Sweet Succulents

The days are getting longer, the air is getting warmer and Spring is in full swing here at Circle Creek Home. We wanted to share with you our obsession with sedum. Not only is sedum prolific it's super easy to grow and multiplies like crazy.

The sedum wreath above has been hanging on our wood shed for many years and continues to grow and change. The trick to keeping a sedum wreath looking great is laying it on the ground when it rains to keep it moist and hanging it back up when the sun comes out.

The best soil to grow sedum in is a mixture of one part sand to two parts planting soil. If you're planting in a wire basket, line the basket with a layer of moss, fill with your soil mixture and begin planting. We like to pack it full of a variety of sedum, they compete for space which makes them grow extra large. 

Sedum does well planted in a tall planter, it drips down the sides.

The beauty of sedum is if you forget about it for a week or two, not to worry it doesn't need much water and is very easy to care for. They like lots of sun and a good draining pot.

Beautiful sitting on one of our Vintage Style Step Stools.

Loving this idea, a pot of sedum sitting under our wire table.

After a day of planting you need some of our Beeswax Skin Salve. Leave a comment telling us what you love to fill your pots with. We'll pick a random winner on May 5, 2014 and send you one of our Beeswax Skin Salves.

Enjoy the season, J and B

    Summer Time Blackberry Hand Pie's 

One of our favorite things about summer is picking wild blackberries also called Pacific's. They usually are ready around the first week of July and can be picked through the end of the month, depending on the weather. They like to grow on stumps and logs, it's always a challenge to find a good patch.

We used some of our berries to make 8 mini blackberry hand pies and baked them in vintage baking tins. You can find vintage baking tins in all different sizes, the ones we used were about 2 1/2 inches around.

We used 2 cups of blackberries, added 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of flour just to lightly coat the berries. Pre-made pie crust is a big time saver. Just lay your tins on the pie crust dough, cut around them with a small sharp knife leaving about a 1/4 inch of excess dough around the edge of the tin. Place the round pieces of dough in the tins forming the dough so there are no holes in the bottom of the tins.

Scoop in the berries and mound them up a bit in the middle.

We made lattice tops but you can also do a solid top, be sure to slice in a few air holes if you decide to use a solid crust top. Lightly sprinkle each one with sugar and be sure to crimp on your top all around the tin so the juice stays in the pies. Put them directly on your backing rack in the middle of the oven at 350 degrees. I lay a piece of foil over the top of all of the pies for about the first 10 to 12 minutes then remove for the last 10 minutes, this prevents the tops from getting too brown. 

They are done when they are bubbling and golden brown on top. 

We recently took 4 of our wild blackberry hand pie's with us on a hike to Monte Cristo which is in The Mt. Baker National Forest just outside of Granite Falls, Washington. We enjoyed them with our friends Angie and Brady Blankenship....they tasted like pure summer and the hike was beautiful!

Happy summer!

John and Brenda

DIY Peppermint Lip Balm Recipe

One thing we can never be without is a tube of lip balm. You'll find one in every pocket, drawer, glove box and anywhere else we can think to stash a tube. After reading the labels of several lip balms and not being able to pronounce most of the ingredients we decided to make our own. It's super easy and you know exactly what are you are putting on your lips.

This recipe makes about 35 .15 ounce tubes and here's how we did it......

Measure 2 ounces of organic bees wax into a glass measuring cup. We like to use a glass measuring cup to melt all of our ingredients in, it's easy to pour into the tubes and there is no waste.

Place the glass measuring cup with 2 ounces of beeswax into a pan of water on medium low heat and melt completely.

While the bees wax is melting measure 3 ounces of coconut oil and 1 ounce of shea butter into another measuring cup. You should have twice as much oil as you do beeswax, you can experiment with other solid oils just make sure it's 4 ounces total.

Once the beeswax is melted add your coconut oil and shea butter and stir on low heat until completely melted. A wood skewer works great for a stir stick.

Once melted remove from heat and add 2 drops vitamin e oil and your desired amount of peppermint and rosemary essential oils. We like a good amount of peppermint in our lip balms so we added about 30 drops of peppermint and 10 drops of rosemary, be sure to stir well after you drop in your essential oils. We like to test it before it's poured into the tubes, dip your wood skewer into the mixture let dry for a few moments then test it on your lips. More beeswax will give you a more solid lip balm and more coconut or shea butter will make it creamer. More peppermint essential oil will make it more pepperminty of course.

Now your ready to fill your lip balm tubes. If it cools too quickly before you are done filling your tubes just put it back into the hot water and melt or you can pop it in the microwave for a few seconds.

Be sure to let your lip balms cool before you cap them. If you run out of tubes you can always pour the rest of your lip balm into a small container. Or leave it in the glass measuring cup, reheat and pour it again later into tubes.

• 2 ounces of organic bees wax
• 3 ounces of coconut oil
• 1 ounce pure shea butter
• 2 drops vitamin e oil
• 30 - 40 drops peppermint essential oil
• 10 - 15 drops rosemary essential oil

There you have it, a wonderful daily lip care and a great stocking stuffer too. If you decide not to make your own but want to try it we will be at Ruffles and Rust Square this Wednesday, November 28, 2012 from 6 - 9 sampling our lip balms, Peppermint Tea Tree Foot Care, Shea Body Butter's, Beeswax Salve and Hand Poured Soap. Would love to see you there! 

John and Brenda

   

Busy Bees at Circle Creek

We love Spring Time here at Circle Creek and have 20,000 new arrivals this year, honey bee's that is. On May 2, 2012 John and Jay Bottorff released the little ladies (Italian Breed)

into their new homes, two new hives set along the banks of the Pilchuck Creek. 

Once released, they immediately start working, building comb, gathering pollen and establishing their new home. They are very friendly and easy to be around. Staying calm and relaxed when working around them is best, they can sense it if your afraid.

The Queen starts laying eggs and gets acquainted with her new family. The worker bee's head out and gather pollen. First day out at the Creek on one of the apple trees. We have so many apples on the trees this year, it's incredible.

One of our happy hives. We're so excited for the harvest in late Summer, we anticipate lots of honey and bee's wax. Bee's wax is excellent in lip balm and skin care. Can't wait to try out some recipe's. 

More to come on our Bee Adventure!

Retro Couch Restoration

When we first came across this Circa 1940's couch we thought..... 

     it has so much personality it deserves a second chance. It's clean lines and beautifully carved wood frame had to be brought back to life.

But before it goes in for restoration we decided to have a little fun with a photo shoot. Such a beautiful piece for a Vintage Photo....

Now off to select the fabric, maybe a charcoal grey velvet with cream piping? Or a forest green?? Stay tuned for updates on the restoration.

Circle Creek Home

Coastal Living Magazine Love's Circle Creek Homes Vintage-Style Step Stools

We are so excited to be in the March 2012 Issue of Coastal Living Magazine!

We have been using a vintage step stool for years to reach those high shelves in our kitchen and thought it would be a great idea to pass this along. Each step stool is handcrafted by us in our workshop and fashioned after one of our vintage finds. Small enough to be tucked up against the end of your island or cupboard but just right when you want to reach that box of oats on the top shelf. A great addition in the bathroom for children to reach the sink to wash their hands and or brush their teeth. 

Each step stool is unique depending on age and texture of wood. We hand make and paint each step stool to order. Each one is weathered and rubbed with Linseed Oil after completion to give them a smooth aged look. 

We have 4 Styles and 12 Colors to choose from. Find our Vintage Style Steps Stools in our Etsy Shop CircleCreekHome.etsy.com

Thank you Wendy Nutting for the feature on your wonderful blog From Lemons to Limoncello we love it!
      John and Brenda

Vintage Style Step Stools Handmade by Circle Creek Home

Vintage Style Step Stool No. 2 in White

 A few years ago we were out looking for vintage finds and came across a couple of vintage step stools.  We used them in the bathroom and in the kitchen and found it was much easier to reach the top shelf with the step stool and didn't have to boost ourselves up on the counter anymore...imagine that! Then we started using them in the bathroom for our friends kids to reach the sink for hand washing and brushing their teeth...again how fun is that! Kids wanted to hang out in the bathroom at our house and wash their hands by themselves because they could. So we decided to reproduce these classic vintage step stools right down to the finish. We started selling them on CircleCreekHome.etsy.com and they took off. We now ship 30 to 40 step stools a month all over the world and have the pleasure of working and communicating with so many wonderful people, we love it!

Check out fishtailcottage.blogspot.com for a fun giveaway of one of our No. 1, 2 or 3 style step stools in the color of your choice. Tracie Fish is the wonderful person behind fishtailcottage.blogspot.com  she has an amazing blog and an over the top style. Be sure to become a follower of her blog so you don't miss all of her fun ideas and giveaways! Thank you Tracie.

John and Brenda

Vintage Style Step Stool No. 3 in Aqua

Vintage Style Step Stool No. 1 in Sky