This is going to be a loooooooooong blog post.....so long in fact, that I am going to have to split it into 2 or 3 parts! I was gifted with some wonderful containers from SKS Bottle and Packaging, and I thought it would be a really fun idea to make a whole head-to-toe inspired DIY gift basket set using their containers:
I really wanted to make this a complete head-to-toe experience, so I made products for the head all the way down to the toes. Wax melts, facial mask and serum, hair conditioner, handmade soap, body mist, body/foot scrub, shaving soap and a milk bath with a bath cookie and soap :) With the Christmas season approaching (yikes!), this would be a great gift for anyone special who could use a little pampering. And in the last post, I am going to include a download with the printable labels that I made for these containers (if I can figure out how to do that!) :)
I decided on a fall-inspired Apple Raspberry theme for this gift basket. The first thing I made was this cute Apple, Pecan & Raspberry layered wax melts in a glass candle jar:
Now, I purchased the wax melts to put in there...I could have made them - but I would have to buy all the molds and all of the candle scents and colors, so instead I chose to buy them already made. If I was an experienced candle maker (which I am not), I definitely would have used these embeds to make a yummy pie candle, but because I do not know how to make candles, I stuck with just layering the melts, which can be melted in a tart warmer.
Next, I made a facial clay mask. I used a recipe that I found on Wholesale Supplies Plus:
Dry Facial Mask:
Recipe adapted from here:
0.5 pound Kaolin Clay
0.5 ounce Aloe Vera Powder 100x
1.5 tbsp Rhassoul Clay (I used Bentonite, but other clays would work too)
Fragrance Oil (amount according to suppliers recommendation)
Mix the dry ingredients together with a fork. Drizzle fragrance oil over dry ingredient mixture, a little at a time, and incorporate with the fork until the fragrance oil is fully blended with the powders.
3 easy ingredients!
I found it was easiest to use a piece of paper to pour the dry ingredients in the bottle:
I used a French Square Bottle with a Cork Stopper for this facial mask:
To Use: Place 1 to 2 scoops of dry mask into a small bowl. Add just enough water to make a paste. Spread paste on face, avoiding eye area. Let mask dry and then wash off with warm water.
And of course, no gift basket would be complete without a bar of handmade soap! I made an Apple Raspberry soap using raspberry seed oil and raspberry seed powder.
I used a recipe that I adapted from Lovin' Soap. I will insert the video for the soap here, and I will post the recipe below the video:
Apple Raspberry Cold Process Soap:
Recipe adapted from here:
158 grams Coconut Oil
152 grams Olive Oil
38 grams Red Raspberry Seed Oil
38 grams Rice Bran Oil
37 grams Cocoa Butter
30 grams Castor Oil
Gold Mica
Red Mica
Fragrance Oil of your choice (I used and apple fragrance for the bottom and top layers and a raspberry fragrance for the middle layer)
I used 160 ml of distilled water to dissolve 63.5 grams of lye.
I added a small amount of raspberry seed powder to the red portion of the soap.
If you make any substitutions above, you must recalculate the lye amount!
As a side note, this was a lovely slow-moving recipe to work with, it's definitely a keeper! :)
That's it for now, next blog post I will continue on making some goodies for this apple raspberry gift basket! A special thanks to SKS Bottle and Packaging for sponsoring this post!
Cee :)