Sugar Scrub: Cheap, Easy and Tasty

When it comes to beauty products I generally stick with the basics, but my favorite non-necessity in the bathroom is sugar scrub. I haven't had any for years because I'm cheap, would rather buy a new pair of earrings, and am too lazy to use it when I have it. Which is why making my own sugar scrub is pretty much the best idea ever. I really want to host a baby or wedding shower now just so I can make up lots of these as favors.

I used this recipe and added a couple drops of lavender to recreate my favorite Bath and Body Works scent, lavender vanilla. (I probably should've started with one drop of lavender since I made only half the recipe.  They're not joking when the say to go slowly with adding the essential oils.)

And yes, this also makes an excellent snack. But not after you add the essential oils. ;)

Custom Invitations: Flowers and Poetry

One of my friends asked me to design the invitations for her daughter's first birthday and of course I was thrilled to!

My friend wrote an adorable poem and I just decorated the rest of the postcard.

I also made this card for a friend's baby shower.

I'm hoping to adapt these two designs into something for my Etsy shop, which desperately needs an update. That's on tomorrow's to-do list so hopefully it will get done!

A Craft Project Three Years in the Making

I can't remember where I first saw it, but for the past three years I've been wanting to staple some chicken wire to the back of a photo frame to store and display my earrings. It should've been simple enough but I didn't have a staple gun or chicken wire and these aren't items you can buy at Michael's with a 50% off coupon. These items required paying full price at Lowe's and three years ago I didn't know my way around a Lowe's, or how helpful the staff is when your husband sends you to buy some PVC pipe and you wind up needing a hack saw too and what's a hack saw?! We got a frame as a wedding gift that I knew would be perfect for this project, but without the staple gun and chicken wire, my earrings remained in their tiny bowl for me to dig through in search of matching pairs.

When we moved into our house 11 months ago, I discovered some chicken wire the previous owners had left behind. I still didn't have  a staple gun.

Finally last week I pulled out the chicken wire to squirrel-proof my garden. After three years, I decided it was finally time to get a staple gun and complete my long-awaited earring display thingy.

Ta da! The frame has gotten a little scuffed up over the years so I'll probably paint it eventually, but at least now I can see and locate all my earrings! (Well, not my hoops but I only have a couple pairs of those so it's okay.)

Handle with Care

I think one of the best parts of shopping on Etsy is the adorable packaging your item usually arrives in. Here's how I packaged my first Etsy sale (so exciting!). I wanted something that had my shop info  that also kept everything together in the padded mailer. The ribbon is taped together in the back so there's no bow to add bulk.

And I designed some mailing labels for the outside.

I know PayPal will print a shipping label for you, but it's not nearly as cute.

Now Open

After months of ... I don't even know. Hesitation? Procrastination? Distraction? Either way, my Etsy shop now has actual items in it. I would like to thank my dear friend who asked me to make the invites for a couples shower, which was the push I finally needed to actually make it happen. Be sure to check it out here and please send me any feedback!