Rose Water Toners

A really simple beauty gift is a little bottle of rose water or rose toner (seen above). Pour it into old apothecary bottles and one will be hard pressed not to want to show it off on a vanity or sink. Here is how you can do it too:

What You'll need for a Rose Toner:
Organic roses &/or petals
Pure filtered water
Witch Hazel
Vitamin E (optional)
A Pinch of sea salt (optional)
A drop of glycerin (optional)
Rose essential oil (optional)
Rose hips (optional)

In a microwave or over the stove in a small sauce pan, combine the witch hazel, 1/2 cup of water and your rose petals (and rose hips if you have them). Bring to a simmer and turn heat off. Cover and let steep for 4 to 5 hours. Once cooled you can then add any of the optional ingredients. Decant into pretty glass bottles and you're done!

To use apply to your face with a cotton ball after cleansing your face and neck. In the winter especially this is so very soothing to the skin.

Image: MAM for Gave That

Giveaway: Polar Bottle - Eat Clean Diet Cookbook

Dr. M. of Best Picks Magazine Shares Her favorites with you in this fab fall giveaway...

A heads up that our Dr. M. of Best Picks Magazine is doing a fab giveaway at her blog for a Polar Bottle reusable water bottle and the new cookbook, The Eat Clean Diet. You won't want to miss this! To enter visit here. Ends midnight October 24th 2010. Winner randomly drawn on October 25th.

Image: Dr. M.

Polar Bottle

Love at first sight when I was given one of these delicious wood grained Half Twist reusable water bottles by Polar Bottle, one of their latest designs. The retro faux bois wood combined with the Martini shaker shape of the bottle makes me want to take it everywhere (and I will too!). Back to school, hiking through the woods, and fall picnicking in the leaves perfection personified.

Image: MAM for Gave That

Same Kind of Different as Me.

Why are books that you are given some of the hardest to read?


Summer... you're going already!? Wait, come back please. Oh well, no use but at least I can reread some of my favorites from over the summer. Two oldies but ever relevant it seems are Alyson Richman's, Last Van Gogh and John Shors', Beneath A Marble Sky, that latter of which is so hard to get thought because you want to ruminate on each bit of the authors writing. Then there is a new book given to me by Ron Hall, Denver Moore and Lynn Vincent called Same Kind of Different As Me. All 3 books have a common thread of art woven through them... Van Gogh is, well, the troubled master himself, Marble Sky is architectural love and fine art meets folk in Same Kind of Different.

Who knows if I would have ever actually read Same Kind of Different As Me if it hadn't been offered to me but I am beyond grateful to have been exposed to these personal stories. Yes the accounts of little old ladies in oil rich Texas writing checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars are interesting and one (like me) salivates about all the mentions of O'Keeffe's passing through art dealer Ron Hall's hands but the heart of this book is clearly about redemption and how a soul that seemed in the grips of absolute despair finds himself... his value. In the back of the book are pictures of Denver Moore with his art and in his gallery. A man without any education, a sharecropper who ended up homeless, finding his way is an inspiration to anyone. Of course this book is so much more than just that including painfully tragic time and again and hard to swallow but also eye opening to how far we can come through kindness and genuine care for one another. Including (especially) to those who are same kind of different.

Big thank you to Thomas Nelson and Booksneeze for giving me the chance to review this book!

Image: MAM for Gave That

Paper Cranes Gift Wrap

After the cherry blossom gift look, the other inspirational take on gift wrap by Ayomi Yoshida was using origami paper cranes. Sold in packages of two I have to admit not knowing exactly how to affix them. Were they to be placed where a bow should be or were they a replacement for a gift tag? Should the wings be folded up or down, one crane or two? It also dawned on me there is probably no machine to make paper cranes... they all must have been handmade. For how to fold paper cranes see here.



>> For more gift wrap style looks see my wrapping page here!

Image: MAM for Gave That

Teachers Pet Notebook Gift Wrap

Have been loving the recent fascination with all things college ruled paper and notebooks lately, from bed sheets to socks and pillows. This present got a dose of composition paper and a little red ribbon. For how to make the bow, see this fab post by How About Orange.


>> For more gift wrap style looks see my wrapping page here!

Image: MAM for Gave That

Clean

So simple and so (soapy, sudsy) good, Clean Lather perfume by Clean.

French Milled Soap by Gianna Rose Atelier
Clean Lather eau de perfume
Miniature claw foot tub incense burners

Image: MAM for Gave That