Bee Outside's Latest

This is a great way to add a little holiday flourish to any candle you've bought or made. The honeycomb pattern is a nice textured contrast to the smooth beeswax candle. We found this tutorial on Better Homes and Gardens. It is easy to follow and not as hard as it looks. You only need a few items that you probably have at home, plus a beeswax sheet. What a perfect gift idea or quick way to turn all your candles into holiday decorations!

 Image via BHG 

What you'll need:

• Tracing paper
• Honeycomb beeswax sheet 
• Crafts knife
• Candle glitter that matches your beeswax sheet
• Hair dryer
• Pillar candle

Click here for the tutorial and bow pattern. 

A small jar of local honey makes a thoughtful, useful, and beautiful wedding favor. We have quite a few people request gallons of honey and dozens of jars for this very reason. This bride added hand-written labels with the couple's names and wedding date as a sentimental touch. You can see that when these jars are lined up and the sun shines through them they make for a romantic-countryside presentation. 

To pour your own jars of honey you will need jars (personally I think these muth jars, bail lid jars, or mason jars are the most attractive styles), a storage tank with a honeygate (this is by far the easiest way to pour honey, but of course there are other ways), lots of honey, and your choice of labels. If you want the same flavor or color of honey it is best to call ahead and make sure we have enough of it filtered and ready to sell. The amount of honey we have on hand varies with the season and it can take days to prepare our raw honey for sale. 

We are pretty excited about these teeny tiny 2 oz honey bears. They are perfect for a honey sample or little party favor! It's hard to tell how small he is but he's about 3" high 1" wide. Have you ever seen honey look more adorable? 

If beekeeping is unfamiliar to you, you might not be aware of the numerous benefits of raw honey. "Raw" honey generally means honey that has not been processed, pasteurized or heated--which destroys the natural vitamins, enzymes, and nutrients of honey. Most store-bought honey is highly processed and not much more beneficial to you than refined sugar. 

-Honey is a humectant: Due to honey's ability to absorb and retain water it is a highly sought after ingredient in moisturizing skin care products. Cleopatra was known to bathe in milk and honey every day to give her that young, healthy glow. 

-Honey is an anti-bacterial: Honey is often used as a healing ointment for cuts. Because of it's ability to absorb impurities and bacteria from the skin, it is the perfect topical mask for minor acne or just occasional zit.

There are hundreds of homemade honey facial masks online, but if you have never tried one before here's a simply lemon & honey mask to try out before you get more adventurous. 

1. Squeeze 1/2 a lemon into a bowl.
2. Add 2 Tablespoons of raw honey (yes, it must be raw).
3. Mix it with a spoon until it's liquid consistency.
4. Make sure hair is out of your face (tip: use a headband) and apply mask all over a clean face avoiding your eye area. 
5. Leave on for 15 minutes and rinse off with warm water. It seems super sticky but will come off very easily with a little warm water.