DIY Organically With Herban Crafts - Healthy Home Magazine

Interested in making your own non-toxic and organic personal care and bath products but not sure where to start? Recently, to save some money and avoid toxic chemicals, I started making many of the cleaning supplies and toiletries my family uses every day. But even with hours and hours of research it can be hard to determine which recipe is the best for any given product, source and buy the ingredients and then hope you like the results enough to use up the materials you purchased. Honestly, I just don?t have the time or energy to do it all myself on top of everything else on my list. Sometimes it?s nice to have a little extra guidance, so I love it when experts come along and make things easier for me. A few months ago, I was lucky enough to get to spend some time with Nikki of Modern Eco Life and she walked me thru the best recipes she had found for deodorant, all-purpose cleaner and dishwasher detergent along with valuable tips for storing and preserving the products I had made. After working thru them together, I discovered how incredibly easy it was and now I can?t believe I was ever nervous to try them in the first place! Working together gave me the confidence go it alone and I?ve been making and using many of my own household products ever since! But what if you don?t have a Nikki in your life to help you build your confidence in the DIY arena?

Enter Herban Crafts, a cool new Organic Do-It-Yourself company that has created a line of crafting kits that are each essentially an expert-in-a-box to help you get started with making your own non-toxic bath and body products. Herban Crafts kits are brought to us by Karen Lee and Mary Kearns, the creative minds behind EcoKaren and Herban Lifestyle, two sites that I love and refer to regularly for tips, recipes and the latest green news and ideas. So of course I was thrilled to learn that these two greenies were coming together in this unique new business venture!

What?s So Special About Herban Crafts?

• Socially Responsible: Herban Crafts is a for-profit social enterprise. The manufacturing of organic herbal bath and body product kits is conducted in part by unemployed women living in transitional housing. The women work in the context of a job skills training program in collaboration with a DC-area social services non-profit. Masters level counselors oversee the training and coaching of the trainees.
• Truly Natural: The kits contain the highest quality USDA Certified Organic, Fair Trade certified, ethically wild-harvested ingredients, which makes them unique. Many bath and body crafting kits are laden with artificial colorants and fragrances, preservatives, and other substances associated with chronic health issues. The ingredients in Herban Crafts kits have been carefully chosen to minimize the chances that you?ll have an allergic reaction. And the essential oils used are safe for use by pregnant women and children.
• Environmentally Responsible: In addition to the organic, pesticide-free and planet-friendly ingredients, all Herban Crafts packaging is made of recycled, recyclable and/or biodegradable materials.
• Giving Back: Herban Crafts is donating 1% of profits to the Kiva Loan initiative, to empower people around the world? ? even in the most remote areas of the globe ? to create opportunity for themselves and others through safe, affordable access to capital so that those in need may create better lives for themselves and their families.?

What is an Herban Craft Kit, exactly?

I had the opportunity to take one for a test drive and received the Mint Cocoa Lip Balm. The kit came filled with the all the information and ingredients I needed to make my own lip balm. Hubby and I made the kit together while the kids were running around screaming on a typical Tuesday night. Normally, that would be a distraction to overcome while trying to follow a recipe, but since almost everything in the kit is pre-measured and the instructions are very clear, it was just fun and stress-free. The attractive, eco-friendly, reusable tote box included:

• Recipe and ingredients for making 5 lip balms
• Information on the properties of the herbs and other ingredients
• Ideas for adapting the recipe to create some fun variations

Herban Crafts currently offers 4 kits, including Body Scrub, Fizzing Bath Salts, Mint Cocoa Lip Balm, and Herbal Soap. Each kit retails for $39.50 (or you can buy them in sets of 3, 6 or 9 kits for a 10%, 20% or 30% discount, respectively) and includes ingredients, recipe cards and other goodies to help with your DIY creation. And the best part is, once you?ve completed the kit, you?ll know how to make more for yourself!

Ready to get an Herban Crafts Kit of your very own? You can buy them online at HerbanCrafts.com. Want to win some? Herban Crafts has generously offered up a Mint Cocoa Lip Balm Kit (retail value $39.50) to one lucky Healthy Home Magazine Reader!

ENTER BELOW FOR YOUR CHANCE TO WIN:

There are 11 different ways to enter ? choose the ones you like, or complete them all to increase your odds of winning! Please complete the following actions and add a separate comment below for each entry once the action is completed. Entries will be accepted thru 11:59pm PST on Tuesday, August 21, 2012.

Mandatory Entry: Please visit Herban Crafts website and post a comment here telling us why you?d like to the win an Herban Crafts kit.

+1 Additional Entries: These are not required to enter the giveaway, but we?d certainly appreciate it if you wanted to ?show some love? to our generous sponsor and Healthy Home Magazine, too. As a thank you for showing the love, for each of these actions, you?ll get an extra entry in the giveaway. Choose the ones you like and be sure to leave a comment letting me know for additional entries you complete, so you will get credit for the extra entry!

• +1 Like Herban Crafts on Facebook
• +1 Follow Herban Crafts (@HerbanCrafts) on Twitter
• +1 Follow Herban Crafts (@HerbanCrafts) on Pinterest
• +1 Participate in Herban Crafts? Facebook Trivia Tuesday, August 14th or Tuesday, August 21st from 1pm-4pm EST
• +1 Like Healthy Home Magazine on Facebook
• +1 Follow Healthy Home Magazine (@HealthyHomeMag) on Twitter
  
• +1 Follow Healthy Home Magazine (@HealthyHomeMag) on Pinterest
• +1 Subscribe to Healthy Home Magazine?s RSS feed
• +1 Subscribe to Healthy Home Magazine?s Newsletter via email
• +1 Add Healthy Home Magazine to one of your circles on Google+
• +1 Share this giveaway with your friends/followers and post a comment below to let us know you did. You may?Tweet or post to Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest/G+ for a +1 entry once per day thru August 21st).
  

Note: All Entries must be received by August 21, 2012 at 11:59pm PST to be eligible to win. Additional eligibility: You must enter a comment below for each action you complete in order to qualify for the mandatory entry and each +1 entry (otherwise we won?t know you completed the entry!). Winner will be selected via Random.org, winning entry will be verified and winner will be notified via email by August 25, 2012. Sponsor will ship product directly to winner within 30 days of shipping address confirmation. Sponsor reserves the right to substitute prize for another item of equivalent value.

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Full disclosure: We were provided with a full sized sample for review purposes and were not otherwise compensated for this article. All views expressed are those of the author.

Source: http://healthyhomemagazine.com/diy-organically-with-herban-crafts/

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