Make Your Own Heating / Cooling Pads

Sometimes called "bed buddies" or "stress busters", these nifty
little pads can be tossed in the microwave and used as heating pads
for sore, aching or tense muscles, or tossed in the freezer and used
as cooling pads!

The Insides

You can fill the pad with dry rice, corn, bird seed, or a combination
of all of these.

Add spices, herbs and/or essential oils - when heated the pad will
smell wonderful. A combination of allspice, ground cloves, ginger
and nutmeg makes a nice Christmas smell. The combination of herbs
below are purported to soothe a headache:

Dried lavender
Marjoram
Betony
Rose petals
Cloves
Rosemary

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Add a few drops of
essential oil if desired. Cover and leave for a day or two, stirring
occasionally to distribute the herbs.

The Outsides

Quickie pads can be made by using an old tube sock and sewing up the
ends.

Other materials:

An old towel or washcloth
Flannel (cut up an old flannel shirt or nightgown if you have one)
Muslin

Simply cut the material into rectangle pieces, 2-3 times longer than
the width. Fold lengthwise and sew up the sides. Spoon in the
mixture and sew the top end closed.

If you'll be giving these as gifts, you might want to go one extra
step and make an outer pouch that's pretty, and washable. An outer
pouch also helps protect the skin from excess heat or cold. Follow
the same basic
instructions as above, but make the outer pouch just a little larger
than the inner. On one end you might want to include a strip of
velcro to close the pouch and hold the inner pad in place.

Added embellishments might include a loop of material or ribbon on
both ends to use as a handle, a strip of satin ribbon folded over
the edges
for trim, or a embroidered design. Just remember, whatever decoration
you use should be soft, not scratchy or hard.

To Use

Simply pop the pad in the microwave and nuke for 2-3 minutes (time
will vary depending on the size of your pad). To use as a cooling
pad, place in the refrigerator or freezer.

Caution! One of our readers wrote in with a cautionary note about
heating pads catching fire from smoldering on the inside. This may
occur

when the water content of the filling is dried out and burned from
many re-heatings. One possible solution is to place a cup of water
in the
microwave when heating the pads, to keep the interior moist. Another
solution would simply be to replace the filling after so many
heatings. I bought a similar product at a flea market and they
recommended spritzing it with water before nuking it so as not
to "kill" the filling, and make it last longer. Makes sense.

http://www.make-stuff.com/formulas/heating_pad.html