Santa's bringing homemade sugar and salt scrubs this year!

This year, M and I have been totally stumped thinking of Christmas gifts for our families. Our parents already have everything they want, and our siblings pretty much do too. Because of that, we decided to do a lot of little things for our family members, and to try and go handmade as much as possible. Who doesn't love something handmade that they can use? I hope our families will love these homemade sugar and salt scrubs. 

First, I made a Pumpkin Pie Scrub, and found the recipe here. I added just a little more pumpkin pie spice than the recipe called for and it came out perfectly! 

Next, I used the recipes I found on that page to make a tangerine vanilla face scrub (which can be used pretty much anywhere, not just your face). To make that one, I added 1/2 cup of sugar and almond oil, 1 tsp. vitamin E oil, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, and 9 drops of tangerine essential oil. 

Then I found this recipe, and made both a lemon and thyme salt scrub and a lemon and lavender sugar scrub using it. 

Here is what I used... (sugar not pictured). We even grew the thyme ourselves during the summer! 

I love lemon zest!

I doubled the recipe... so here are my two teaspoons. Smells amazing already!

The final product! Pictured here: lemon thyme sea salt scrub, lemon lavender sugar scrub, brown sugar pumpkin pie scrub, and tangerine vanilla sugar scrub.

The only thing left to do is to cut out some pretty pieces of fabric to wrap around the top of the little jars and make cute little labels to tie on with festive ribbons. 

I used some of the pumpkin pie scrub in the shower yesterday, and it is AMAZING. I smelled like a cookie and it made my skin so soft! 

Are you doing handmade gifts this year? What are you making? I would love to hear about it. :) 

An Albuquerque Gem

Merry Christmas, everyone!! I thought I would use this Christmas down time to tell you about an amazing shop I came across while shopping with my husband and in-laws in Old Town Albuquerque.

Gabby's Handmade Soaps! 

First, let me say that basically our whole family loves handmade soaps, so this was an amazing find. We were really impressed with the selection, the quality, and the prices. Soaps were 5 for $20!! 

So M and I picked out some wonderful-smelling soaps, along with some shaving soap for him. We were in heaven! 

Black Raspberry was one of my favorites. 

They even had some soaps with funny names, like nasty ass, arrogant bastard, and dog's breath. The dog's breath one actually smelled really good! 

There was even this amazing little fireplace that made the place extra cozy. 

On top of the amazing soap and charming look of the shop, the owner was sooo personable. He was funny and nice, and very informative about the products they have. His son was there too, and he was just the cutest. 

Wanna know the best part? THEY HAVE A WEBSITE... AND THEY SHIP!! Any amount of their products can be shipped for a flat rate of $9. I cannot say enough good things about this place. Wanna check it out? 

www.gabbyshandmadesoap.com 

I hope you like it as much as I do!