Homemade Lotion

I wanted to post this before Christmas but it would've ruined the surprise to my friends and family who read my blog.  I try to make Christmas gifts every year.  I can't afford to spend $20+ per friend/relative these days so making gifts makes it all the more special.  Last year I made laundry soap, but it didn't turn out so great.  After a month of using this homemade soap, my towels started to smell funny.  Needless to say, there's nothing like good ol' store-bought laundry detergent.  I can't remember all what I've made in the past years but nothing turned out quite as good as my homemade lotion that I made this year.

These beauties were so easy to make and they didn't cost very much at all.  I found the little containers at JoAnn Fabrics and used a 20% off coupon, too.  They were .75 cents a piece.  I used ribbon, labels and bows that I already had.  I suppose I could've printed the labels to make them prettier but I don't ever have colored ink so I hand-wrote them with glitter gel pens.  The coconut oil was around $6.50 and I got three containers out of each jar of oil.  The essential oils were anywhere from $9-$15, depending on the oil.  I'm never very good at figuring out how much each cost to make but it's roughly around $6-$9 each, depending on the essential oil(s) you choose.

All you do is put some coconut oil in a mixing bowl, beat it with a hand mixer until smooth and then add your favorite essential oil and mix.  I used lavender, bergamot, sage, peppermint and lemon.  I mixed and matched different flavors.  That's it!  After a day or two, the body butter will solidify more in the container but it can be used right away.

I've heard raves over these lotions.  There are 100 uses for coconut oil, which I plan to blog about soon.  In the meantime, these lotions are fantastic for dry, cracked feet, legs after shaving and dry, scaly skin and hands.

Maybe I'll open my own shop one of these days!

Flower Pens - Great Teacher Gift

My daughter wanted to give her preschool teachers a gift last year for Teacher Appreciation Week.  I loved these pens so much, I made some of my own and they stayed in a vase on my kitchen table all summer long.  They are super easy and super cheap if you find the flowers on clearance.

I bought a package of pens for around $2.  I already had florist tape so I'm not sure how much that is.  I found a vase for .79 cents and a bag of pretty stones for around $2.  I split this bag of stones between three vases.  Each vase got 3 pens and her lead teacher got 4 pens.  I found the flowers at Walmart for .50 cents a piece.  So I spent around $12 to make 3 gifts.

To help the bulkiness of the pen, I used wire cutters to strip the green plastic off the flower stem to expose a thin wire.  I used the florist tape to tape the thin wire to the pen. 

 

I took brown construction paper and lightly crumbled it into the bottom of the vases.  Then I divided the stones.  This helped fill the vase, made it look more like dirt and helped the pens stay in place and not get broken on the stones.  This wouldn't be needed if you use a small flower pot.

 

Other variations: Use a small pot instead of a vase and glue ribbon around the vase to make it more colorful. Use aquarium stones, rice or sand. Add a small hand trowel with the flowers and tie a ribbon around the handle.

 

Then, simply add a note:

 

"A teacher's like a gardener

And this is so you'll know

We surely do appreciate

How you helped the children grow"

 

Make Your Own Clothes Soap

Every year for Christmas, my sisters, mom and I try to make gifts for everyone.  Not only does it save a lot of money, but we are big believers in putting our heart and soul into gifts.  In the past, we've made candles, soup/cookies in a jar, decorative potpourri warmer,

pottery, baked goods, just to name a few.  Some of you have read my bust on candle luminaries,

which turned out to be the biggest pain in the rear end that it ended up being a birthday present for my sister.  Ok, that didn't sound too good.  It took about 12 balloons to make 3 luminaries and they still cracked when I looked at them because they were so stinkin' fragile.  The point is that my sister really liked them and I hope they hold up well for her.  Anyway, this year, my bright idea for Christmas presents was to make homemade laundry soap.  Probably one of the best homemade gifts I've made so far.

My kitchen smelled so good for weeks and I actually liked doing laundry.  This recipe, including the jar and scoop only cost a little over $2 per jar to make.  There are up to 56 loads per jar, which came to about 2 - 3 cents per load.  I added Purex crystals to the jar mostly for color but is not necessary.  This recipe will fill four mason jars.

6 cups Borax
4 cups Baking Soda
4 cups Washing Soda
2 bars of Fels Naptha laundry bar soap, shredded
5 capfuls of Purex crystals (optional)

Shred both soap bars in a large bowl.

Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Divide into four mason jars.  You can print this label if you want to give it as a gift.  I've never used Google docs before so if the link doesn't work, shoot me an email jillzy@columbus.rr.com and i'll send it to you in an email.

You only need a tablespoon of soap per load.  Believe it or not, it does a pretty good job.  If you have an HE washer, you'll notice that your cycles won't last quite as long.  It's a low-sudsing recipe which gets your clothes clean but doesn't make your washer work hard.  It's gentle enough for baby clothes so you can save a lot of money by not having to buy Dreft.

Fabric softener is not necessary but since it's winter, I add about a half a teaspoon of softener just to avoid static electricity.  You can even put a squirt of vinegar in your rinse cycle and it will make your clothes super soft.  No, it won't make your clothes smell like vinegar.  Try using it on your bed sheets.  Ahh!!!

Baking soda takes the smell out of your clothes, washing soda softens the water and Borax enhances the soap, and of course the soap cleans.

I would love to hear how you like this soap, or if you have a different recipe, leave a comment below.

Happy laundrying!

Candle Luminaries

I love making Christmas presents.  My husband would say the reason for that is that I'm "tighter than a tick's ass", which is true, but mostly because I love getting homemade gifts and I especially love giving homemade gifts.  They're unique, they take time and I always think about that person while I'm making their gift so it becomes personal.  I found these candle luminaries online and I'm so glad I got started on this project early.  Most of my readers know how much I love crafts and I especially love trying new crafts, but this one......  it took a high rating on the patience bar.  Sorry, family and friends.  You're probably not getting these this year.  There's not enough time in the day to get enough of these done. 

So here's what you do:

• Melt wax in a double boiler.  180 degrees is optimal temperature.
• Fill a balloon with barely lukewarm water.  The best size is about a tennis ball size, (which will eventually look like the far left side in the above picture).  Try to get as much air out of the balloon as you can before you tie it.  The middle one was full of water.  The far right one... well, the balloon was goofy and it had a weird shape when I filled it with water.  You can try to blow up the balloon to stretch the latex and then fill with water to get a more round shape.
• Slowly dip the balloon in the hot wax, but be careful not to dip above the water level or the balloon may break.

• Lift the balloon and repeat 2-3 times.
• Place on a cookie sheet or plate to flatten the bottom of the balloon.  Allow to cool for a minute or two.
• Repeat this process at least several more times.

Here's the tricky part:  You have to try your best to dip the balloon each time to the same level at the top.  If you allow a few layers to be super thin, you're luminary will rip towards the end of this project.  The top line of the melted wax must be just as thick as the rest of balloon.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  We'll fix that later. It just needs to be thick.  The black balloon is a good example.  It didn't make it because the top line wasn't thick enough.  Also, don't hold the balloon in the hot wax for more than a few seconds.  The wax will stick to the balloon and it won't survive the next step.

• Once I got the thickness I wanted, I placed the balloon in the freezer for a few minutes.
• Take a skewer, pin or toothpick and carefully pop the balloon in the sink.  You WILL get wet!  It's best to pop the balloon quicker, rather than slower for a couple of reasons:  A small, slow hole will squirt water a lot higher and farther than you'll be prepared for, and if the wax stuck to the balloon, it will make your luminary fall apart.  Here's another important tip:  manipulate the little air bubble to the top in the balloon and pop a hole there.  Much quicker, more efficient and you'll get wet.  Just sayin...

• Now we'll perfect the top.  I used a glass pie pan and placed it on a very, very low heat on the stove.  Set the top of the luminary on the warm plate until the edges are even.

Voila!  Place a battery-operated tea light inside and you've got yourself a very cool luminary.

These luminaries were a pain in my bee-hind to make.  I used a 2-pound block of wax, 11 balloons and I only got 3 luminaries in two days.... all for one of the kids to poke a side in and ruin my one and only best luminary (it was my 11th one I made).  These babies are super fragile but oh-so-neat.  The good thing about this project is that if you screw up, put the wax back in the double boiler and use it again.

So there you have it.  A super cheap and easy craft to make for Christmas gifts, but only if you plan on spending a lot of time over a hot splattering stove.  Once I can get more balloons, I'm sure I'll be back to make more.  I'm obsessed over this because I can't end my project like this.  I will work on it until I perfect the darn thing. 

A Fun Craft to Try

I'm finally getting over a severe sinus infection.  For two weeks, I've laid around the house not wanting to do a thing.  The house would be a wreck and I didn't care.  My husband would come home from working all day and he would start cleaning the house because I just didn't feel like doing it.  (Thank you, Honey!)

Yesterday, I got so much energy back, I didn't know what to do with it all.  So I invited the neighbor gal over to play with my 3 year old and we did a big craft.  We had so much fun with it that my 7-year-old came home from school and she made one, too for her teacher for Teacher Appreciation Week.   This is how we did it:

Color a white coffee filter with markers.  Be generous with the coloring.  Squirt the coffee filter with water and allow to dry.  Insert a pipe cleaner and then bunch the filter to look like a flower.  You can add tape to make sure it stays.

Next you're going to decoupage an empty water bottle.  Cut up pieces of tissue paper, set aside.  You can make your own decoupage solution by pouring elmer's glue in a small container and add a little bit of water.  Use a paint brush or a sponge and paint the glue over small sections of the water bottle.  Add the tissue paper and overlap the layers.  Use the paint brush to "paint" the edges of the tissue paper down.  If you put one layer of tissue paper, it will look more like stained glass, or you can add a couple layers of tissue paper to give it more of a bold color.

Once your bottle is dry, add the flowers and enjoy.  You could even spritz a bit of perfume on the flowers for an added touch.

For my daughter's teacher's present, she wrote a sweet note and we tied it on with curling ribbon.  You can even add orzo noodles, rice, sand, or small stones to weigh the bottle down.  Happy crafting!

If you like this craft, check out my other crafts such as:


Window Crafts
Yarn Crafts
Paper Plate Crafts
Homemade Toys for Toddlers & Preschoolers