Sugar Scrub - a mini tutorial

Last year I made lavender sugar scrub for all the women on my gift list. I have seven sisters (remember?) I'm always looking for a little something extra to put with their gifts.

I totally intended to post this before Christmas, but time just got away from me. I figure if I try to wait until next Christmas to post - I never will. Anyway, here is the super duper easy instructions.

You will need:
1 1/2 cups of sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
essential oil for scent (I used lavender)

You might need to play with the quantities of your ingredients to get the texture you want, but those are the basic numbers. It's really hard to get this wrong. I picked up some lavender oil at the vitamin shoppe, but there are dozens of other places to get yummy smelling essential oils. Instead of plain white sugar, I used Domino's raw sugar, which is a little coarser and more like the sugar scrubs you find at the store. But if you want to keep the cost really low, go with plain 'ole white sugar.

Then I bought a case of pint sized mason jars to package them in. The packaging options for sugar scrub are really endless. You could probably hit the thrift store and come home with a gaggle of unique bottles that would make cute little gifts. Of course, glass and porcelain don't exactly mix, so plastic containers might be preferable.

I printed the labels on big shipping labels and used my rotary cutter to cut them to size. I bought a pack of cheap spoons from wal-mart and a 1$ spool of matching ribbon and - voila! A whole bunch of yummy smelling sugar scrub.



I did keep a couple jars for myself and I loved it! It makes your skin super soft and it last forever. It keeps well too. I have a jar that I just recently opened and it's still fresh and smells great.



Molly

Library Totes

I made these totes for my little sister and niece for Christmas and I just love how they turned out. Siera is a little bookworm, so this bag was made just for her many trips to the library. I used this tutorial and it was easier than I anticipated. Great way to use up some scraps!

Louisa's was a little simpler. I just used scraps of fabric in bright colors, hand embroidered the words and attached them to the front of the bag with some fusible webbing and then permanently attached them with a decorative stitch in contrasting thread.

I also hand embroidered each girls' name on the shoulder strap. I love the little things like that that make a big impact.

The girls both totally loved their new bags (which each had a new book inside, of course) and I'm already mulling different themed bags I can create. The bag itself was just a basic tote, tutorials are a dime a dozen all over the web. I used canvas straps that can be purchased by the yard from your craft store.

I was seriously off pace from last year's homemade Christmas, but I did squeeze in a few other homemade gifts. You can check them out over on my flickr stream.

I'm in the midst of some health issues that should hopefully be resolved quickly so I can get back to crafting! The next thing on my list is homemade goodies for the kids joint birthday parties next month. I'm certain I'm more excited about it than them. :)

Molly