Sea Salt Scrub (in under 5 minutes, for under $5)

I've been wanting to write about some homemade health and beauty products for a while now, but the thing is, I like to actually try stuff before I write about it. And the problem is, I'm a bit of a hoarder. And, well, ok, I'll confess: when we moved to California (over a year ago), we were moving from a state with no sales tax. And what's more, we had a moving company, all paid for, to move whatever stuff we had. So, I headed over to Costco and stocked up. Like a crazy lady. I must have bought at least 100 rolls of toilet paper. Enough dishwasher tablets to stock a busy restaurant. So much lotion that the woman at the checkout probably thought I was filming another Silence of the Lambs movie.

Point is, I haven't needed a lot of cosmetic products since we've moved (and there's a lot that I still don't need - I predict that at current rates of consumption, I'll have celebrated my first and possibly second wedding anniversary before I need to buy more deoderant).

Finally, though, yesterday, I found a need for a product I didn't have stashed away! We were all out of exfoliating scrubs of any kind. I saw my chance and jumped on it, whipping up this batch of sea salt scrub super quickly - and cheaply.

Here are the directions:

Take 1 Cup of sea salt, and mix with 1/2 Cup of grapeseed oil (heads up on this one, I thought it came in a green bottle - nope, the oil itself is green! Which is a little odd, but now you know what to expect). Add 5 drops or so of essential oil (I used lemongrass). Mix it all together really well.

To use, just rub into skin, and rinse off (don't use on open cuts - that'll really hurt). It exfoliates and moisturizes! Also, I haven't tried it with this particular scrub, but I was at a spa with a friend recently and they used a salt scrub to clean her rings and make them all shiny and new looking.

And the best part is, I know there are no little plastic particles hiding out in there waiting to make their way down my drain and into the oceans. The packaging is reduced, because I'm buying stuff I'd either buy anyway, like the salt, or buying in larger quantities than if I purchased a scrub from a salon (to make 5 or 6 batches of this, I'll have one salt container and one grapeseed oil bottle to recycle, rather than 5 or 6 scrub bottles to recycle). The final cool thing is that the ingredients cost me about $22 - but I have enough left over to make a few more batches of this stuff, and the essential oil, which was the most expensive at $10.50, will last for many many batches. Plus I can use the grapeseed oil and the salt for cooking as well. I'm certain this is cheaper than buying a salt scrub at a spa, and I'm also certain it works just as well. Even if it is the color of pistachio icecream.

It's the thought that counts...

...and handmade gifts require a lot of thought.

My room mate from college came for a visit this weekend, and she brought me a wonderful gift. It is a tres chic handbag. It's a lovely deep pink, almost red color, knitted, with a super cool chunky cable down the middle. The inside lining is a very funky geometric pattern with several colors that match the outside beautifully. It is probably the best looking purse I own at the moment.

But the best part? She made it herself - from completely reused materials! The yarn was salvaged from a sweater that was taken apart for the purpose, the liner was a shirt that was no longer wanted, a piece of cardboard was saved from the recycling bin and sewn into the bottom to help it keep its shape, and the handles got their structure from a piece of old wine making tubing. It makes the gift that much more special to know that there was a lot of thought put into it, from the sourcing of the materials to the actual construction.

How cool is that? I'm not quite sure I have the level of talent required for this particular project myself, but it has re-inspired me to try to give more handmade gifts. Since the primary rule in gift giving is that it's the thought that counts, I'd say handmade gifts count for a lot.

I highly recommend...

these organic cotton produce bags from Organic Needle - I'd been trying to reuse my plastic bags as much as possible in order to reduce overall waste, but when stuff would go mushy and moldy sometimes (even if just a little bit of lettuce slime) it became really hard to get them clean, they didn't dry properly, etc. I'll use up the ones I still have kicking around before saying goodbye for good, but these cotton bags are just lovely! I used them for fresh produce as well as dried beans from the bulk bins, and I couldn't be happier, plus I got to support a small business owner. The large ones were also great to put my empty milk bottles in when I biked to the store. It kept them from banging together in my backpack. Check them out!

Adventures in Hooking

So my resolve to spend les time online is going...okay. Problem is, I'm not really working all that much these days, and what work I do is from home for the most part. I'm sort of like a stay at home mom - with no kids. The idea of going into an office every day and wearing business casual clothes makes me feel like vomitting, to be frank. I could do it, if I had to, but I have absolutely no desire, and am lucky enough to have a significant other who doesn't think this is the end of the world.

In fairness, though, I thought I should at least make a token effort to bring my income above the official poverty level and contribute something to the household income. Hence my return to rug hooking. So far I've actually just spent money. I bought two hand drawn patterns ($32 each) from a fiber artist named Martina Lesar - I love the patterns I selected and can't wait to get to work on them. Plus I like that I got to support another artist in the process of my own creating.

I found a very heavy wool shirt/jacket at a high school rummage sale for $1 and purchased three pairs of pants for $3 each at Goodwill the other day. The wool content of the fabric has to be at least 80%, and a lot of clothes out there these days are all sorts of weird blends of synthetic things, so it takes some hunting to find the right stuff.

This past week, I've been dis-assembling the clothes with a seam ripper I purchased for $2.99. I can say with complete confidence, LL Bean makes some tough clothes. No wonder they guarantee them for life. I'd guess it took me close to five hours to take their shirt apart. I tend to have an overactive imagination, so the five hours went by pretty quickly when I found a Peace Corps button in the pocket - I spent the whole time imagining the fantastic adventures the shirt and its wearer had been on all over the world. Then I felt sad it had ended up in a heap at a high school rummage sale. Then I decided I was glad that at least I could give it a chance at a new adventure as part of a treasured piece of art in somebody's home (I told you I have an overactive imagination).

I have one and a half pair of pants to finish taking apart, then I need to go back to Goodwill and find some crappy old pots to do the dyeing in. And research how to do the dyeing. I want to use all natural materials rather than synthetic chemical dyes, but I've heard some concerns about how color fast they are.

What I've already come to appreciate, without actually starting the project in earnest yet, is that it's no wonder hand made stuff is expensive compared to what they have at Target and such places. It takes a lot of time to carefully source materials. It takes a lot of time to do quality work. And it's not cheap to do things well. I already have a new appreciation for the value added when a person makes an item versus when a factory makes an item. The funny thing is, I'm not new to this craft. The difference is, it's always been a hobby for me, so I've never dwelled on things like the value of the time that I put into it too much.

With that in mind, I'm off to buy those handmade produce bags I've been thinking about for the last two months. I'm sure they're well worth the cost.