Homegrown Collective February 2014 Verdict

Today I got a chance to dig into my "Honey, how Sweet it is" Homegrown Collective Box.  I was determined to make the lipbalm and, if there was time, the wood butter.

Little did I know how easy these things were going to be to make!  So quick and easy. 

The directions are clear but measurements are loose.  Ingredients are listed in "parts".  The lip balm was 1 part beeswax, three parts Grape-seed Oil and three drops of honey.  Their suggestion was to work with teaspoons.  I wished that it had said how many lip balm containers this would fill.  As it was, I filled both with a little left over.  There is a bit of guess work based on your texture preference for your balms.  I like mine more mooshy than hard which means more oil than beeswax.

I used their bowl in a skillet filled with water as my homemade double boiler.  Melted the wax, added the oil and added three drops of honey.  I then added a drop of watermelon fragrance that I have for my soapmaking.

The one problem that occurred was the honey NOT mixing in.  I could not get it to dissolve at all.  Im a little nervous that I'm going to find a blurp of honey halfway through my lip balm!
In every other respect, these turned out great!  I gave one to my husband and one to myself and I love the texture and the taste (who would have thought honey and watermelon would mesh so well!).

Above shows the raw honey with included dipper, beeswax in little crumbs and the bottle of grape-seed oil.  The pink thing is actually a silicon cupcake paper that I used as a mold for making the wood butter.

The second project was making Wood Butter.  This is just beeswax and grapeseed oil melted together, stirred, then poured into a mold.  I think this was the only thing not provided and technically I could have used the included bowl but I thought my silicon cupcake papers would be more fun.

In order to test the wood butter, the folks at Homegrown  Collective included some sliced almond wood cross-sections for use as coasters.  The directions said to sand them down and take off the bark but I left the bark on for character. :)
In the above photo, you can see the untreated wood along with my unmolded butter.  The challenge on paper was to take photographic evidence of the difference in the wood before the butter being applied and after.  So I did!

Now these are great for coasters with the beeswax acting as a water repellent.  How fun is that!?  I had a great time today doing these crafts.  They took just the right amount of time and provided immediate gratifacation!  I'm wearing my lip balm and using my coaster as I sit here!

Verdict: Fabulous fun!  Great opportunity to do something new and adventurous without leaving the house.  I still haven't made the sugar scrub so there's still more to do!  I'm going to make lip balms for family for Christmas!  This box provided MORE than enough materials for each project so I have PLENTY left to do whatever I want with.   I am hooked!  This is a great value.  It gets you out of your comfort zone and helps you accomplish things you never would have tried.  It's worth every cent in experience alone!  It also seems a fantastic way to do a project with your kids that teaches as you go.

How do you feel about a subscription box like this?