I want to be that crafty mom who whips up personalized cards for each kid in her child's class at Valentine's Day and who surprises the neighbors with cute little jars of make-it-at-home brownie mix at Christmas. I want to sew little dresses for my daughter and build garages out of soap boxes for my son's Hot Wheels collection. I want to decorate my home in homemade decorations that don't actually look like homemade decorations.
I want very, very badly to be that person!
But the truth is, no matter how badly I want to cut and pin and sew and paint like the best of them, I have little natural affinity for such tasks. I'm really good at thinking, "Oh! I could do that!" but then scrapping the project once it's halfway done because there ain't no way it's going to look like it's supposed to look.
You can only imagine how much I love Pinterest. I love it. LOVE IT!! I scroll through all the new pins at night as I lay in bed next to the baby and think, "YES!" "Pin that one, biotch!" and "I can so do that!" Clever ideas and simple DIY projects that even *I* can accomplish. It is because of Pinterest that I've actually started to learn to sew. And that's the beauty of it, really...I am actually *doing* things I have seen on Pinterest.
And that (finally) brings me to today's post. Since I am trying to be domestic and all, I made Homemade Sugar Scrub for Christmas presents.
I saw this homemade sugar scrub recipe on Pinterest. The extreme cuteness of the jars drew me in. The simplicity of the recipe and the inexpensiveness of the project sealed the deal. It was off to Hobby Lobby for me!
And here is where my Crafty Lessons really begin. The first thing I learned is that Hobby Lobby, mid-afternoon on a Saturday two weeks before Christmas, is craaaazy.
The second thing I learned is that I wasn't all that prepared. I ended up having to buy the jars, Mod Podge, paintbrushes with which to apply the Mod Podge, a few stickers, and the ingredients for the actual sugar scrub (which is just sugar, olive oil and essential oils, but I didn't have enough on hand to use).
But once I had everything, I was ready to roll.
The first thing I did was decorate the jars. This was my first time using Mod Podge and HOLY WOW I kind of loved it. I am embarrassed to admit how fun it was.
I decided to decorate the jars with stickers because I had a bunch already on hand (although I did end up buying some Texas stickers because, well, who doesn't want a jar with Texas stickers on it, right?). So, I stuck them on the jar (and the lid!) and applied the Mod Podge.
While it was drying, I mixed up the sugar scrub. I made two batches. For the first batch, I followed the directions from the original exactly. I noticed that it was a bit oily for my personal liking, so I made the second batch a teeny bit different.
Here was my recipe (this made enough for four jars, each serving being about a cup of sugar scrub):
- 4 cups of sugar
- 1 cup olive oil (you can always add more oil if you think you need it)
- About 35 drops of essential oil (if you want to use different scents, divvy the mixture up into bowls first and use about 8-10 drops for each serving)
Once the Mod Podge had dried I applied another coat and then filled up the jars with the scrub.
I made labels for each jar as well. This was easy...I made them out of scrapbook paper and (what else) Mod Podge. I wrote the ingredients on the label and attached them to the jars with curly ribbon.
And now...for the finished products!
This one was for my sister-in-law (using stickers I had around the house):
I made this one for my mother-in-law, who really likes Texas and who really likes guns:
This is the label, which would not have been complete without an Alamo sticker (right?):
Butterflies for my other sister-in-law:
And Wizard of Oz for my sister, who likes the Wizard of Oz (and I was secretly thrilled to find a use for these stickers, which have been sitting in my scrapbook sticker collection for probably eight years now):
And from the top!
The lids were on tight but I didn't trust them to stay that way in the mail, so before I mailed these I wrapped them up good and tight in plastic wrap (this step smooshed my curly ribbons and labels but was way too important to skip - imagine the mess sugar and olive oil could make traveling across the country).
The finished product is really great (it works!) and was very well-received. Everyone loved the jars (which can be re-used once the scrub is gone, or even sooner if they hate the scrub and want to dump it out!) and was excited about the scrub (this stuff smells goooood). The fact that they are homemade was just the icing on the cake.
I don't know what the final cost was to make them...I made 7 jars and I'd guess it was about $5 per jar, but that is only because I had to buy so much stuff to get started AND I had to ship several. For future jars, I'll only need to buy the jar (and I'll be keeping an eye open at Hobby Lobby and Michael's so I can pick up several when they are on sale) and the ingredients.
And with that, my first "big" Pinterest project is complete.
It may be small, but it's a start...One step closer to being Domestic Mrs. Lindsey.
BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE.
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