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Tuesday, February 9, 2010

User post: Easy DIY Holiday Gifts

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While the White House and Wall Street state the recession is almost over, here on Main Street that does not seem to be the case.  Seems like everyday I hear about more layoffs and people struggling to get by.  So what can you do in this tough economy when discretionary $$ are scarce and the holiday’s are just around the corner. 
 

Below are easy DIY holiday gifts that will please and delight any recipient.  Additionally they are eco-friendly. 

Relaxing Lavender Sugar Scrub

1/2 cup of jojoba oil
3/4 cup of white cane sugar
1 teaspoon Vitamin E
1/4 cup almond oil
6 drops of lavender essential oil

Directions: Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Mix until combined, and then pour into desired container. 

Rejuvenating Body Scrub

3-4 drops of Peppermint Oil
5 tablespoons of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon carrier oil such as almond or grapeseed.

Mix the peppermint oil and sea salt together.  Add the carrier oil and then add enough water to moisten the mixture. 

Candy Cane Bath Salts

3 cups of Epsom salts or sea salts
3 Teaspoons of Sweet Almond Oil
9 drops of Peppermint Essential Oil
1 drop of red food coloring (more if you like)
1 drop of green food coloring 

Get three bowls, in each of the bowls add 1 cup of salts, 1 teaspoon almond oil, 3 teaspoons of peppermint essential oil.  Add 1 drop of each of the food coloring to two of bowls.  You will end up with a bowl of red, green and white.  Let sit a few hours. 

To create the candy cane effect layer layers of each color, a layer of red, a layer of green , a layer of white, over and over until you fill the jar. Decorate the jar with red and green ribbon, candy cane gift tags or several small candy canes. 

Euphoric Fizzy Bath Salts

Sea Salt--3 tbsp
Baking Soda--3 tbsp
Citric Acid--1 tbsp
Essential Oils--8 drops
Jar--4 oz

Choose 3 or 4 oils from these essential oils: Champaca absolute, Clary Sage, Grapefruit, Jasmine absolute, Linden absolute, Myrrh, patchouli, Rose, and Ylang Ylang.  Add sea salt, baking soda, citric acid and oils to jar. Gently shake to mix ingredients.  Add to tub of running water. 


Essentail Oils has sample bottles of essential oils and sea salts starting at $1.  These are great for experimenting with essential oils and creating bath and body products and skin care products.

For more skin care recipes and skin care articles visit Complete Skin Care Therapy 


Klutz - Natural Beauty Book -

A celebration of beauty without artifice, The Natural Beauty Book is filled with wonderful ways to treat your skin, hair and nails. Think of it as a complete home spa experience in a book. It features more than 60 simple recipes, for everything from bath salts and facial masks to tub infusions and hair rinses, all made using easy-to-find ingredients from your kitchen cupboard. Attached to the book is a complete personal home spa kit, including a facial loofah, a nail brush, a pumice stone, and vials of fragrant essential oils.
 


    In Making Faces, Kevyn Aucoin, North Americas preeminent makeup artist, shares his secrets, explaining not only the basics of makeup application and technique but also how to use those fundamentals (sometimes in unconventional ways) to create a wide range of different looks.



Oh yeah, check out my "green" gift ideas here on Shine at Go Green This Christmas 

Related: homemade bath recipes, holiday gifts, diy gifts, christmas gifts, christmas, beauty, bath and body

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From the Community…

Comments 1-10 of 46
  • justokay's Avatar
    Posted by justokay Sun Nov 22, 2009 5:00pm PST

    Wow - these all sound great!

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  • MrsKlingonPasadena's Avatar
    Posted by MrsKlingonPasadena Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:52am PST

    These are very interesting.

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  • M.J - Fierce Beauty and Fashion's Avatar
    Posted by M.J - Fierce Beauty and Fashion Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:52am PST

    These sound awesome and easy to do! I just might make some just for me! :)

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  • Cristina's Avatar
    Posted by Cristina Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:57am PST

    who has any of these ingredients? by the time you purchase all the stuff that goes into it, you could have just bought a gift- for probably the same amount of money or less.

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  • CarolB's Avatar
    Posted by CarolB Mon Nov 23, 2009 2:27pm PST

    in response to Cristina - if you consider how much you can make when you purchase the ingredients it is cost effective. Also the ingredients will keep for other special gifts to make later on in the year. Also, you will not find a nice all natural, no chemicals, scrubs as nice as these for the cost and they are eco-friendly. it is a win win for the earth and you.

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  • Em24's Avatar
    Posted by Em24 Mon Nov 23, 2009 4:06pm PST

    well christina lets see, i have epsom salt, i have the food coloring, and almond oil doesn't cost that much and I will use it for lotion, and the peppermint oil you can get at Walmart on the cheap. And I will be able to use it agian and it's eco friendly and that means if i use some of it in the bathtub it wont be gross crap going down my drain.

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  • Mary's Avatar
    Posted by Mary Tue Nov 24, 2009 6:01am PST

    Check out the Martha Stewart website. There are great ideas for DIY gifts there as well. My husband and I are going to be pretty broke this year, so we are already planning on making our gifts. He just bought a screen printer for his business, so it looks like everyone will be getting a custom designed t-shirt!

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Comments 1-10 of 46

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