This week's edibles and other goodies: some "beauty" products and lots more pickles, I'm afraid

Not everything I create is for the stomach. Sometimes I branch out.

• I "made" some lemon lotion. Lemon is one of my favorite summertime fragrances. It's so light and fresh. I add lemon essential oil to small bottles of hand lotion, like the ones you get as samples or when staying in hotels.
• I made some lip gloss with the stub of a favorite old lipstick, some lip balm and a few drops of olive oil. I have a mild allergy to petroleum jelly, so most lip glosses don't work for me. A waxy lip balm blended with a little oil does work. And the lipstick gives it just a bit of color.
• And yes, more watermelon pickles! I made 3 more pints, bringing me up to 7 pints of watermelon pickles. I'm close to finishing with watermelon pickles. We'll enjoy these in winter.
• I recooked the cherry preserves that I made 2 weeks ago. The liquid never thickened, so I recooked the preserves with a bit of pectin. They set up immediately. I am so looking forward to the cherry preserves. They are one of my favorite varieties.
• I made a small batch of mustard for this weekend's cookout. I am really loving homemade mustard. It has so much more flavor that anything I buy at the store. And it's easy to do, too!

And that's about it for the week. Not as overtly productive as other weeks, but still I was able to get a few things done. I've been financially productive in other ways most of this week.

How about you? Did you create anything this week? Share, please. I love hearing what things you've been doing -- gives me ideas for our home and family.

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Have you ever discovered something at the very last minute?

First of all, the winner of the lavender oil mini-giveaway is entry number 12, Carol from CTMOM. Carol, please email me your mailing address, at lili.mounce *at* gmail.com. I'll get the lavender essential oil to you right away, if that will work for you.

A discovery, of sorts

I have this face powder that I wear once or twice per week. I've had it for a few months, and have thought perhaps I'm allergic to it. Every time I apply it, my skin begins to feel a tad itchy. I really thought I was allergic to something it contained, and was ready to throw it out.

But before it headed into the waste can, I wanted to try everything possible. My first thought was maybe the brush needed a good cleaning. So clean it I did, using some shampoo and lots of warm water. When the brush was dry, I tried it again. The irritation was still there.

My second thought was maybe the brush was one of those super cheap ones. So I tried a nice cosmetic brush. Again, itchiness. I washed this better brush, yet still the itchies. So, it would seem that I was simply allergic to one of the ingredients. Rats! I'm a label reader and careful shopper, so I thought this stuff would be okay with my skin.

About ready to toss the powder, which I hated to do, as this stuff is not cheap, I had one last-ditch thought. Maybe I could try using a cotton ball to apply the powder. And it went on smooth, with no irritation. Plus, using a cotton ball gave me a more natural look than the brush applicator.

This discovery changed how I apply all of my powder cosmetics. Perhaps my skin is simply too sensitive to use any of these "special" cosmetic applicators.

I now also use a cotton ball for my powder blush. I can use the same cotton ball for a couple of weeks.

And I've discovered that if I use a fingertip, powder eye shadow goes on smoothly, looks conservatively applied, and doesn't get in my eyes, as it did when using the applicator that came with the shadow.

I'm thrilled to not need to throw away any expensive cosmetics, and get better application overall. I love when I "discover" something like this!