Category: Eye pillow

Christmas Favors Wrap Up

Thought it was time to wrap up my story about making Christmas favors for two groups of special folks. The first is the lovely group of about 14 women in the Ladies Auxiliary to the Boalsburg Fire Company. We will have our Christmas dinner next week at a local restaurant. The second group is from the State College High School class of 1964. Our group varies from month to month depending upon who is in town…often six to twelve folks. Next week we will have lunch at a local restaurant.

Obviously, many of these folks read my blog, so if you will be attending those events next week…shhh…please be ‘surprised’ when I hand out your favors. (smile)

I wrote about my preparations to make the Christmas favors two weeks ago (you can read about it at https://marykisner.com/planning-ahead-to-make-christmas-favors/) Now I’d like to share the finished products.

I decided to aim for 30 gift bags total to make sure I had enough. Each gift bag would have a small mesh bag of 3 small soaps, an eye pillow filled with flax seeds, a small bag of green and red M&Ms and a battery-operated votive candle. Just enough to take a relaxing break over the holidays! This was not an expensive gift bag…what I’m really giving is my time to make the soaps and eye pillows to some special folks. If nothing else, the items can be used up or re-gifted to someone else!

The Small Soaps

The first item that triggered my thinking for these gift bags was my extra Goats Milk Melt & Pour soap. The small soaps make great guest soaps and are easy to make. Most of the time is used waiting…waiting for the soap to melt and waiting for the soap to harden in the molds. Yes it’s a little tedious wrapping each tiny soap with plastic wrap, but it’s a necessary step. FYI…Melt & Pour soap is hydroscopic…and will eventually absorb moisture from the air and soften. Therefore, each tiny soap needed to be protected. (Regular hand-made soap bars made from scratch need to be open to the air to harden over a few weeks.)

The Melt & Pour soap just needed to be chopped up, melted over boiling water and poured into molds. The small molds worked well, but I had to make 90 individual soaps. That took a full day to melt the soap, pour it into molds, wait for it to harden and then pop out the soaps and wrap them individually in plastic wrap. Then I started over when the molds were free.

Here are the soaps ready for the gift bags:

When I was all finished, I had this pile of soaps left over. They may find their way to other gifts or Christmas stockings!

The Eye Pillows

The flaxseed-filled pillows can be heated in the microwave or put in the freezer. Very handy for tired eyes. I found cotton fabric at Walmart, but I had to order flannel from Amazon.

You can read about how to make the pillows at https://marykisner.com/making-a-hot-or-cold-eye-pillow-for-headaches-or-toothaches/

First, I cut out 30 sets of pillows…one front, one back and two muslin pieces for lining. The flax seeds have sharp points on each end and would poke right through the flannel without the lining.

The four pieces stacked like this:

I stitched around the rectangle leaving an opening on one end.

Turn the pillow right side out.

Top stitch all the way around the pillow…leaving the small opening. I used a funnel and a 1/4 cup measure to pour in the required 1 cup of flax seeds. Then, after shifting all the flax seed to the far end, I quickly sewed the opening closed.

I also wanted to keep each pillow clean in the gift bag, so I put each one in a gallon zip bag. That would help it stay nice between use, and would keep it clean if used as a cold pack when placed in the freezer.

The process to make 30 pillows took more than several days to complete. Thank goodness for Hallmark Movies to keep me entertained!

The Battery-operated Votive Candles

I’ve had this box of votive candles for several years. I used a few to put inside some clay candle holders I made out of polymer clay. So much for that project! I made a few and decided I didn’t need more than three…thus, there sat a box of candles on my shelf! (I did make sure they would still work before I put them in the gift bags!)

Red and Green M&Ms

I’m sure the M&Ms were not necessary but they just seemed like the perfect touch! This 4 lb. bag of M&Ms just made 30 tiny bags…one for each gift bag!

Time to fill the bags!

I think this display will count as my Christmas decorating for the season! Enjoy!

Please email me directly if you have comments or questions: maryjkisner@gmail.com

Planning Ahead to Make Christmas Favors

I’ve spent this whole week brainstorming what to make for favors for a group of 14 women from the Ladies Auxiliary to the Fire Company at our Christmas party in December. I have 4 weeks until I need them, but I need to decide soon exactly what I will put together. As I brainstormed, I ran all over town to see what I could get. Did I say how much I miss JoAnn Fabrics and how much I hate shopping?!?

I started with the container…I found small red gift bags at Michaels. I had to go to Walmart to get enough white tissue paper.

Looking around my various project supplies, I first started with soap. I have enough Goats Milk melt & pour soap base and small molds to make an assortment of small soaps. Two or three in a mesh bag will the first item in the bag of favors and suggested a gift bag for a ‘spa’ day.

Next, I found a box of tiny tea lights (battery-operated) that would be a perfect addition to the gift bag.

I wondered if I had time to make 15 hot and cold eye pillows. They are filled with flax seed and can be put in the freezer or microwaved. You can read about how to make them at https://marykisner.com/making-a-hot-or-cold-eye-pillow-for-headaches-or-toothaches/

This is what they look like…cotton on one side and flannel on the other. I have plain muslin for the liner (to keep the flax seeds from poking through the outer fabric.) I think I’ll have enough time…if I can get the fabric, flannel and flax seeds in time!

I found some nice 100% cotton fabric at Walmart but alas…no cotton flannel!

I even tried Michaels…no flannel of any kind! Luckily, Amazon came through and 2 yards of flannel will be delivered tomorrow!

Of course, the eye pillows will need flax seeds for stuffing…but 14 of them will require about 8 pounds of flax seeds (1 cup in each pillow). I had a small bag, but not 8 pounds!

Thank goodness, I could order a 10-pound bag from Amazon. It arrived today!

When I have all the components, I’ll get an assembly line going to crank out 14 eye pillows!

Last, but not least, how about some Christmas M&Ms to snack on while relaxing with a warm eye pillow! Amazon came through again! This bag will show up in a few days.

You can see that preparing these 14 gift bags required some lead time to assemble all the components! Just the brainstorming, sorting through my stash of supplies and running around town took several days. Now, I wait for things to arrive from Amazon so I can start making the eye pillows.

I really like how the focus is around being handmade. I don’t think I’m giving any useless stuff to my friends…the soap can be used, the M&Ms can be eaten and the eye pillow might be soothing during the Christmas season! If nothing else, the bag can be ‘regifted’ to someone else who needs it.

If you plan to have a handmade Christmas, plan ahead so you have time to enjoy the holidays yourself! Enjoy!

Please email me directly if you have comments or questions: maryjkisner@gmail.com.

Using Lavender Buds in Projects

Our lavender plants this summer are doing very well! The flowers are just opening and the bees have discovered them! I’ve been trying to cut some while they are so beautiful but I can tell the bees sense that I’m competition. They even checked out the basket I was using to put the cut flowers in. I promise, I won’t take them all!

I’m really not cutting the flowers to use as a decoration in the house, although they look nice in a vase without water for a while. I’m hoping to let them dry naturally and collect the flower buds. I can use them in several fabric projects and even in my soap. In the past I have purchased them in bulk from STARWEST Botanicals, as shown in the picture below. The buds are often used with flax seeds in several of my projects. When sealed in a zip bag, they maintain their lovely scent for more than a year.

Last year I cut some lavender flowers and let them sit on a try for a month or so. Then I dropped them into an unsealed zip bag and set them aside to continue drying. Actually, I totally forgot about them until this year! They are quite dry now but still have a nice scent, so I will rub the buds off the stems, seal them in a zip bag and use them this year in projects. You can see the buds that have fallen off the stems already.

Earlier this month, I cut another batch of flowers to begin the process again. I’ve laid them on a tray in the dining room, right under our ceiling fan.

Today, I cut another batch…not too many…the bees were very interested in my activities! I will enjoy these as a decoration until they start to wilt. They dry better if laid flat or hung upside down. I don’t have a dry barn or attic to hang them in, so a tray will have to do.

Projects Using Lavender Buds

I have three fabric projects where I’ve used lavender buds.

The first is a small pillow (about 5″ x 9″) that can be warmed in the microwave or dropped in the freezer…good for headaches, toothaches or bumps and bruises. I use mostly flax seeds (purchased from the health food store in bulk) and add several tablespoons of lavender buds to the mix. If you plan to use it mostly frozen, I’d suggest using only flax seeds. Having the buds freeze and thaw several times might make them mushy. You can read about how to make this pillow here:

https://marykisner.com/making-a-hot-or-cold-eye-pillow-for-headaches-or-toothaches/

The second fabric project was a hot or cold neck wrap that was longer than the pillow that could wrap around the back of the neck and onto to the top of the shoulders. It is also stuffed with flax seeds and lavender buds and can be microwaved or stored in the freezer until needed. You can read about how to make this wrap here:

https://marykisner.com/hot-or-cold-neck-wrap/

A third project made small pouches (about 4″ square), again, filled with a flax seed/lavender bud mixture. These were called pocket hand warmers…meant to be warmed in the microwave and tucked into your coat pockets on a cold winter day. Good for kids and adult when you need to be outside. You can read about how to make them here:

https://marykisner.com/pocket-hand-warmers/

Those are some ideas for how I use lavender buds. After I’ve worked with the buds, the whole room smells like lavender and my hands smell good for hours! Give them a try…might make good Christmas gifts for the whole family! Enjoy!