Easter and Catching Up

April 13, 2015 by Aliesha

So here’s the deal. We had an amazing Easter weekend (including a church pig pickin’ on Saturday), worshiping at church on Sunday and celebrating Christ’s resurrection, then celebrating with friends over a large Easter feast (having friends over = MY FAVORITE), and then enjoying the glorious weather on a family walk.

BUT… late in the night Sunday, we were struck by a stomach virus. We went down like dominoes over the next few days, with only one member of our family being spared. Last week was a blur of cleaning up after sick people, being sick, and once again, cleaning up after sick people. Whew. We were SO grateful for that bug to leave our house!! On the plus side, I didn’t have to cook dinner all week, unless saltine crackers count as a meal.

After digging my way out of the piles of laundry, I was able to get away for the weekend with some awesome girlfriends from church! We were celebrating Katie’s (below, blonde hair) 30th birthday, and it was such a fun, relaxing time away (especially after the crazy week!). The lady at the hotel front desk thought we were in college, so that made all of us mamas feel pretttttty darn good.

I think that mostly brings you up to speed on things… but I definitely plan to get back to blogging again! Sorry for the hiatus last week. I want to share my peach cobbler recipe as well as a pregnancy update, so watch for those later this week!

DIY Cuticle Cream

April 3, 2015 by Aliesha

Keeping your cuticles soft and healthy is key to healthy nails and nail growth! This recipe for cuticle cream is nourishing to the cuticles and skin around them, plus the essential oil combination helps inhibit bacteria. Remember, never cut your cuticles. If you need to push them back, do so very gently with an orange stick.

This recipe will make two small jars (of size pictured) of cuticle cream. These jars are glass, and you can find similar ones at craft stores and on Amazon (these are pretty cute). You could also use little metal tins!

DIY Cuticle Cream

Easy DIY Cuticle Cream is made with essential oils and nourishing beeswax! Makes a great little gift!

Author: Aliesha @ Feathers in Our Nest

Ingredients

3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. beeswax pellets
6 drops tea tree essential oil (or melaleuca)
6 drops lavender essential oil

Instructions

Place a mason jar inside a small pot of water on the stove top.
Place olive oil and beeswax inside the jar and heat over low/medium heat, stirring as needed until melted.
Remove from heat and add tea tree oil and lavender oil. Stir.
Pour into glass jars or metal tins and allow to cool before using.

Sources: beeswax pellets / tea tree oil / melaleuca oil / lavender oil

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to the essential oil company I use and love. If you choose to make a purchase through my links, it will help support my family and this blog. Thanks!

ALIESHA CALDWELL IS A PARTICIPANT IN THE AMAZON SERVICES LLC ASSOCIATES PROGRAM, AN AFFILIATE ADVERTISING PROGRAM DESIGNED TO PROVIDE A MEANS FOR SITES TO EARN ADVERTISING FEES BY ADVERTISING AND LINKING TO AMAZON.COM.

New Living Room Art… Help Me Decide!

March 31, 2015 by Aliesha

I’ve decided I want to add some new art to my living room! Because of our high ceilings and the large room, some of the walls still seem rather bare!

I’ve been eyeing some beautiful limited edition art from Minted, and I thought maybe you could give me some help deciding what to get! (Side note, I’ve been crushing on Minted for a while now! They have the BEST invitations, announcements, and pretty much anything else printed on paper. The designs are so fresh and fun! I’ll be keeping them in mind for baby announcements this fall!)

Maybe I’ll grab three pieces (of varying sizes) and hang them together in a little collection. I really want some fun, bright pieces to go in my living room! The colors in the room are blue, green, teal, brown, and a bit of aqua.

Which of these pieces are your favorite? I’m having trouble narrowing it down! (You can click on each image to go to its page on Minted.)

First, this piece calls to me, since I looooove birds and nests (obviously, right?)! (Title: Fly)

Next, I like this watercolor, especially the colors of the bottles! (Title: Glass Bottles)

The colors in this next one are so pretty too! Fun pattern as well, and I like that it’s square. (Title: Intermittent)

This one is unique too and I like the pretty shade of blue. (Title: Blue Floral I)

I think this one could work nicely with several of the other pieces in a grouping. (Title: Ocean Currents)

This one is similar to one above, so I’d only use one of them in the frame arrangement. I think I may like this one a teeny bit better! (Title: Blue Floral II)

This succulent painting is so sweet. I love the shades of green. (Title: Aeonium)

This one has such a fun pattern, and the color is delicious! (Title: Abstract Triangles)

This next one is completely different than any of the others shown, but I thought I’d throw it into the mix too! (Title: Below Revello)

As far as colors go, this one doesn’t exactly “go” with the color scheme I’ve chosen, but I get big heart eyes every time I see it. Beautiful. (Title: Meander)

And lastly, another lovely patterned watercolor. (Title: Abstract Herringbone)

Alright… so which ones do you love? I obviously love way too many… I need to figure out which three to get! There is a cool feature at Minted that allows you to create “pin boards” to test out which art pieces look good together! Very fun!