handmade holidays

I love to give handmade gifts for any occasion but I especially enjoy giving handmade at Christmastime. Last year I made and gave a few different gifts like these little pins for my friend's children, chocolate bark and some of my prints packaged up nicely. This year I decided early on that I would try to make a sugar scrub to give to my girlfriends. I looked through a few different recipes until I found one that looked simple enough and then made up a batch before Katia was born, as I knew I wouldn't get anything done after she was born.

The results were great! I really was impressed and happy with how easy it was to make the scrub and how lovely it felt on my skin (I had to test drive the product first!).

I also had a lot of fun packaging up the scrubs in little mason jars with cloth covers and little wooden scoops. I bought the scoops in a shop in PEI this past summer and knew I'd use them for this project. I would suggest scouring dollarstores for little spoons or a kitchen shop or a shop in Chinatown for something similar (if you have a Chinatown...we don't here in the Yukon).

I would definitely recommend this recipe to anyone who wants to give it a go. It was a super easy project and like I mentioned, the results were lovely... it really softens the skin and I love to use it on my feet! And bonus, you most likely will have many of the ingredients in your cupboard!

Candy Cane Sugar Scrub

3 cups of granulated sugar

1 cup of olive oil

a few drops of peppermint essential oil

In a bowl mix the sugar, oil, and essential oil together until well combined. Experiment with how much peppermint oil you want to use. Start with less and add in more until you get a nice but not too strong scent. When you have a nice scrub consistency, spoon the scrub into little jars and decorate them however you like. This scrub can be stirred up if it settles.

I hope you enjoy this simple recipe. Stay tuned for my simple handmade baby gift...I'll post about that soon! And how about you? Did you get up to any crafting this holiday season?

xox