Make it: Home Spa Day: Lip Balm, Soap and Bosdy Scrubs

Pucker up! With personalized flavors and labels, homemade lip balm will give you plenty of reason to smile. From the Emmy Nominated episode of Creative Juice - "Take a Break Basket"

Materials:
2 tsp. beeswax
2 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. oil (grape seed, olive, avocado or hemp)
1 tsp. honey
vitamin E capsule
essential oil or cake flavorings
lip balm containers
disposable plastic pipettes
packing tape
optional: old lipstick & lip balm filling tray

1. Use a double boiler on low heat (or a medium size glass bowl placed in a saucepan partially-filled with boiling water) to melt the beeswax. When melted, add the oil. Use caution, wax is a highly flammable substance.

2. Remove mixture from heat and whisk in honey and vitamin E oil (pierce capsule with a pin or scissor tip), whisking until there are no clumps. Optional: add a shaving or two of lipstick to create a sheer lip color.

3. Let mixture cool, but not harden, before adding approximately five drops of either an essential oil or cake flavor of choice. When using oils, use only essential oils -- lip balms are in constant contact with your mouth and fragrance oils do not taste good and should not be consumed.

4. Pipe into containers (available on-line from thesage.com ) and refrain from moving until hardened.

5. Make paper labels and apply to the tubes with packing tape (packing tape is the same width as lip balm tubes).

Break the mold with countless combinations of scents, colors and additives that give handmade glycerin soaps a unique personal style. From the Emmy Nominated episode of Creative Juice - "Take a Break Basket"

Materials:
1 lb. melt-and-pour glycerin soap base
essential oil
bar mold
spray bottle with rubbing alcohol
plastic cling wrap
microwave
medium glass bowl
optional: additives such as lavender, peppermint, etc. & glycerin soap colorant

1. Cut a 1 lb. brick of glycerin soap base into 2" cubes. Place cubes in a glass bowl and cover with plastic cling wrap to keep excess moisture from evaporating. Melt on high for one minute and stir until melted.

2. If desired, add a few drops of colorant and/or additives to the soap and blend thoroughly. Add several drops of essential oil to the mixture and blend.

3. Pour the soap into molds. Spray the soap surface with rubbing alcohol to remove excess bubbles. Allow the soap to harden/set for several hours before popping it out of the molds.

4. Package the soap in a paper sleeve trimmed with decorative scissors, place it in a cellophane bag or wrap it in tissue paper. Embellish paper labels with ribbons, stickers and rubber stamps and attach to the packaging.

When things get rough, fight back with granular body scrubs! Let them do the dirty work for you! From the Emmy Nominated episode of Creative Juice - "Take a Break Basket"

Sugar Scrub Ingredients:
2 c. turbinado (raw) sugar
1/2 c. avocado oil
1/4 c. apricot kernel oil
essential or fragrance oil (we used ginger and vanilla)
honey
plastic screw-top jar for storage
shrink bands sized to fit jars
embossing or heat gun

1. Mix together sugar, oils and honey with fragrance or essential oils.

2. Spoon the mixture into containers, seal and label with a sticker or pre-made label printed on sticky paper.

3. Insert the jar through the shrink band sleeve. Apply heat with an embossing or heat gun. The band will shrink and wrap around the jar, sealing it closed.

This recipe makes approximately four 4-oz. containers.

Salt Scrub Ingredients:
2 c. coarse sea salt
1/2 c. avocado oil
1/4 c. apricot kernel oil
essential or fragrance oils (we used cucumber and green tea fragrance oils)
honey
plastic screw-top jar for storage
shrink bands sized to fit jars
embossing or heat gun

1. Mix together coarse sea salt, oils and honey with fragrance or essential oils.

2. Spoon the mixture into containers, seal and label with a sticker or pre-made label printed on sticky paper.

3. Insert the jar through the shrink band sleeve. Apply heat with an embossing or heat gun. The band will shrink and wrap around the jar, sealing it closed.

This recipe makes approximately four 4-oz. containers.

Handmade Soaps Are Perfect Little Gifts

Handmade soaps are the perfect little holiday gift. They are so simple to make, and with the countless combinations of scents, colors and additives that give handmade glycerin soaps a unique personal style, you will be hooked on this easy craft.

This time of year, we like to add a drop of peppermint oil to soaps for a holiday scent. Lavender and bergamot, lemon verbena and tangerine are also favorite scents. To create an exfoliating soap, add a little oatmeal to the melted soap.

Soap molds are available in many different shapes and sizes. Traditional bar molds are perfect for creating large bars of soap. Smaller guest-size molds are available in many shapes: hearts, shells, stars, holiday trees and small rounds.

Local craft and fabric stores will generally stock the items needed to get started. Thesage.com is an online supplier that carries many different scents and additives as well as products for making lip balms and body creams.

Once your soaps are made, you can package them for gift giving in a variety of ways. Tissue paper makes a quick and easy wrap, cello bags with a little fiber shred are perfect for bundling a few smaller bars together and personalized labels can be made with rubber stamps or printed directly from your computer.

We guarantee that once you try this fun and simple craft, you will be creating soaps for yourself and to give as gifts. We would also bet that your friends will be thankful for the personalized and thoughtful gift.

Materials:

1 pound melt-and-pour glycerin soap base

Essential oil

Bar mold

Spray bottle with rubbing alcohol

Plastic cling wrap

Microwave

Medium glass bowl

Additives such as lavender, peppermint oils and glycerin soap colorant (optional)

Packaging: tissue paper, cello bags, ribbons, labels

Cut a 1-pound brick of glycerin soap base into 2-inch cubes. Place cubes in a glass bowl and cover with plastic cling wrap to keep excess moisture from evaporating. Melt on high for one minute and stir until melted.

If desired, add a few drops of colorant and/or additives to the soap and blend thoroughly. Add several drops of essential oil to the mixture and blend.

Pour the soap into molds. Spray the soap surface with rubbing alcohol to remove excess bubbles. Allow the soap to harden/set for several hours before popping it out of the molds.

Package the soap in a paper sleeve trimmed with decorative scissors, place it in a cellophane bag or wrap it in tissue paper. Embellish paper labels with ribbons, stickers and rubber stamps and attach to the packaging.

Make it: Goats Milk Soap

Easy Melt and Pour Goats Milk Soap
with essential oils

I have always ordered my soap supplies from MMS because the "craft stores" usually don't stock very many soap/lotion making supplies or real oils. I was surprised when I stumbled upon a new item at Michaels so I thought I would give it a test run. It is a melt and pour Goats Milk soap from Lilly of the Party.

I love Goats Milk soap and have I splurged on zum bars from Whole Foods. They are about $4 for a small bar! Worth every penny - especially if you go to the Pasadena Whole Foods. It is like a mall - huge cosmetics area! I get lost for hours.

The MP soap base was $9.99 and no I did not have my Michaels coupon! We made 9 good sized bars of soap. Over all the base was wonderful...Very smooth, bubbly and great on the skin.

Step 1. Cut the big bar into chunks on the score lines.

Soap Cubes.

Step 2. Microwave or melt on a double boiler.
10 sec. intervals. 6 cubes took 50 sec. in my low watt microwave

Step 3. Add essential oils to the melted soap.
We made each bar a different scent.
Only add a few drops to each bar.
For peppermint and eucalyptus only add 1 drop.

1/2 of my oil collection

Combinations we made:
Bergamot/Lavender
Geranium/Green Tea
Peppermint/Eucalyptus
Green Tea/Lavender
Chammomille/Lavender/Green Tea
Geranium/Bergamot/Lavender
Peppermint /Lavender

Step 4. Pour into soap molds - let them cool 1 hour or until firm.

You can add other dry ingredients to each mold.
We made one bar with oatmeal.
Just place a palmful of oatmeal into the mold
(just after pouring) stir to combine and let cool as normal.

other dry ingredients you could add:
Lavender
Rose Petals
Dried Lemon Grass
Dried Flowers
Dried Orange Peel
Crushed Azuki Beans
Dried Tea

Homemade Soaps

Making homemade melt and pour soaps, is as easy as it sounds, all you need to do is melt and pour! The fun part is getting creative and decorating the soaps

Materials:

1 lb. melt-and-pour glycerin soap base
essential oil
soap bar mold
spray bottle with rubbing alcohol
plastic cling wrap
microwave
medium glass bowl
optional: additives such as lavender, peppermint, etc. & glycerin soap colorant

Wrapping Materials: tissue or decorative papers, rubber stamps, ink pads, ribbons, stickers.

1. Cut a 1 lb. brick of glycerin soap base into 2" cubes. Place cubes in a glass bowl and cover with plastic cling wrap to keep excess moisture from evaporating. Melt on high for one minute and stir until melted.

2. If desired, add a few drops of colorant and/or additives to the soap and blend thoroughly. Add several drops of essential oil to the mixture and blend.

3. Pour the soap into molds. Spray the soap surface with rubbing alcohol to remove excess bubbles. Allow the soap to harden/set for several hours before popping it out of the molds.

4. Package the soap in a paper sleeve trimmed with decorative scissors, place it in a cellophane bag or wrap it in tissue paper. Embellish paper labels with ribbons, stickers and rubber stamps and attach to the packaging.