With this year’s giving season right around the corner, I’ve been thinking a lot about the people I love and the things I can do for them over the next couple of months. I’ll be honest, I LOVE gifts! I love making them, I love watching people open and appreciate them, and, yes, I love receiving them. Does that make me selfish? Probably, but it’s the truth. As much as I love gifts, though, I don’t love clutter, and the idea of just collecting more “stuff” gives me a little bit of anxiety. So . . . I’ve been thinking about gift ideas that are either experiences, or something that can be consumed (or used up). Along those lines, I came across this book, and thought I’d share it with any of you that might be interested in making your own gifts this year.
Make and Give Home Apothecary: Easy Ideas for Making & Packaging Bath Bombs, Salts, Scrubs & More includes instructions and packaging ideas for twelve different projects. The author, Stephanie Rose, uses herbs and things that she grows in her own garden, but gives suggestions on where to find those ingredients for those of us with less-than-green thumbs.
Some of the things I love about this book include:
1- It’s full of gift ideas that are handmade and consumable.
2-The instructions are easy to follow, and the pictures are beautiful
3-These gift ideas are things that can really help people.
4- Making some of these things may result in my gaining a new hobby!
The author has kindly given me permission to share one of these fun recipes with you. As a side note, many of the ingredient measurements are weight measurements using grams. If you can’t face measuring in grams, here’s a link to a “gram to ounce” converter for you:
Peppermint Coconut Sugar Scrub
Peppermint and coconut pair perfectly when it comes to brightening up your skin AND your day. Mint has a cooling effect on the skin and coconut oil is a wonderful skin moisturizer. Plus, the fresh and tropical aroma will work wonders for your mood. This is a scrub that will make your skin smooth and soft, without the need to apply lotion after the shower.
Makes 400g sugar scrub
Ingredients
250 g of sugar
125 g virgin coconut oil, softened
1 mint tea bag
10 drops peppermint essential oil
Spirulina powder (optional)
Make it!
Lay out your ingredients. Note: set the coconut oil out in a warm place so that it softens but does not completely melt. Look for the consistency of softened butter for baking
In a bowl, cream together the sugar and the coconut oil.
Empty the contents of a tea bag into a small bowl.Sprinkle the herbs into the sugar scrub. You can choose as much or as little you would like to add, keeping in mind that adding more herbs can make the scrub more abrasive.
To give a minty green color to the scrub, add in some spirulina powder as a natural colorant.
Add 10 drops of peppermint essential oil.
Stir the ingredients together and scoop into a lidded jar.
Give it!
Package the scrub in a jar with a chalkboard label, then use a liquid chalk pen to write the label. Wrap jute twine around the top of the jar just under the lid and tie in a bow.
Reprinted with permission from Make & Give Home Apothecary by Stephanie Rose, © 2018. Published by Leisure Arts.
This post contains affiliate links, which means if you make any purchases using the links on this page, I will receive a small commission. This comes at no extra cost to you.
