Pinter*Mel Christmas 2012 - SPOILER ALERT FOR FAMILY

Hey Everyone (except for family, because if you're reading this, then the presents currently sitting under the tree from me are no longer a surprise...however they might not be already because I've been posting quite a bit of stuff to Facebook, in which case, carry on.)

This year for all the ladies in the family I decided to make my own version of the natural beauty box; a box full of lotions, lip balms, bath bombs, and linen spray all made by yours truly and only using all-natural ingredients. 

I purchased all I would need to make these back in early October from a great online retailer called Savon Populaire out of Montreal. Yes their website it completely in French, however if you're using Google Chrome their translate button will help you out. 

Here's the numbers I started out working with:

First of all I went to the Dollar Store and picked up some nifty little wooden boxes, which I proceeded to paint with watered down acrylic paint (acts like a stain so you can still see the wood grain), and then sealed with Polycrylic. 

Then I started into making lip balms. I used the kit from Savon Populaire, and purchased their vanilla flavouring. I found that the flavouring was lacking in the vanilla'y department, so I added the vanilla I had purchased for making bath bombs. I also made lip balms that are flavoured with the orange essential oil, and then another set with the peppermint essential oil that I also purchased from Savon Populaire. 

(Sorry for the abysmal lighting, I took this with my smart phone during sunset.)

This was stupidly easy. Seriously. If you ever want to do this with your kid as a birthday party favour or something, they could totally do this with your supervision of course...because there's a stove and boiling water involved. Okay, upon review this might not be the safest thing to do...iirc I think I ended up burning myself. Forget what I said. 

Then, once they were cool and set, I minimalistically labelled them. Orange for the orange flavour, green for peppermint, and yellow for vanilla. The labels are basic shipping labels with Sharpie paint marker paint. 

After that I decided to make Christmas cards because a) stationary was on for $1.50 at Michael's, and b) stamps were on 40% off, and then were on 'buy one, get one for a cent' sale!

I had initially done the entire inside of the card in the hand-stamped letters; "To So and So, Merry Christmas, Love Evan and Melissa xoxo". However when I showed it to my fiancé he said it looked a wee bit ransom-note'ish, so I decided to just go with Merry Christmas and write the rest. 

Those were all sent out today...so if you're family and reading this, the surprise is now ruined. You'll get your card in 2-3 business days. 


On to the body butter. I made this from a kit from Savon Populaire as well. I made two different kinds; one was lavender/lime and the other was a scent called "Day at the Beach", which is a combination of grapefruit, bergamot, and coconut. 

Wine was needed. 

This was also stupidly easy. It's impossible to mess it up. You melt the stuff they give you, add the scent, and then load it into the containers. Wait for it to cool/harden, then close'em up, wipe'em off, and label'em. 

On to bath bombs. I made 5 different kinds this year. Vanilla, Day at the Beach, Lavender/lime, Lavender/chamomile, and then straight up orange for the littles. 

I packaged them all in individual cellophane packages with hand-stamped labels. 

And finally, I did the linen spray. Which is really just water, witch hazel, and the essential oil of your choice. I did 3 kinds; orange, lavender, and vanilla. 

That's it! Done. Not so bad, eh?  

I'm not going to show you the packaged up version, because there has to be some holiday surprise! But needless to say all of the stuff went into each person's painted box with a list of all the ingredients in each product. 

So that's it! All the ladies are done for Christmas! DIY styles! 


What presents did you DIY this year?



Cheers, 

Melissa

Christmas Prep Project #1: Bath Bombs & Shower Tablets

Last night I decided to take the plunge and start messing about with SCIENCE!!! (Prepare to be blinded!)

I put in a massive order to a company out of Montreal called Savon Populaire (don't worry all you non-French speaking folks, Google Translate does a great job of translating this site into English) last week, and all my goodies safely arrived this past Friday. 

So last night I decided to start playing around with two projects: 1) Homemade "Vick's" Shower Steamers, and 2) Bath Bombs. 

The shower steamers were dead easy, and I used the recipe from Frugal by Choice; seriously, baking soda, water, and a sh*t ton of eucalyptus (and lavender if you so choose). 

They should look like paste, but smell like awesome. I left them out overnight to dry, however when I got up this morning they were still a little wetter than I wanted them to be so I popped them in the oven for 10 minutes @ 350F, and that seemed to do the trick. 

[PRO TIP: Be mindful when taking them out of the oven, as they'll be ready to come out of the molds, and you could very easily end up with one in the bottom of your oven.]

I tried one of the finished shower tablets in the shower this morning, and they dissolve pretty quickly, and I definitely want more eucalyptus smell. SO next batch will be bigger and have like 5x's as much eucalyptus in it (and maybe some peppermint, it's frigging STRONG). 

Next I moved onto bath bombs. Admittedly I have NEVER worked with citric acid before, so I had no idea how easily this stuff would fizz up when it was in contact with even the most minute amount of water. Hats off to people who make these for a living, it's an exercise in patience. 

I used the recipe found here. 

Verdict: 
The orange ones (scented with orange and vanilla) in the top right-hand corner were my first attempt. I quickly learned that I had used too much water because it activated the corn starch which made them rise like a loaf of bread. I was able to still get a bath bomb out of them, however their fizz left a lot to be desired. 

The green ones (scented with peppermint) in the bottom right-hand corner turned out much better as the measurements were much more balanced. However, I think I overdid it with the peppermint, as I'm certain that if you added one of those to your bath you would have clear sinuses for a month!

The purple ones (scented with lavender) in the middle are pretty awesome. They have just the right amount of scent, and in the kitchen sink test beat everyone hands down in fizziness. I can wait to try these ones out this week. 

The blue ones (scented with a mix called "A Day at the Beach" which is pink grapefruit, bergamot, and orange, with aromatic essence of coconut), are also completely awesome. I think next time I will use slightly more scent though as they're a little weak smelling for my liking, however they could be perfectly fine for other folk's senses. 

I now feel the overwhelming urge to make them pretty, by using ACTUAL molds and not muffin tins...that we use...for actual muffins. 


So there you have it! My maiden voyage complete! Sorry for the spoiler family, but you'll be getting these and some other awesome handmade beauty products for Christmas this year. 


Cheers, 

-Melissa