Yes! This is still Predominantly Paleo. And NO, you will not be seeing much of this sort of thing from me.  But when I posted these homemade goodies on Instagram today, I had a few requests in the form of “CAN’T WAIT TO SEE THE RECIPE.” Oops! Guess I gotta post it.

Anyway, I love doing homemade craft projects but these days between writing THIS blog, writing this book, and playing mom, most of my craft projects end up being more of the homemade playdoh variety or a “crafty” mess in the kitchen.  But these I had to make.

The holidays are creeping up and I had several goals in mind: 1) spend less 2) make it special 3) make it myself.  Truth be told, I am really over the ad nauseum spending around the holidays.  I don’t want it to be about money and things.  I know it might sound Scroogy of me but I really want to simplify.  I want my kids to have memories of the holiday season being about togetherness and traditions, not how many gifts are piled up.

And let’s be honest, East Coast livin’makes it a lil more challenging when it comes to the ol’ purse strings.  So this year and hopefully here on out, we are going to do things a little differently.  At least that is my sincere wish!

I made these a little bit early this year on account of the trajillion other things happening ALL AT ONCE right now; but I had a lot of fun and for this reason (and per request), I am sharing the how-to’s of this simple gift that can really show someone that you care.

You will need:

• Glass jars (I bought mine from Target in the dollar section; they came in a set of 3 per package)
• Epsom salt (how much depends on how big your jars are and how many you are making)
• Vegetable based Food Dyes (I used India Tree)
• Essential Oils
• Scrapbooking Cardstock/Paper (I found a ton of cute booklets at TJ Maxx/Marshalls)
• ModPodge

1. To determine how much salt each jar can hold, fill one jar almost to the top with epsom salts
2. Then empty the contents into a glass or stainless mixing bowl
3. Choose which color/colors you wish you use and sparingly start incorporating drops of dye.  I used about 10 drops of each color per “standard mason jar” sized glass container
4. If you have trouble incorporating color, use the back of a fork to mash it into the salts evenly
5. Now start adding in essential oils.  Start low and work your way up. I used about 30 drops of essential oils per jar. This meant that when I combined two fragrances i.e. bergamot and geranium, that I used about 15 drops of each.  You can always add more but some oils, like tea tree are much stronger than others, so start low, go slow!
6. Stir the oils in and then transfer to the jar
7. To decorate the jars, you can modpodge any combination of designs, decorating the lids or the fronts with labels such as with whichever scents you choose to incorporate
8. My recommendation is don’t go overboard at first.  You can add multiple oils but by starting out with just one or two you can get an idea of what you are working with if you aren’t completely familiar with their potency
9. You can handwrite the labels and I will also be making little tags for each one listing the benefits of the oils used
10. Most importantly, have fun and put some heart into it…that’s what makes homemade gifts the best!