Oh "Deer", Oh "Deer"

In a previous post I told you about how there always seems to "be a story" every time I do something. Usually it's with my cooking, sewing or crafting. I think maybe I just try too hard. My last story involves a gift I decided I just had to make this Christmas.

I will go out on the proverbial limb and blame Pinterest. I saw it there first! So many pins about sugar scrubs. My youngest daughter has been making scrubs as gifts for awhile now but I didn't remember her making a peppermint one. And, once I saw the pin of the reindeer washcloth gift wrap, I knew I had to go full steam ahead.

As I was doing my other shopping, I remembered to pick up tan washcloths and some more brown chenile stems-everything else I had in my craft closet. I thought I remembered the recipe was sugar (which I had plenty of thanks to cookie baking), olive oil (which I also knew I had lots of thanks to a recent BOGO at Publix) and peppermint extract-picked up another bottle of this stuff as mine was getting low.

So, the day comes when I finally have time to put this simple little extra CUTE gift together and I head to Pinterest to get the exact recipe. First, let me tell you that all of the peppermint scrubs featured were a lovely shade of pink. Some industrious crafters actually made some pink and some white and bottled it to look like a peppermint candy. Well, recipe after recipe called for coconut oil or lanolin. That I didn't have nor did I have the time or the finances to hunt them down. So, I persevered and finally found the one recipe that called for olive oil. But, when I started mixing my sugar, oil and red food coloring to get my lovely shade of pink, I ended up with a lovely shade of orange. After all, I was always told to buy good olive oil-the most green I could find. Makes sense that I wouldn't get pink from green. But persevere I did! It was time for the few drops of peppermint extract...then a few more...then a few more. Why wasn't this stuff starting to smell like peppermint? All I can say is that it is a good thing that I bought that extra bottle because it took every bit of it to even give the hint of mint. When I finally looked carefully at my olive oil bottle, I found I had bought BOLD flavored oil. Oh well, this still had the potential to look cute. Until, that is, I brought out the little bottles I was so happy to find on a quick trip to HL. I had bought small, French jars. I thought they would keep the scrub sealed tightly-which they did but the metal closure gave a rather strange shape to the reindeer's face.

Never-the-less, they are what they are and everyone who received one has told me how soft it is making their skin feel and how lovely it smells. I think they're really just being nice, but, after all, it is the thought that counts.

 

I must have had Rudolph on my brain that day because when I needed a cute way to present the girls with their cash gifts, I remembered another box I had seen on Pinterest. I found the tutorial for the box and then added the "reindeer" embellishments. If you would like to find the directions for either of these, you can go to my Pinterest Christmas board. I think they turned out very cute and the girls loved them-or maybe they were just excited about what they found inside. In any case, I got to squeeze in a few more Christmas crafts-but always with a story. Stay tuned to see what may come next!