Sunday, December 6, 2015

Homemade Christmas Gifts

Wow! It has been several months since I have written a blog post. I am hoping that my followers have not abandoned me. I will be working harder to create a new blog every few weeks again. Since it is the Christmas season I decided to post several wonderful cheap, easy, and fun gift ideas. I was busy making many of these this past weekend and had lots of fun.

Sugar scrub

Pour sugar into medium sized mixing bowl

Add coconut oil until desired consistency is reached; stir

Place a few drops of peppermint essential oil into the mixture

Divide your sugar scrub mix into two equal portions

Add a drop or two of food coloring into one of the portions (be careful not to add too much!)

In mason jar, alternate pink and white layers of sugars to create a “candy cane” effect. Press sugar down with a spoon to compact between layers.

Print sticker label for the front of the jar and add with a bow to gift.


I personally love the scent of Cinnamon and the scent of Vanilla. They remind me of the holidays and winter time. So I decided to make a Cinnamon Vanilla Sugar Scrub…and let me tell you…this one smells so good! I think it is now my favorite so far I love the texture of this one. This sugar scrub is a little bit different than my other ones because I added some Raw Cane Sugar. This sugar has a larger granule and I love the feeling and the exfoliation it along with the smaller granules of the white sugar. You will need the following materials to make this scrub recipe.


Cinnamon Vanilla Sugar Scrub

1/2 cup White Sugar

1/2 cup Raw Cane Sugar (baking aisle)

up to 1/4 cup oil (Olive Oil, Almond Oil, or Coconut Oil)

1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract or Essential Oil

2-3 drops of Cinnamon Essential oil (I personally buy my oils locally from The Rosemary House in Mechanicsburg)

dash of cinnamon (optional)

Mix all of the ingredients together and place in your favorite container.


Lip Gloss

This was a very easy and fun recipe to make, I believe it only took me 5 minutes to make.

What You'll Need

Petroleum jelly
Coconut oil
Powdered Jello or Essential oils

Scoop out the coconut oil and petroleum jelly into a microwave safe bowl using a 1 to 1 ratio. (We used 1/2 cup each, and it makes lots)

Put it in the microwave for 30 seconds and then mix the mixture with a spoon until almost smooth.

Using a separate bowl, measure out 4 teaspoons of the oil and jelly mixture and 1 teaspoon of the powdered jello. This amount fit my containers perfect. (If you do not want to use Jello mix than you can substitute that for essential oils instead.)

Let them set up over night and you have lip gloss. Please note, these will not add color to your lips, they do however have a slight flavor. You can add more jello to make the flavor more intense.

Sugar Cookie Body Butter

My skin gets super dry and itchy in winter, and regular lotion just won’t cut it. I love using rich and creamy body butter to keep my skin soothed and nourished, so I was thrilled to discover that it is incredible simple to make at home. This homemade whipped body butter is thick and luxurious, and you can use any scent or fragrance that you like – I made my batch a sugar cookie body butter (yum!)!

What You’ll Need:

Coconut Oil
Raw Shea Butter
Almond Oil
Fragrance or Essential Oils, if desired (I used Sugar Cookie Fragrance)

In a small saucepan, melt the oils together over low heat. I used 1/3 cup each of the coconut oil and shea butter(I ordered mine on Amazon, check you local organic grocery stores) and 2 tbsp almond oil. Carefully pour the liquid oil into a chilled bowl, mix in 20 drops of fragrance or essential oil, and allow to sit until the oil begins to harden. You can throw the bowl in the fridge if you want to speed up the process, but be careful not to let it get too hard! You want the oil to be firm, but not solid, for the next step (about the consistency of softened butter). When the oil is ready, whip with a mixer for several minutes until the body butter is fluffy and the volume has increased.

This recipe makes just over a cup of body butter, so it fits perfectly into one of these short little mason jars. Package it with a cute bow, and you have an easy peasy DIY holiday gift that’s ready for giving!




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