More Ideas for Inexpensive Gifts

While exploring the idea of inexpensive gifts to give this year I came across many instructions on how to do some things yourself. I'll be posting on them over the coming weeks and here is the first.

How about a lovely gift of home made soaps? You can pick your fragrances and shapes and arrange them in a nice basket or box. The instructions aren't too bad either:

Materials:
Bars of natural fragrance or color free soap
Essential oils of your choice (Lavender, rose and jasmine work well)
Food coloring
Oats
Vitamin E Oil (Optional)
Almond Oil

Instructions:

1) Grate soap in a blender or food processor.

2) Boil a pot of water and put a glass bowl over the pot, (like a double boiler.)

3) Add some almond oil into the bowl

.4) Add the soap into the bowl.

5) Take the water from the pot and add it into the bowl until soap changes into paste.

6) Add oils, color, and vitamin E as desired.7) Let cool in molds of your choice. You can use anything for a mold - ice cube trays, cookie cutters or your own hand. (To make hand soap, flatten soap paste to approximately 1/4 inch. Trace your hand on to the surface of the paste and mold accordingly. Finish by writing "hand soap.")

8) Air out on wax paper for a day or two.

Experiment! Make different shapes of soap or don't mix the color all the way in. Oats are great for exfoliating. Lavender pieces and rose petals can sometimes mold or rot if you don't air the soap out properly, so be careful. Your utensils should not be used for food afterwards but if you need to, wash very thoroughly.