Handmade Gifts - Making Bath Salts

This is the only one of our Christmas projects that I'm going to share with you as many of the intended recipients read my blog and it will spoil the surprise! I think that we are safe in revealing this one though! I would love to join in with Tonya's 'Handmade Holiday' posts about the gifts that we are making but I can't so pop on over and see what others are making, perhaps I can add my ideas next year!!

We started by buying multiple packets of different salts. We chose rock salt, sea salt and epsom salts. the first two are available in supermarkets but the epsom salts involved a trip to the chemist. I wondered why the lady looked at me strangely when I asked for three boxes....... until I read the box..... apparently epsom salts are used to cure constipation...... did I laugh on the way home!!!!!! We also bought some bicarbonate of soda to use as a softening agent in the salts. I had some ready mixed oils to use..... clary sage, ylang ylang and lavendar - they smell really lovely! We mixed blue and green food colouring into one dish of salt, and a few drops of oil into another dish of salt and stirred them well. I would reccoment drying them in a warm oven and stirring over a few times (I didn't and the colours faded a little to a pretty grey).

We made a paper funnel and used jugs to pour each salt in turn to make layers of the different ingredients. We are putting them into recycled glass bottles with wide necks that Dewi's Mam collected from the lovely organic tea shop that she works in. I washed them in hot water to take the labels off and then dried them in the oven after using it for cooking. I'm going to make some little labels to tie around them with ribbon. And the rest of my homemade presents are going to have to stay un-blogged 'til after Christmas!