Pamper yourself (or someone else)

I know it's been awhile, and frankly I've been feeling guilty because I've had some free time on my hands but I just haven't had any projects I've been inspired to work on. There are some bigger projects on my to-do list (paint kitchen, paint bathroom), but I haven't yet mustered the courage to tackle those. In the meantime, I realized there was a DIY project I did this winter that I never posted about: making my own lotion, lip balm, and bath salts.

For Christmas, Sam gave me a bunch of craft books -- he knows how to make me happy. One of them had a section about homemade bath products, and I decided to give some of them a try. I wanted to send something to Sam's mom to thank her for hosting us over the holidays, and also to their family friend who was there over Christmas and gave us some very generous and thoughtful gifts.

All three of them were relatively straightforward. Here's what I did for each:

Lemon lip shine:

Supplies
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
1 tablespoon grated paraffin wax (you may need to grate it yourself, in which case you can use a cheese grater)
10 drops lemon oil
Bowl
Small containers (I got mine at a local natural health store, which sells empty lip balm tins for making your own)
Label (optional) (I bought some patterned labels at Michaels for all three products, then hand wrote on them -- see photos at end)

Directions
Combine all ingredients in the bowl. Microwave until everything is melted (~30-60 seconds). Poor the mixture into the tins, and wait for it to cool to room temperature. It will harden into a lip balm texture as it cools.

Olive oil body lotion:

Supplies
1 cup unscented body lotion (yes, this recipe involves starting with actual lotion, which is kind of cheating, but it's good for beginners like me)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Lemon oil
Container (I used a small glass jar)
Label (optional)

Directions
Mix the lotion, olive oil, and lemon oil together vigorously, add to your containers. Yes, it's really straightforward and basically just involves dressing up existing lotion, but the olive oil makes your skin so soft (I kept some for myself and love it).

Bath salts

Supplies
2 pounds Epsom salt or bath chrystals (I just got white bath chrystals at Michaels)
20 drops lemon oil (you can use different oils for scenting any of these -- like lavender and peppermint -- but I used lemon oil for all of them since the oils can be kind of pricey and I wanted to keep things simple)
5 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 bar unused body soap (I used some homemade goat milk anise and orange soap that my mom gave me from a local Farmers' Market in Middlebury, VT)
Food coloring if you want it to be colorful (I used green and blue to make a turquoise color, surprise surprise)
Cheese grater
Large mixing bowl
Container (I used a medium glass jar)
Label (optional)

Directions
Finely grate your soap. In the bowl, combine the bath chrystals/Epsom salt, lemon oil, and olive oil. Add food coloring as desired. Mix in grated soap. Pour into containers.

Here are all the ingredients laid out:

And here's what I ended with after I'd finished making everything and writing the labels (this is just one complete set, but I made a second one at the same time):

All told it probably took me about 30 minutes, and was a lot of fun. I highly recommend giving homemade bath products a try if you're interested in an easy and satisfying DIY project!