield: 6 | Time: 35 minutes active; 25 minutes inactive | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

  • 1 Tbsp. butter
  • 1 medium onion (diced)
  • 4 fresh sage leaves (chopped)
  • 1 large butternut squash (peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks)
  • 6 cups vegetable or chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk
  • 1–2 drops sage essential oil
  • Kosher salt and garlic pepper

Instructions:

  1. Heat the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. After a minute, add the onion, and saute until translucent.
  2. Add fresh sage and squash, and cook until the squash begins to soften slightly.
  3. Pour in the broth.
  4. Bring the soup to a boil; then reduce the heat, and simmer about 20 minutes until the squash is tender.
  5. Using a blender, blend small batches of the soup until smooth. Once all the soup is blended, return it to the pot, and warm the soup over low heat.
  6. Stir in the coconut milk and sage essential oil. Add salt and garlic pepper to taste.
  7. Enjoy!

March 12, 2015
by Abundant Health™
0 comments

Class Idea: Experience Essential Oils in Your Class and Cinnamon Fruit Dip

When hosting or teaching an essential oil class, one of the best ways to teach your students is by allowing them to experience essential oils first hand. Below, we will give a few examples of ways you can allow your students the chance to experience essential oils topically, aromatically, and/or internally.

Topical Experience:

  • Massage: Using essential oils with massage in your class is not only a great way to experience essential oils, but it can be quite relaxing and provide an enjoyable and memorable experience for the student. This can be as simple as massaging hands or as complex as teaching a specific essential oil massage technique.
  • Direct Application for Specific Needs: As you teach, you may find that most people suffer from an injury or painful condition of some kind, whether it be a simple cut or some kind of muscle or joint pain. Allowing your student the opportunity to directly apply essential oils specific to their condition can help open their eyes to what essential oils can really do for them.

Aromatic Experience:

  • AH_DiffuserDiffusion: Diffusing essential oils during a class can be a great way to share them. You can choose essential oils based on the season or even based on the mood you want experienced. Some oils are great at promoting a happy mood, some work well for maintaining alertness, and some enhance abilities to focus. If you are in need of a diffuser, there are many options available at Abundant Health.
  • Direct Inhalation: The wonderful thing about essential oils is that they are all unique and have a variety of smells. Another great way to experience these many scents is to pass around essential oils for class members to smell. If you are afraid to pass around full bottles of your expensive essential oils, you can place drops on these Aroma Testing Strips, write the oil name on each strip, and pass the strips around.
  • All-Day Aromatherapy: If you want your attendees to leave your class with a lingering scent of their favorite essential oil, encourage each student to find an oil they really like the smell of and apply a drop of it to their wrists and rub it on their neck as well.

Internal Experience:

  • Cooking with Essential Oils: The absolute best way to experience the essential oils internally is to include them in your refreshments for the event! There are a variety of recipes that use essential oils, and you can find some of them on our blog: https://blog.abundanthealth4u.com/category/essential-ideas/cooking-recipes/. While many of these ideas make great refreshments, we have included another recipe here for a cinnamon-flavored fruit or cracker dip that is really easy to make and share with any number of people.

AH_FruitDip

Cinnamon Fruit Dip

Servings: Yield: 1 3/4 cups | Time: 5 minutes | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 1–2 drops cinnamon bark essential oil

Instructions:

Mix the honey and peanut butter together. Add the yogurt and cinnamon oil. Serve with sweet crackers or fruit such as apples, pears, and bananas.

February 27, 2015
by Abundant Health™
6 Comments

Brown Sugar Peppermint Scrub

After a long day at home or at the office, treat yourself to a relaxing foot or hand bath with this Brown Sugar Peppermint Scrub! The scrub is so easy to make, and it makes a great gift for friends and family members or a great project for a make-and-take essential oils class.

sugar-scrub-blog

Brown Sugar Peppermint Scrub

Servings: Yield=1 cup of scrub | Time: 10 minutes active | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

Instructions:

  1. Using a spoon and then your hands, mix together the brown sugar, coconut oil, and essential oil in a glass bowl. The mixture should have a sand-like consistency.
  2. Pour the sugar scrub into a salve jar to store.

To use the scrub, first wet your hands or feet, and then rub a small amount of the scrub all over the desired area in circular motions. Rinse with water, and enjoy the feel of soft, smooth skin!

February 12, 2015
by Abundant Health™
2 Comments

Sweet and Sour Meatballs with Thyme and Rosemary Essential Oil

Impress your guests with a delicious and flavorful dinner that incorporates the benefits of pure essential oils! These meatballs are delicious served over rice, or you can use them as an appetizer by serving them on a tray with toothpicks in them.

Meatball2

Sweet and Sour Meatballs with Thyme and Rosemary Essential Oil

Servings: 5 | Time: 40 minutes active | Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups bell peppers (mixed colors), chopped
  • 1 cup white or yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 can pineapple tidbits (20 oz.)
  • 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 3 Tbsp. flour
  • 28 meatballs (use frozen prepared meatballs, or make your own)
  • 1 drop thyme essential oil
  • 1 drop rosemary essential oil

Instructions:

  1. In a large frying pan or skillet, sauté onions and peppers in olive oil over medium-high heat until they are just barely tender. Remove from pan, and set aside.
  2. Pour the juice from the pineapple into the skillet (save the pineapple for later) along with the vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, water, and flour. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently with a whisk, until the sauce begins to bubble and thicken.
  3. Add the meatballs, onions, peppers, and pineapple tidbits to the sauce, and reduce the heat to medium. Let simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the meatballs are heated through.
  4. Turn off the heat, and stir in the essential oils.
  5. Serve warm over rice.