Self-Care Sunday
Ahhhhh, self-care. The thing we tend to put on the bottom of our daily to do lists. We promise ourselves that when we are done with a bunch of things, we will do something for ourselves. Or we say that we will do it “when we have time”. (Spoiler alert – we will never have the time. We must make the time!) Here’s the thing about self-care. It isn’t a selfish endeavor…and we aren’t martyrs for neglecting to take care of ourselves. Self-care is critical for our mental health. It helps put us in a healthy mindset. And if you’ve been with me even for a short period, you know I believe that mindset is everything!
Take the time to prioritize your mental health by taking time every day to do something that nourishes your soul, makes you happy or recharges you. When we take care of ourselves, we are better people to others.
Each Sunday I will post something that I am doing to practice self-care. It might be something super basic, but believe me, sometimes those basic things make a huge difference in our mindset. By coming along on my journey, I hope to give you some ideas about what you can incorporate in your own routine. I know it can be tricky to find things to do for yourself when you haven’t done it a lot.

Harry Potter Potion Series – Dragon’s Blood
According to the Harry Potter Lexicon, over Albus Dumbledore’s lifetime, he discovered twelve uses of Dragon’s Blood – one being an oven cleaner. Who knew? What I love about this potion, is that it is simple to make and the finished potion with the dragon embellishment, wax and suede cording looks awesome. Ingredients I used: Large Glass Bottle Light Corn Syrup Red and Blue Food Coloring (I like using the gel ones – they are

Potions From The Woodlands – Pixie Dust
Pixie dust is collected from fairies and can be used in many different potions. They can be found in gardens and the woodlands. Ingredients I used: Glass Bottle Glitter (I used various shades of greens, golds and teal) Glue Pen (I like the EK Tools Zig Glue Pen) Ribbon or greens for embellishment Jute Twine Funnel Bowl (for mixing glitter) Potion Label C&CC’s is Tinker Bell inspired, as you can see by the label. I

Harry Potter Potion Series – Demiguise Hair
Demiguise Hair comes from a rare magical creature, the demiguise. The demiguise is described as a peaceful, herbivore who can make itself invisible. They are hard to see, and a witch or wizard has to undergo special training to capture them. Their fur can be used in making invisibility cloaks as well as invisibility potions. Ingredients I used: Wide Mouth Cylinder Jar White Craft Fur Hot Glue Cooking Skewer Jute Twine Sandpaper (to age the

Harry Potter Potion Series – Phoenix Tears
Last week I made Phoenix Feathers and as promised, this week we have Phoenix Tears. I really enjoyed making this one, especially the embellishing that is done on the bottle. Phoenix tears have incredible healing powers. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Fawkes, Dumbledore’s phoenix, saves Harry by dropping his tears into Harry’s wound from the basilisk. Ingredients I used: Tear Drop Glass Bottle Rubber Cork Rubbing Alcohol Funnel Gold Metallic Acrylic Paint

Harry Potter Potion Series – Phoenix Feathers
Phoenix feathers shed from phoenixes are used in wandmaking. It is one of the rarest cores and is capable of the greatest range of magic. A phoenix feather is the core of Harry Potter’s wand. And like Ollivander says, “The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter. It’s not always clear why. But I think it is clear that we can expect great things from you.” Wands with a phoenix feather core are very picky when

Alice in Wonderland Potion Series – Drink Me
I’ve always wanted to make a Drink Me potion ever since I saw Alice in Wonderland. This potion allows the person who consumes it to shrink down in size while in Wonderland. C&CC did a tutorial on this using styling gel for the liquid. It looks fantastic in the bottle, but for mine, I wanted to use something that would make the liquid look kind of flat and watery. I opted for light corn syrup

Harry Potter Potion Series – Fairy Wings
Fairy wings are used in many potions, including the Beautification Potion. But don’t worry – taking the wings from the fairies do not hurt them! They just get a little annoyed by the process. In C&CC’s tutorial below, she shows how to make fairy wings using both transparency paper and the organic version, which I chose. This version uses maple seedlings as the wings. I remember as a kid, we always had these fall onto

Harry Potter Potion Series – Gillyweed
Well, hello there and welcome to October! As the kids would say, “it’s been a minute” since I’ve posted on Self-Care Sunday. I’m excited to be back with a whole new self-care series. Years ago, before I moved away from home for the second time (this time for my husband’s job), my brother and I had made some props of potions – mostly Harry Potter inspired. I ended up leaving them with him because I