TristinandCompany: Day 10: Lemon Hand Scrub with Mel the Crafty Scientist

Hi guys! I'm Mel the Crafty Scientist (my blog is actually The Crafty Scientist) and I'm so excited that Tristin asked me to be a part of the 12 Days of Christmas here because I LOVE Two Girls Being Crafty and I am thrilled to be included in the lineup of insanely talented ladies!

I love to make projects using stuff I already have and that don't usually take too long and this Lemon Hand Scrub is a perfect example of that. I actually found the recipe for this lemon hand scrub here at Under the Table and Dreaming last year and made some of it to give as gifts to friends and family members who loved it! It was awesome for everyone, including the super-masculine guys who work with cars and get lots of oil and gunk on their hands because it actually helps get that off. And I think gifts are always more fun in pretty packaging so I'm going to show you how to make the scrub, a pretty label for the jar, and a Martha-worthy ribbon to decorate your present!

For the Scrub

2.5 cups sugar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons of lemon juice

For the Container & Packaging

Free Lemon Printables you can find here (printed out on sticker paper or cardstock)
Mod Podge + brush
Mason Jars (the scrub recipe is for a 12 oz. jar, but you can obviously recalculate to fit into whatever size jars you want!)
Ribbon
Scissors
Glue gun and hot glue

First, you want to gather up all your scrub ingredients. Then, you want to simply mix them together - the sugar, the extra virgin olive oil, and the lemon juice.

You get a sort of egg and sand looking mixture that looks a bit like this...

As you stir, it gets a little bit more like a mixture and less like a sand castle with moat...

You stir it up and put it into a jar (the amounts here will yield 12 oz. or so of the scrub) and seal it. It will separate over time, but if you just shake the jar up or use your fingers or a popsicle stick or something to stir it up, it'll mix up just fine!

Then, you want to download your free printable labels, found here. These actually came from the amazing, super-cute Wendy at Wendolonia (she made orange and lime versions too, originally for marmalade labels)! Wendy gave me permission to share the versions that I made, complete with sugar scrub label, with you all here! You can download the .png or .jpg versions from Box.net here and then simply print them out. There are 12 on a sheet and you can print them on some sticker paper or some nice white cardstock.

Then, you just want to grab your 2" circle paper punch and punch them out. You can cut them out by hand if you don't have a paper punch, but I'm not so good at cutting smooth curves so I needed the assistance...

Then I just used some Mod Podge to attach it to the lid of the jar and put some Mod Podge on top of the label so that it's protected from wet hands that might try to open it! (It's held up pretty well over time, but after about a year, this one does look a little dirty, unfortunately, but I promise, yours will look better... at least at first!)

After you put the labeled lid together, you might want to put a pretty ribbon and bow on it. Basically, you want to cut enough ribbon to wrap around the fattest part of the jar and just use a dot of hot glue to secure it. I'm showing you how I made this bow with wire-edged ribbon from the Dollar Tree...

Then, cut two pieces of the same length to make the loops for your bow. Put little dots of glue to keep the loops set.

Then, you want to glue one loop over the top of the other loop.

To make the bow look even more like a real bow, I sort of folded the bottom of the ribbon up a little.

Then, cut another small piece of ribbon and wrap around the middle of your two loops and glue in place.

Then you want to cut two small pieces of ribbon and cut "V" shapes into the ends and glue to the back of your bow.

A bow worthy of Martha!

Just glue to the ribbon you had around the jar and it's a gorgeous little present that you made with stuff you probably already have on hand (and even if you didn't, it costs almost nothing)! (You can see how fast it settles too - I literally stirred it up, made the ribbon and took pictures of that and went to take pictures of the finished product and it had already settled quite a bit, but it mixes up again just fine.)

Pretty, right?

Last year this was a big hit with the friends and family... and I might have even kept a jar for myself too because I loved it so much!

A big thanks to the crafty girls for letting me guest post here today. I'd love it if you came to visit me (and shared your experience if you make any scrub!) at The Crafty Scientist! Feel free to check out some of my other tutorials that might make awesome gifts...