Today’s Guest Post Is perfect for Holiday DIY Gifts! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! I would like to Thank Adrianne for sharing this post! Please make sure and visit her blog for other great ideas!

Hello Savy Green Saver readers! I’m Adrianne, and I blog over at Happy Hour Projects, where I focus on DIY-projects that are quick and easy.  You’ll find a little bit of everything: jewelry, sewing, recipes, general crafts and beauty solutions – like the one I’m going to show you today!

At one time, my sister was a rep for a beauty company (that shall remain nameless).  I used to let her sell me an obscene amount of products.  I love supporting my family but I wasn’t sad when she quit!  I did, however, LOVE a certain foot scrub. But when my last tube ran out, I started looking into DIY-options instead to save myself some money.

I started looking into homemade sugar scrub recipes.  After checking out a bunch of them, I found that a lot of people had really similar recipes.  That makes sense – it’s nice to put your own spin on it.  I didn’t make them all.  In fact, I didn’t make any of the recipes I found.  I looked at the base recipe, and discovered that they all had this base recipe in common:

Yep.  That’s it.  2 ingredients.  And that is easy.  I have that in my kitchen all the time!  By using organic ingredients, you can also make this an organic beauty solution.

I made it up with coconut oil, and I absolutely LOVE it for exfoliating my feet.  You could also use olive oil or another kind of oil, though keep in mind that if your oil isn’t white or clear, it will affect the color of your scrub.  If you’re going to use coconut oil like I did, you will want to melt it first.  At 77 degrees, coconut oil is liquid.  But below that, it solidifies.

Looks pretty gross, right?  LOL.  30-45 second in the microwave on low power should do the trick, or heat it in a saucepan for a few minutes.  You don’t want it boiling or anything – just warm enough to melt.

Since I was replacing my previous foot scrub (which was a heavenly peppermint scent), I added some peppermint essential oils to my recipe – about a dozen drops per each cup of sugar.  You can find essential oils at craft stores where they sell their soap supplies.  I picked some up when I started making homemade bath salts - and a little goes a long way.  But investing in a $7 bottle (less, if you bring a coupon) was STILL less than I was spending on one tube of foot scrub before, though!

If you don’t want to spend the money on essential oils, or just want to use what you have in your kitchen, some other ideas to try are: a bit of vanilla extract, orange or lemon zest, cinnamon, finely ground coffee – whatever you like the scent of! Adding ingredients won’t change it much, it just makes it smell nice.  If you plan to use the scrub on your face or body you may want to opt for something that is not peppermint.  Peppermint opens your pores (that’s why it feels cold when you use it) and that can be a bit harsh when you’re not using it on calloused feet.

One thing I will note: if you don’t think you will be using this quickly, or you plan to give it as a gift, you should add some vitamin E oil, which is a natural preservative.  You can buy Vitamin E capsules at pretty much any drugstore – just poke a hole in it with a pin and squirt the oil out.  I’d use 2 capsules for each cup of scrub.  Vitamin E oil is also available in bottles.  You can just add a couple teaspoons if you opt to buy it that way.

Homemade sugar scrubs and bath salts make for great, inexpensive gifts – especially as a set.  I found these great jars that fit a little over a cup of scrub at Hobby Lobby.  I love the stainless steel lids.

Because I planned to give these as a gift, I thought they needed something more – you could add a label you print off from your printer, or tie on a cute tag – the packaging gives it a great touch, and it should be your own spin on it!  I went for the simple look, and used my Silhouette machine to cut vinyl labels.

(If you’d like to get the bath salt recipe – visit my post here.  It’s just as easy and economical.)

This is a great idea for homemade Christmas gifts, hostess gifts, or even a little pick-me-up for a stressed friend.  I hope you all enjoyed this idea, and I’d love to see you over at Happy Hour Projects anytime!