Zipper Flowers
I've been watching The Secret Circle on Hulu, and made some more zipper flowers. Yay for multitasking. lol I made my first one with three different zipper colors, and I found some many vintage buttons!
Homemade Bath Salt
As another part of the gift basket I made for the wedding present, I also made my own bath salt. It was super easy to make, and it's really easy to customize to the colors you want. It momentarily brought me back to my childhood when I would make sand art.
1. Gather your ingredients. You will need a clean glass container. Make sure it is completely dry, so that your bath salts don't start reacting to the water when you pour them in. You will need some epsom salt, which can be found in the first aid section of many drug stores. Food coloring or natural dyes that match your color palette. And lastly you will need some essential oils in your choice of scent. I got mine at Michael's, it's vanilla pomegranate.
2. Measure out two cups of epsom salt to begin. Some recipes call for sea salt as well, but I just kept it simple.
3. The ratio is slightly less than one teaspoon of essential oil to one cup of epsom salt. Be careful not to overdo it, as some have allergic reactions when it is in excess. Some essential oils are also not safe for pregnant or nursing women, so make sure to read the packaging.
4. Mix in coloring. I made three small batches with the the two cup batch, and then ended up adding more to each color batch so I could completely fill my bottle.
5. Layer different colors any way you like, I just let mine happen as it pleased, and it ended up slightly oceanic like waves.
DIY Soap
One of my friends recently got married, and I made a DIY basket full of goodies for them, since I'm a college student. lol One of the gifts I made them was soap. Everything I made them was teal, white and light green. I was going for a peaceful/beachy feel.
I had some extra soap while in the process, so I whipped some up for myself, and my other friends and family.
1. Gather your ingredients. I bought a chunk of soap at Michael's, instead of making it completely from scratch. I used essential oils and/or natural food extracts to scent my soaps. You could buy soap dyes, but I just went with grocery store food coloring. For the containers, I used silicone muffin pans.
2. I also bought some dried strawberry seeds, to be used as a natural exfoliant. I've heard of coffee grounds being used in soaps as well.
3. Cut your soap into chunks, the giant piece already had ridges in it, so I used that as a guide. (All the measurements were arbitrary, so start with small measurements at first until you find the right balance.) I started out with almost two cups of soap chunks. Melt in a microwave-safe container, stirring occasionally until smooth.
4. Mix in your strawberry seeds until you like the texture.
5. Add in your color. Start out with one drop, stir and add more if desired.
6. Stir completely, or you could try to not mix it completely, so a marbleized appearance is the result.
7. Pour the soap mixture into your containers. I did multiple layers of different colors, so I only filled the cups part way.
8. Wait for it to solidify, or be impatient like me and speed it up with the fridge. When the soap feels slightly cool and solid, it's good to pour more on top. Pour the next layer evenly and slowly so that the colors stick together.
9. Fill the cups to your desired finish level and let cool completely. I just left mine in the fridge overnight. The silicone baking pans make removal and cleaning a breeze.
And you're done! Individually wrap each soap and tie off with a bow! I've always had problems with little bubble-holes in the top of the final layer. If anyone has advice on how to avoid this, please let me know! :)
And oh course I gave the pretty ones away, and kept the imperfect ones for myself, like always. I even do that when I make baked goods. lol
Cereal Hearts
I really need to buy a cereal saver, like the plastic containers that help your cereal from going stale- like in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Since I don't have one, I had a box of Cherrios go stale. Luckily, with my love of Pinterest, I found a tutorial to make a bird feeder with cereal. See it here.
I don't really have access to a tree like she does, so I just hung it above my patio. No birds have taken a bite at it yet, and I'm hoping their weight doesn't make it warp or fall.
Finally flowers!
I have been so bad about blogging lately! School has swamped me with projects, but I finally did get some flowers for my recycled vases. I bought some carnations for myself before Valentine's day. The only living plant in my apartment is a bonsai tree that's three years old, and my view out my window isn't very inspiring as you can see below.
Next I want to try growing my own herbs again. Basil smells so amazing!
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