Tag: gift

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Make your own – Bath Bombs (again!)

We know you’ve probably seen this before, but in honour of Christmas we thought we’d share our most popular gift making idea ever. These bath bombs are so easy to make, and are a fantastic, home made gift. They’re also great for relaxing after a hard day’s Christmas shopping!

Ingredients:

Witch Hazel Water

Bicarbonate of Soda

Citric Acid

Essential Oil (we like lavender for an extra soothing bath, but anything you like will work!)

Dried herbs, petals, flowers or food colouring  (again, lavender flowers are it for us)

 

Moulds:

We’ve got the kind of house that always has kids running around, and of course that means kids toys everywhere – so we used a plastic ball pit ball, cut in half (ingenious, we know) as our mould. But you can use anything that has the shape you like – ice cube trays, cupcake tins, whatever you’ve got lying around.

Bath.Bomb.how.to.image

Directions:

  1. Combine equal amounts of citric acid and bicarbonate of soda.
  2. Add a few drops of the essential oil of your choice, plus any flowers or colouring you’re using & mix thoroughly.
  3. Sparingly add Witch Hazel Water (a few drops at a time) until the mixture is just damp enough to hold its shape when compressed. Go easy on adding the liquid- if you add too much the mixture will do all its fizzing in your bowl instead of your bath!
  4. Pack the mixture firmly into both halves of your mould, then push together to join. (If using an ice cube tray or similar, just make sure to compress the mixture into the mould so it doesn’t all fall apart when you take it out).
  5. Allow to set for at least 2 hours before removing from the mould.
  6. If your bomb falls apart when you remove it from your mould, it’s probably too dry- put the mixture back in a bowl and add a few more drops of Witch Hazel water.
  7. Package in some cellophane with ribbon as a gorgeous home made gift – or spoil yourself and get that bath running!
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Make your own – Hair Shine Treatment

I don’t know about you but the miserable winter we’ve been having has left my hair in a complete mess. Luckily, this super easy to make hair shine treatment is great for split ends, brittle hair or even just a bit of a pick me up on a girly night in.

Ingredients:

10g rosemary leaves

10g dried chamomile flowers

100ml fractionated coconut oil

This makes enough for one treatment for very long hair or several if you’re rocking a pixie cut! You’ll have to make it up a bit in advance – just pop all of the ingredients into a jar or bottle and leave to infuse (I only left it overnight but if you can manage a week then even better). When you’re ready to use it, strain through a sieve to get rid of the herbs and work the oil into your scalp and hair. Wrap your hair in clingfilm (or a hot towel if you’re feeling fancy) and leave for a minimum of 30 minutes. If your hair is particularly dry then it can be left in overnight, but be warned – this is not a good idea if your hair leans toward being greasy! Wash the oil out with shampoo; you might need to do this a couple of times to get all of the oil out. Voila! Enjoy your soft, shiny, revived hair. If you’d like to know more about why this works, check out this article about the benefits of coconut oil for your hair.

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Make your own – Bath Bombs

A great gift idea for all occasions (and our most popular blog post ever!), our bath bombs dissolve in a hot bath for silky smooth, fragrant bath water. Bonus – they’re exceedingly easy to make!

Ingredients:

Witch Hazel Water

Bicarbonate of Soda

Citric Acid

Essential Oil (we like lavender for an extra soothing bath, but anything you like will work!)

Dried herbs, petals, flowers or food colouring  (again, lavender flowers are it for us)

 

Moulds:

We’ve got the kind of house that always has kids running around, and of course that means kids toys everywhere – so we used a plastic ball pit ball, cut in half (ingenious, we know) as our mould. But you can use anything that has the shape you like – ice cube trays, cupcake tins, whatever you’ve got lying around.

Bath.Bomb.how.to.image

Directions:

  1. Combine equal amounts of citric acid and bicarbonate of soda.
  2. Add a few drops of the essential oil of your choice, plus any flowers or colouring you’re using & mix thoroughly.
  3. Sparingly add Witch Hazel Water (a few drops at a time) until the mixture is just damp enough to hold its shape when compressed. Go easy on adding the liquid- if you add too much the mixture will do all its fizzing in your bowl instead of your bath!
  4. Pack the mixture firmly into both halves of your mould, then push together to join. (If using an ice cube tray or similar, just make sure to compress the mixture into the mould so it doesn’t all fall apart when you take it out).
  5. Allow to set for at least 2 hours before removing from the mould.
  6. If your bomb falls apart when you remove it from your mould, it’s probably too dry- put the mixture back in a bowl and add a few more drops of Witch Hazel water.
  7. Package in some cellophane with ribbon as a gorgeous home made gift – or spoil yourself and get that bath running!
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Sri Lankan Coconut and Dark Rum Snowball Truffles

We know everyone’s probably sick of it by now but nevertheless this week’s recipe is Christmas themed. (At least it’s only once a year!) These deliciously tempting truffles are great for the run up to Christmas, on the day or even as a special gift. Without further ado, Sri Lankan coconut and dark rum snowball truffles…

Ingredients:

200g Sri Lankan coconut chocolate

100g clotted cream (being from Cornwall, we always recommend Rodda’s!)

1 – 2 tbsp dark rum

50 – 100g desiccated coconut

 

Method:

The great thing about these truffles is that there’s no need for tempering or any of that fancy shmancy stuff. Just microwave your chocolate for 20 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until it’s all melted. Then add in your clotted cream and rum, and stir until it makes a beautiful creamy mixture. Refrigerate until it’s set hard enough to handle – usually around an hour. Scoop up a teaspoon at a time and roll into balls (you might want to wear some gloves for this – it can get messy!). Once you’ve formed your truffles, pop them into a bowl of desiccated coconut and roll until they’re covered.

Whether you choose to box them up as a gift or eat them straight away, these will knock your socks off! If you want to keep them for a later date, remember to keep them in the fridge – no one likes gone off cream… Enjoy!

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Make Your Own Christmas Compilation

I don’t know where the time keeps going, but it’s definitely happening a bit too fast for my liking! Christmas is just around the corner now and the money spent is already adding up – so here is our compilation of all things ‘make your own’ to keep Christmas cheap and still beautiful!

We’ll start with the all important gifts – some of these are our very own recipes and some come from some very clever people with more time on their hands than I have! Have a gander and give some a go yourself:

It’s a scarf, but with pockets!

This one takes a bit more time, but it’s so beautiful – a leather messenger bag.

Ministry of silly walks, in clock form.

Bath milk bags.

Soothing hand balm.

Bath salts – so easy and they can come in any smell you fancy!

Bath vinegars – a nice jar or bottle can really make a difference to this one.

Lightbulb terrarium, does it get much more creative?

Beautiful wood burned boxes. If you’ve got the tools and the time, these make the most gorgeous, unique gift.

This elegant, delicate votive candle holder is just so beautiful, I want a room full of them!

 

It’s all well and good having gifts sorted, but it never really feels like Christmas until the decorations are up! Here are our favourite DIY decorations:

Double lattice ornaments

Christmas tatting patterns

We used this video to make the decorations for our shop this year – they’re rather stunning!

Super intricate, ever so delicate, paper snowflakes

If you’re looking for more ideas, here’s 17 easy peasy decorations you could give a go

 

And of course, it wouldn’t be Christmas without a drink or two! Have a go at some of these Chrimbo cocktails:

Still our favourite, the Chocolate Alexander

A classic with a twist, Appleberry Mulled Wine

We love a bit of cardamom, but we’d never have thought to put it in a martini! This bitter orange and cardamom martini is just to die for.

Cranberry mojito, tastes as good as it looks!

It’s Christmas, of course that means there has to be eggnog…

And in case you need something a bit more warming, hot chocolate and baileys – enough said.

 

There you go – everything you could possibly need to get you through another Christmas (or at least get you tipsy enough to not care!)

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Make your own – Bath Milk Bag

So it seems summer is over (what little we had of it!) and autumn is swiftly taking over. My cure all for those end of summer blues has always been a good long soak in the bath! This fantastic recipe for easy peasy bath milk has been a godsend for me – perfect to help you unwind.

Ingredients:

100g milk powder

5 – 10g dried flowers (I used calendula, the colour seemed fitting for autumn!)

2-4 drops essential oil (orange for me, but you can use anything that will help you relax)

muslin bags or squares of muslin and a length of thin ribbon

bath-milk-step-1

Method:

 

In a bowl, add the essential oil to the milk powder and stir thoroughly. It’s important to make sure that the essential oil is completely mixed in, with no clumpy bits.

bath-milk-step-2

Then add your flowers and once again mix thoroughly.

bath-milk-step-3

That’s really all there is to it! Pop your bath milk into a muslin bag, or if using muslin squares then place a tablespoon of mixture in the middle, bring the four corners together to form a pouch and then seal with the thin ribbon. Leave a loop of ribbon to tie the bag below the tap while you run your bath, so that the water runs through the mixture.

bath-milk-bag

Enjoy your soak in milky, aromatic goodness!

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Make your own – Bath Bombs

A great gift idea for all occasions (and our most popular blog post ever!), our bath bombs dissolve in a hot bath for silky smooth, fragrant bath water. Bonus – they’re exceedingly easy to make!

Ingredients:

Witch Hazel Water

Bicarbonate of Soda

Citric Acid

Essential Oil (we like lavender for an extra soothing bath, but anything you like will work!)

Dried herbs, petals, flowers or food colouring  (again, lavender flowers are it for us)

 

Moulds:

We’ve got the kind of house that always has kids running around, and of course that means kids toys everywhere – so we used a plastic ball pit ball, cut in half (ingenious, we know) as our mould. But you can use anything that has the shape you like – ice cube trays, cupcake tins, whatever you’ve got lying around.

Bath.Bomb.how.to.image

Directions:

  1. Combine equal amounts of citric acid and bicarbonate of soda.
  2. Add a few drops of the essential oil of your choice, plus any flowers or colouring you’re using & mix thoroughly.
  3. Sparingly add Witch Hazel Water (a few drops at a time) until the mixture is just damp enough to hold its shape when compressed. Go easy on adding the liquid- if you add too much the mixture will do all its fizzing in your bowl instead of your bath!
  4. Pack the mixture firmly into both halves of your mould, then push together to join. (If using an ice cube tray or similar, just make sure to compress the mixture into the mould so it doesn’t all fall apart when you take it out).
  5. Allow to set for at least 2 hours before removing from the mould.
  6. If your bomb falls apart when you remove it from your mould, it’s probably too dry- put the mixture back in a bowl and add a few more drops of Witch Hazel water.
  7. Package in some cellophane with ribbon as a gorgeous home made gift – or spoil yourself and get that bath running!