Showing posts with label My Creations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label My Creations. Show all posts

4.30.2015

DIY: Handmade Sugar Scrub - Great Gift Idea!


Sugar may not be good for you when you eat it, but it's definitely great for your skin.  Sugar scrub is a fantastic exfoliation method, and personally, living here in Utah with a very dry climate, it's a MUST for my skin needs.  It needs to both moisturize and scrub away dead skin cells-and to be completely honest, it has to smell amazing at the same time or I want no part of it.

When Kristina and I got together to make our handmade bath salts last Christmas as gifts, it occurred to us that some of our friends didn't have bathtubs-so giving them bath salts would be kind of a crappy gift.  That's when the idea of putting together a sugar scrub came to life and it was almost as easy and inexpensive as the bath salts.  

  • Sugar (white or brown)
  • Base Oil (I prefer coconut, but Olive or Almond are also great)
  • Essential Oil (make sure it's not just a scented oil-it needs to be essential so it's safe for skin and not chemical)

Your ratio for this mix is going to be 2|1.  2 cups Sugar to 1 cup base oil.  Coconut oil is pretty responsive to temperature so I had to heat mine up for about 30 seconds to make it mixable.  As for the essential oil it can take quite a bit more to stand out with this mix, so I put about 20 drops of essential oil in mine to make the smell stand out.  For this tutorial I'm using Lime, which goes wonderfully with the coconut.  I also threw in about 2 drops of food coloring.  I used green to match up with the lime.

When we picked did our bottles of sugar scrub in bulk for gifts we hit Costco and bought a huge bag of sugar (25lbs-I still have about a quarter of it in my cupboard) for about $10.  The Coconut oil was a little more money, we bought 2 giant jars of it for about $25 at costco, but I've since picked up some smaller jars (which are great for a batch or two) at Trader Joes for only $5 each.  They probably even out to about the same cost in the long run.

Olive oil was definitely cheaper, but it doesn't smell nearly as good.  However, it was totally necessary since I have a friend who's allergic to coconut and I really wanted to make her some sugar scrub.  I also used olive for my dad since it smelled a little more "manly."


Put it all together and mix it up.  It smells amazing and it's totally natural and safe-it's even edible, though I don't recommend eating it-it's not necessarily good for you even if it does taste kind of awesome.  Throw it in a jar and put it in your bathroom.  It has a shelf life of about 2 months (or more if you keep it in a cool dark cupboard so the oils don't sour) but you'll probably use it all up before that time.  It's so inexpensive and easy you can use it like crazy and not worry about breaking the bank.


What flavor would you want to make/use?



3.11.2015

DIY: Make Your Own Bath Salts - Great For Handmade Gifts!

DIY: Make Your Own Bath Salts - Great For Handmade Gifts!

Making your own bath salts is not only inexpensive, but it's a relatively quick and easy process to do. Last Christmas, Kristina and I got together and made a ton (like 50 or more jars worth) in many different scents and colors to use as holiday gifts.  I mean we did Lime (which I called Margarita), Peppermint, Eucalyptus, Lavender, Orange, Mixed Citrus, and lemon grass.  We even took the time to think about who would like which scents better and I made adorable little labels for them.  They were a huge hit! 

DIY: Make Your Own Bath Salts - Great For Handmade Gifts!

  • Epsom Salts
  • Sea Salt
  • Essential Oils (don't just use scented oil, it needs to be safe to put on your skin)
  • Food Coloring (optional)

Jasmine Essential Oil Handmade Bath Salts

For this tutorial I decided to go with Jasmine.  It's one of the few scents I don't use a lot, and I thought it would be lovely to have at least one floral thing in my bathroom for when the mood strikes.  Honestly, the scent I use most is Lavender for relaxation/sleep, but Jasmine is great for mood boozing (it's an "antidepressant" scent), and it's great also for relaxation and relief of sore muscles & cramps.

No, I'm not going to sell you essential oils-seriously I bought this one for $5 at a health store-there is no need to spend $30 plus on essential oils for this project.

DIY: Make Your Own Bath Salts - Great For Handmade Gifts!

Your ratio for the salts is going to be 1|1.  1 cup Epson salt to 1 cup sea salt.  We went to Costco and bought in bulk-I think we paid about $6 for several pounds (more than enough) of Epsom salt and $3 per large jar of Sea Salt (it took about 3 jars of Sea Salt for each bag of the Epsom salt-but was still inexpensive.) I think to make about 50-75 jars cost s around $30 in salts and oils.  The jars were another story, we picked up a bunch at the dollar store which was nice.

So a single recipe is 1 cup Epsom salt, 1 cup Sea Salt, 8-10 drops of essential oil (more or less-some scents will be stronger and some will need a few extra dashes to smell like you want them to), and about 2-3 drops of food coloring.  Doubling or tripling is easy-we did a lot of that with big batches.  Pour it all together and mix it up well.  Your house is going to smell amazing.

DIY: Make Your Own Bath Salts - Great For Handmade Gifts!
DIY: Make Your Own Bath Salts - Great For Handmade Gifts!

Here are some of the cute gifts we gave out for the holidays-they were a huge hit.  We put some ribbon on them, matched them up with some handmade sugar scrubs (recipe coming soon!), and put these cute labels on them.  The labels were just in the printer section and I used markers-they're not waterproof at all, but they worked just fine for a gift.

DIY: Make Your Own Bath Salts - Great For Handmade Gifts!
DIY: Make Your Own Bath Salts - Great For Handmade Gifts!
DIY: Make Your Own Bath Salts - Great For Handmade Gifts!
DIY: Make Your Own Bath Salts - Great For Handmade Gifts!
DIY: Make Your Own Bath Salts - Great For Handmade Gifts!

Which scent would you want to make or bathe with?


 

2.05.2014

Free Printable Nail Polish Valentines

Free Printable Nail Polish Valentines

Who says V-day has to be all about romantic love?  You know what kind of love I want to celebrate on the big love holiday?  Girlfriends.  That's right-who's better than your best gal-pal to treat or send love to?  Especially when it comes to all the pretty pinks and red-they just scream "Spoil your girls!"

So I created a free downloadable set of valentines for you that are all about your best gal pals!  You can print them out on photo paper or cardstock, cut them in squares, and hand them out!  Even better?  I recommend punching a hole in one of the colors and using some pretty ribbon to attach the little card to a bottle of nail polish for your best girl-friends.  Nail polish for valentine's day?  YES PLEASE!

Let me know if you download it-I'm excited to share it with you! :)  This is an 8x10 sized print.  :) 

Free Printable Nail Polish Valentines
Click here to download the full-size printable



This post was written as part of the 14 Days of Love Series at Crafty Night Owls!

1.03.2014

Olympic Ski Jumps, Dating Duds, & Word Art

I confess... I really enjoy these Flipagram year in review videos.  Here is a very quick glimpse at some top moments of 2013 for me:


 I confess... I had a fantastic after-Christmas party with my friends. It was so much fun!

Ashler Christmas 2013Playing Crokinole Christmas 2013Group Hug Christmas 2013

I confess... I was sort of seeing this guy last week.  Yes, that's exactly how I'd put it.  We were talking all through Christmas and really hitting it off.  Then we met for coffee, did pretty well, so I went to watch movies and cuddle at his house the next day... We texted throughout my party on Saturday, and I woke up early Sunday morning for a surprise date with him (all he told me was dress warm).   He took me up to see the ski jumping qualifications for the Olympics, which was really cool! 

Olympic Ski Jump Qualifications Park City UtahOlympic Ski Jump Qualifications Park City UtahOlympic Ski Jump Qualifications Park City Utah

I confess... I even got to see Lindsey Van (one of the big names in the sport) qualify-here's one of her jumps!


I confess... I was just starting to really get into said guy who took me on said date when he pulled the disappearing act.  It was so out of the blue, and not in what seemed to be his character that I felt like I was just left spinning.  What the hell just happened?  How can someone who seemed previously so on suddenly just ignore me?  Jerk.  Seriously, I thought he was such a nice guy-but was sadly mistaken I guess.

I confess... They say the fastest way to get over someone is to get onto someone else.  Well, I'm just going to keep moving forward and leave the trash from 2013 in 2013.   

Frida Kahlo Quote

I confess... I finished up the gifts for Kristina and my godkids at the last minute before going up to spend NYE with them.  Here is what I made them:

Grey's Anatomy Quote on CanvasKids Canvas Name/Word ArtKids Canvas Name/Word Art

I confess... I found these two photos on my phone from my Seattle trip-I don't think I'd ever shared them before, but look how cute:

Seattle Trip 2013

What do you have to confess this week?
Linking up with:
Friday Confessional at High-Heeled Love

10.31.2013

Happy Halloween Sale!


Since I love Halloween, I decided to offer a 30% off sale on everything in the shop through Sunday at midnight!  Seriously, it's such a good deal!  If you've had your eye on anything-now is the time to get it!  Here are some highlights:

Dia de los Muertos Hoop Art - $17.50

Dia de los Muertos skulls - $14 - $17.50

Fall Themed Art - $10.50 - $14


Also this last fall beanie is only $16.10


Plus there is so much more int he shop too!  Just go on over and see!


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