Sugar Lip Scrub | DIY

This is a DIY I've been meaning to get round to - this tiny jam jar some what inspired me, and having sitting in my room I thought I ought to do something with it. Whether it was just to use it for storing something e.g. food or to actually make something to go inside. I've been wanting to make a lip scrub for a while, as I have made one before (which wasn't the best) and I've actually purchased one from LUSH in the past. But after finally getting round to doing a little DIY, it made me think how easy lip scrubs are to make - never shall I purchase one again! 

This weeks post will therefore be a quick and simple sugar lip scrub DIY!

What You Will Need...

Some of these are definitely optional; the flavouring, colouring and ribbon - just adjust it to your needs!

The first step (this is pretty simple and very quick!), is to measure out around 3 or 3 1/2 teaspoons of sugar (I used white) into a small mixing bowl. I didn't necessarily measure exactly, I just went with what seemed right and it turned out pretty good, so just add as much or as little as you want. I then added some 'Extra Virgin Olive Oil' apparently this works best? I think I added around 1 teaspoon, basically until the consistency was to my needs, considering I was adding some more wet ingredients later. I then went and added the almond extract and was very careful as it is strong, but this gave it such a lovely scent as well as flavour. This next step is actually also optional but I added some Vaseline and lip balm, this gives the scrub moisture so it isn't too drying on the lips. To finish off and give it some colour I added a very small amount of food colouring, optional again but I thought it looked quite nice.

That's it! A really simple DIY that literally takes minute, I then placed it in the cute little jam jar and wrapped some ribbon round it too!

As an alternative or extra ingredient you can actually add honey, this is what I used when I last made some lip scrub but as I’m not fond of honey I didn't use it this time. For all the honey lovers out there, this would be a nice ingredient as honey is anti-bacterial as well as a healing ingredient. I have also heard you can add chilli oil can be used as it stimulated blood flow to the area and therefore can give you fuller, plumper lips. However I didn't use either of these as I didn't want to but maybe you do? 

Hopefully you enjoyed reading this weeks post and maybe you'll give it a try? Thank you for reading and have a lovely week!

As a side note I was thinking of adding a quote at the end of my weekly posts. It may be; inspirational, motivational or just a nice quote that you can read to start you off for the week ahead (as my weekly posts normally commence on Sundays!). These quotes won't be to do with the post just a meaningful quote that means something to me and maybe even you.

Are you doing any 'DIY's' at the moment, if so what are they? 

~ We must travel in the direction of our fear ~ 

Christmas gift ideas | DIY and baking

To me it seems Christmas shouldn't be this Wednesday, it's just all gone too fast! But the time has come when we all venture out on gifts and presents to give to our family or friends. Sadly this year I didn't have much money, but appropriately was asked to baby-sit 3 times in the duration of a month - Good for me! So I gained a decent amount to spend on presents, most of which I spent on family and leaving 20 or so pounds for friends. 

Christmas is all about giving and giving a gift which you've put a lot of thought into. I'm a strong believer of not giving money, although that's what my grandma is giving me this year, she didn't actually want to. I can understand as it shows there is minimal thought and just shoving some paper in a card, so I told her I will keep it aside for a warm winter coat! But this year I really wanted to make the presents myself, as well as buying something I know the person will love. 

I'm fond of baking and also a bit of 'Do It Yourself' i.e. DIY. Therefore this year I thought it would be a lovely idea to bake and make something. I decided upon some festive biscuits and a DIY 'Sharpie mug', however I used a 'paint marker' to do this and I actually think this worked better. As well as this I thought I would add some extra personal gifts too. To present this I actually thought it would be a lovely idea to place the biscuits and extra presents within the mug I decorated!

DIY - 'Sharpie Mugs'

This is something I have seen a lot around Pinterest and the internet, originally people use Sharpies - as seen by the name. However I actually used a metallic paint marker which I think worked just as well. If anything I recommend paint markers as they show up more and don't loose their colour in the oven, like the Sharpies would. 

 I recommend buying cheap mugs as normally, the cheaper the mug the thinner the glaze. In this case that is appropriate as it helps the marker sink into the glaze easier when being heated. Once you have finished your design, another tip is when heating the mugs make sure you heat them around 220 degrees Celsius, as well as letting them heat up and cool down in the oven. If you don't do this the china will crack due to the sudden change in heat.  If you are to use a sharpie, two coats will prevent the marker from fading - but only one is needed for a paint marker. When finished hand washing them will also avoid the marker from chipping at all!

Festive Baking!

Baking is something I thoroughly enjoy, no matter how much I go wrong I still find it a very therapeutic hobby - learning from your mistakes is key so you can improve and not make the same mistakes again. So to give some of my baking as a gift I thought would be nice and also a nice idea to inspire whoever reads this.

I decided upon making gingerbread men and shortbread snowflakes!

You can simply look upon the internet to find a recipe, but I chose to use one from Sainbury's recipe book!

The fun part... 

Shortbread snowflakes

Gingerbread men 

Finished!

Time to decorate! (my favourite part)

After baking the shortbread snowflakes I thought adding some edible glitter would give it a festive touch!

Decorating the gingerbread men was very fun, however I decided to package them in cellophane bags and the icing I bought didn't dry so I ended up adding on two small smarties for the eyes! (I recommend using icing that dries to prevent smudging).

Personalise your present

This is the part in which you can simply personalise this gift by adding whatever else you wish! So far this present is all homemade, therefore not costing a huge amount - so if your budgeting this year this is useful. It's not about the cost and its the thought that counts! Therefore I simply added some extra gifts from an online shop at e.l.f. and of course whilst shopping online for friends I couldn't help but buy myself some e.l.f. products as I don't own many, and some products they provide are amazing for the price!

Something I love to do is package my gifts all pretty, therefore I went and bought some cellophane bags and ribbon. 

Alternatives

As well as giving 3 larger presents to 3 of my friends, I also gave others some of my baking wrapped nicely with a card. I think this is a lovely thoughtful and yummy gift, I gave one of these to my form tutor and she was very grateful. If you don't have time you can alternatively just buy some sweets or chocolate and package them nicely, this is what I did for a secret Santa gift!

I hope you liked this post, I have been posting quite spontaneously and not on a weekly basis, which is bad! But as it's the holidays I shall have more spare time i.e. no school, so I will be posting more regularly. 

Merry Christmas!

♥