Friday, December 23, 2011

Christmas Scrubs

Merry (almost) Christmas!!  I have been working away (in between having strep throat) on Christmas gifts!  I like the personal element in giving gifts and have challenged myself the last few years to find a project to make to give to friends.  If you are looking for a last minute idea for teachers, Sunday School teachers or someone you want to give to but can't figure out what to do, this is a super easy and very fun project!

I made several varieties of sugar scrubs.  LOVE them!!  They make my hands feel so soft and smooth and I love how it exfoliates them too.  It feels so good rubbing it on my hands.  I hope my friends like them too!


This is the peppermint scrub (after this batch I left the scrubs white which I ended up liking even better but they sure look pretty green too). 


To decorate the jars, I tied a ribbon around the lid of the jar and hung a mini ornament from it and then tied a bow.  I also tied a tag (that told what the product was with simple directions) and a little spoon (to get the scrub out with and to stir it up if it seperates) onto the ribbon piece with various colors of Twinery twine. I also punched a piece of patterned paper and attached to the top of the jar.


I wrapped the Caribbean twine around the spoon for some decoration.


These are the 3 different scrubs I made.  The green peppermint scrub you've seen above, then I made a peppermint foot scrub and a lemon scrub (I did change the lemon scrub after this batch to make it a little "lighter" and it also made the color a much softer yellow.  I like it much better too.)



I love how easy it is to dress up the jars with my twine!  When I packaged these scrubs in a group of 3, I only wanted an ornament on one of them, so on the others I used various colors of twine.  I attached the tag and the spoon with the twine as well.
 
I did TONS of experimenting to find the scrubs that I liked the best!  I thought I would share my 2 favorite recipes below that I tweaked and tweaked until I got it just right.  These won't be exact because after I mixed according to the recipe I had written down I added extra of the ingredients to get the consistency to my satisfaction...a thicker formula or a thinner formula or a stronger scent.

Peppermint Sugar Scrub
3 cups white sugar
1/4 cup - 1/2 cup Kosher Salt
1 cup baby oil*
1 teaspoon Peppermint Extract
*(baby oil was the oil I preferred but you can also use olive oil or canola oil)

Mix all ingredients together.  (If you want it to be green, add a drop or two of green food coloring to the mixture.)  This made 4 - 5 eight ounce jars.


Lemon Sugar Scrub
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup kosher salt
Zest of 1 or 2 large lemons
1 cup oil (I used baby oil)
1/4 tsp Pure Lemon Extract
Juice from 1/2 - 1 lemon (depending on your preference)

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl.  Add more or less extract & lemon juice based on how much scent you want your scrub to have.


These would make great hostess gifts or baby shower/bridal shower gifts too!  I would love to keep a few on hand too for those times that I need a gift and have nothing at home to give.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post!  Have a very Merry Christmas!

16 comments:

Dana F. said...

What a cool idea! I love to give handmade gifts from the heart. Cute packaging, too! Happy holidays, Jen :)

Renee said...

Hi, Jen!
I have found so many of these recipes on Pinterest and this is a project that is a definite for next year!
Along with bath salts, body butter... and possibly soap and lip balm :)
I'm so glad to know someone who actually tried this and your packaging is fabby!
Hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas ! :)

Anonymous said...

Hope you're feeling better Jen! I usually recycle my glass jars but I'm going to start saving them for next year! What a great gift idea. Sometimes I make a brown sugar scrub but lemon would be lovely :) Have a very Merry Christmas!

Jen said...

So fun, I might just have to do this as last min gifts :) Thanks for the recipe & inspiration!!

Jen said...

Question, where did you find the wooden spoons?

Eva said...

I LOVE everything about these! The colors are so FUN, the ornament attached is an awesome embellishment, the scrub sounds wonderful and your use of twine on this project again rocks!! Very nice!

Diane Jaquay said...

What great gifts, and so prettily packaged! I hope you and your loved ones are having a fabulous Christmas celebration, Jen!

Sue Ann said...

Were we separated at birth?? For teachers this year I did lavender sugar hand scrubs :) For a few of the other teachers I used the same jars but did a hot cocoa mix and homemade marshmallows. I made fresh Russian tea and sugared pecans also for the same jars:) I went to the container store ( I am going to try and buy wholesale during the year ) and they were large enough to hold all of the items above so I could mix it up easy. I will have to try the baby oil, I used grape seed oil and a organic course sugar with a pure lavender ....... they turned out really pretty but of course NO PHOTO...... I am always running out the door with no time to take photos these days!! I hope you had a Very Blessed Christmas Jenn!!! Happy New Year if I do not make it back to blog land!!! xoxoxoxo

Karen W said...

Thanks for the inspiration!

Anita Rex said...

Jen this is a FABULOUS gift idea! I think I am going to do the foot scrub for end of the year teacher gifts, perfect for sandal weather! :> I even pinned it onto pintrest so I don't forget!

Christina said...

Awesome! I just pinned this for the next time I need teacher gifts. Love how you dressed them up!

Anonymous said...

Love this! great idea, i'll have to try making some of these for family next year :-)

Amy Kolling said...

Oh how so very creative! Look at that wonderful packaging! The bulbs, twine, and homemade tags is perfect for this gift! So very thoughtful and I'm sure everyone loved them! Thanks for the recipe.....will have to give it a try!

Penny said...

I love this idea! Going on a girls weekend soon, I'm going to make these for them as gifts, thanks so much for the inspiration!

AmethystCat said...

these are awesome, Jen! Thanks for the recipes! I'll be making some. And, I pinned them too to have the ideas. ;) Happy New Year!

Laurie said...

Feeling pretty lucky to have one of these! Thank you SO much for the little gift! You are such a good friend! Glad to have you so close! Now lets stamp again soon!!

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