What have leather, skin care, dental abscess and inflammation in common?

What could this be?

What possibly could this very disparate items have in common? This post will tell you all about it: it is coconut oil, a real miracle medium. As you can deduct from the title, I use it for a lot of things. But first things first:

Leather. 

This week, only one product has seen the daylight: a man bracelet. I haven't that many items for men, so I concentrated on a man's bracelet. The bracelet will look good curved around a strong male wrist.

Lovelea's men bracelet with leather button.

 I only used leather and glue, no metal snap buttons however a button is needed, I made a leather one, out of 3 layers of leather and a leather loop as buttonhole and white cowhide to make the bracelet tougher. View it at my fb shop

Lovelea's men bracelet with leather button., detail.

Lovelea's men bracelet with leather button, loop detail.

 What has leather to do with coconut? 

I use it to soften leather.  I have had it about this subject but if you don't remember or haven't read yet, never mind, here is the meant post, 2.th paragraph. Always try the coconut first at a not visible space; watch if it absorbs well without leaving a greasy spot.

Want nice tight facial skin?

When I was a teen, I bought a sun oil that contained coconut oil. It stated that the native people used it for skin care. I don't remember who the natives were, this was many many years ago. I reasoned that since advertising is strictly regulated, the info must be true. I bought a big jar and smeared it every night and every morning on my face. It makes your skin tight and radiant, it really does, try and see for yourself! The product was excellent but the jar was very down to earth and the eye wants something too. I visited antique shops until I found this purple bottle that I filled with rose water (rosewater is excellent to clean your face from pollution, not to remove make up and it is excellent to wash your eyes when they hurt from tobacco smoke) and the green ceramic recipient was perfect for my coconut oil. The transparent bottle I bought for the love of the stopper. The green jar made me feel more glamorous and it was more pleasant to use, less a duty! Yes, package is important! I have been using the jar and the oil for decades. My skin looks healthy and well fed, anyway that's what my daughter always tells me and of course, I believe her.

My skin care personalia.

How I saved my tooth!

Besides caring for your skin, it cares for your health. A couple years ago I had a dental abscess. My dentist said: I'll give you antibiotics and then we'll pull that tooth out. I said: no way, I want to keep this tooth. A year later, my tooth again had an abscess; I went to another dentist and told her about my problem; she said: if you can save your tooth by taking antibiotics once a year, lets not pull this tooth. I was quite happy with  this solution; a book about coconut oil stated that the oil is good for dental health. Since then, every morning I hold one spoonful of coconut oil in my mouth next to the problem tooth and let it melt; I haven't used any antibiotics since then! In fact, I almost never take antibiotics.

Caring for wounds

And a third use for coconut oil is for dressing wounds: when we were moving, I bumped my leg heavily on a corner; it bled a bit and then stopped; I was wearing stockings and getting them out to have a look was too much of a bother and I left it as it was. In the evening I had a look, washed the dried blood away, put some coconut oil on a gauge bandage and then forgot about it for 2 days. When I took away the bandage, my skin around the wound was red, very red and very hot and had pus. It looked pretty bad, the look of it scared me, I had a serious inflammation on my hands. My husband said: you should take antibiotics; but then I have to go to the doctor, get a prescription, go to the pharmacy,... way too much of a bother.  I cleaned the wound, applied the coconut oil diligently 3 times a day and in about 5 days, the inflammation went away and the wound healed perfectly.

When travelling, I always have a good closing mini jar with me. Coconut oil is solid till 22 à 24° C so be sure your jar closes hermetically! You arrive in your hotel room, exhausted and want to brush your teeth before sleeping and your toiletry bag is inundated by coconut oil? You don't want that, so choose a good closing jar.

Start right away,

the sooner you get a jar of (organic and with smell) coconut oil, the better. Massage it gently in your face after cleaning with rose water and in the morning; hold a spoonful of coconut in your mouth until it melts and do this for a week and from time to time preventive and if you or anyone got injured, use coconut oil to clean and care for the wound.

What I am telling you here, is not from some web page, it is my own experience. I am sure there are lots of other uses; coconut oil is an all round, versatile remedy. This is what I use coconut oil for. Do you have other uses? Please, leave a comment, I would love to learn more.

I will hit the publish button when I am in Venezia, la Serenissima! So don't miss the next post, subscribe  to my email address. or use the  subscribe button in the right column. There will be plenty of tips about Venice!

Inspiration and My new style leather bracelet

Inspiration and a new leather bracelet with geometric adornment

You might wonder where you can get inspiration to create something. Ever change you make or have is an opportunity to discover something new. Last week I got myself some new tools, mainly punch tools. I wanted them to make nice and clean incisions wherever I needed an incision; until now I used my Stanley knife but for small incisions it didn't work well, either they turned out crooked or too long or ragged. With my new tools I only have to place the punch precisely, a few  hammer strokes and I have a nice clean cut. I took a little scrap of leather and tried them out: wow, nice clean cuts. My mind told me I could use this tools to create something filigree but in leather! Next I was thinking about a pattern: it could only have straight lines seen my tools! On a piece of checked paper I tried some combinations and decided on a combination of X"s and straight horizontal and vertical lines. I applied it to my bracelet, added the clams and here is the result:

leather cuff with geometric motif

leather cuff: geometric details

When using this bracelet, the pattern will show itself more clearly.

This item and  all of the shown leather accessories are for sale at my FB page: LoveLea. https://www.facebook.com/denyshildemaria.lovelea

Taking care of leather  or What I am using coconut oil for.

I have a nice pair of Miu Miu shoes but  didn't take good care of them. The result is that the leather has become so hard I'm not able to wear them anymore. They hurt my feet, it's like wearing wooden clogs, not the Scandinavian kind but the one's people who couldn't afford leather shoes wore in The Netherlands or Belgium, 1 piece of wood. I had a quick look at Internet but all suggestions were for stuff I didn't have at home: glycerine, saddle oil, neatsfoot oil. But I do have coconut oil! I poured some in a small bowl and with a cotton rag started rubbing the oil in. I was scared the oil wood make greasy spots, but it didn't; I guess the leather is too dry. (It reminds me of my childhood: we were a family of 7 children and each one  had alternately the task of shining the shoes every night for 1 week, makes 9 pair of shoes every day.) At this moment my shoes have had 2 turns of oil and it looks like the leather is softening: yes I rescued 1 pair of shoes.

When I was last at my daughters, Vicky burned her arm. She wanted to know what her mama had prepared for dinner  and took the lid of the pan and burned her arm. She screamed, ran upstairs, jumped into her bed and continued screaming in her bed. Steam can be very hot and burn severely. We applied some extra virgin coconut oil to the area, a hour later some more and 2 hours later, not a trace of the burn left any more, Vicky just radiant again, isn't that wonderful?

I use coconut oil also for small cuts,  little wounds, sun burn, for chapped lips. When my hair is too dry and all frizzy, I put a bit in the palm of my hands and rub them gently all over my hair; it doesn't give greasy look but it makes your hair nice and shiny.

The most gorgeous sunsets every night.

Where I live, almost on the beach, there is every single night a different sunset, I am truly blessed. I want to share a sunset with you so you too can that nice feeling of peace that every thing nice gives you. Later on I'll post some sunset pictures of my husband, he has some fabulous one's. Now, let peace descend right into your soul!

Sunset above Lesbos.