gifts

Homemade Avocado Sugar Scrub

- Tobia 2 Comments

Hey There,

Remember, I tied to grow an avocado tree. Didn’t work out too good. I gave it another try a couple of month ago but again I failed even though Miri had a good post up. So I decided the third time I try something different: homemade avocado sugar scrub.

craftaliciousme seeking creative life Avocado Scrub homemade

I do eat quite a few avocados so I also end up with many pits. You often read about avocado in cosmetics and how many good effects that has. So I did a little research.

Avocados are rich in vitamins that are beneficiary to hair and skin and that prevents ageing. Mainly the avocado oil – obviously it is not easy gained at home. Still it can’t hurt using the grated pit and use as exfoliant.

craftaliciousme seeking creative life homemade Avocado Scrub gift

Specially after I read that you need 70 litres of water to grow one avocado – in certain areas up to 300 litres. That actually shocked me. And then you still need to fly it half across the earth to deliver it to my doorstep. So I better use every little bit of the avocado. (Edit: I researched bit more and realized an apple needs just as much water while a tomato needs 5litres. Who would have thought…)

What you need for the scrub:

  • 1 avocado pit
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 4 tbs olive oil
  • 2 tbs jojobaoil
  • 3 tbs almond oil
  1. Wash pit and let dry until the brown skin peels off. Grate it in a coffee or apple grinder. The avocado will react with oxygen once grated and turn orange. Let dry complete after being done to avoid mold.
  2. Mix oils.
  3. In separate bowl mix sugar and avocado gratings.
  4. Mix together and put into jar.
  5. Enjoy scrub.

craftaliciousme seeking creative life homemade Avocado Scrub

I am not sure how long it would last. But I would assume as long as the oil is all fine and the avocado pit was all dry and didn’t get moldy nothing can happen. Did you ever do homemade cosmetics? Share your experience in the comments, will ya?

Happy mixing,

Tobia

 

Disclaimer: This post contains links to other Blogs. Due to current (German) law this needs to be labelled advertising. Furthermore I have linked a few of my older articles because I believe you might enjoy them. 

Giving Back with Christmas in a Shoebox

- Tobia Leave a comment

Ever year when Christmas comes up I think “Oh I could no should do this charity thing.” Every time I think I get into it later. Every year I am too late. This year I really want to do it because honestly is there anything holding me back besides my laziness? My perfect happy world where I pretend I have oh so many problems, stress and burdens? No I don’t! I have a family, a roof and food on the table, even a job and free time to do things I love. I can go out at night without being scared and more often than not I take all that for granted. Isn’t it time to give back. Time to show some appreciation. Time to share at least my wealth.

Christmas in a Shoebox giving back

As I said this thought is not new. Last year I was too late for the “Weihnachten im Schuhkarton” project. This year I am right on time. It starts today. If you are not familiar with it keep on reading.

It is pretty simple: You pack up a shoebox of gifts for a child who might have never opened a present before. There are a few ground rules like only new stuff, differentiate between boy/girl and age, and no war associated toys. Then drop it of with a 8€/9$ donation at one of the many places world wide. Voila you are done.

And even if that is too hard: You can just do it online by sending the donation via payable right now.

Not that hard. Read about the Christmas in a Shoebox project in more detail here in German / English.

Last year 11 million boxes were packed. The most boxes were packed in the U.S. but what kinda blew my mind was that Great Britain hold second place. Before Canada and all German Speaking Countries. So I looked a bit closer – because sometimes I am a numbers nerd – and realised that over half a million packed boxes looks a lot on paper it is still only 1-2% of the population. However it also makes me quite sad that Germany comes in at 0,44%. I don’t know something just doesn’t feel right there. Is this country really so self absorbed? I hope not.

Anyhow maybe you want to join me in this little thing (you can do so until November 15th). I went shopping for the first items today. I am still pondering the budget I set myself on but here is a list of things that might work for a 5-9 year old girl:

  • coloring book
  • diary with lock
  • pens, crayons, water color
  • chalk for street art
  • skipping rope
  • doll
  • stuffed animal – check
  • beads
  • necklace
  • tooth brush & tooth paste
  • headband
  • mittens
  • scarf
  • Hot chocolate powder
  • some chocolate
  • gummy bears

Happy October to you,

Tobia

If you are interested in this project read last years report.

Disclaimer: This post contains links to the Operation Christmas Child. Due to current (German) law this needs to be labelled advertising. However I was not paid to talk about it, I just think it’s a nice little project to do.

Homemade Vegan Bath Bombs

- Tobia 4 Comments
handmade vegan bath bombs

I mentioned that I attended the blogst conference last weekend. One fun thing about this conference is that during coffee breaks you not only drink coffee but can craft. Because those sponsors are cool. They don’t just set up a booth no they set up crafting tables for the attendees to get creative. One of the sponsors was PonyHütchen a natural cosmetics shop from Berlin. And we were able to make our own vegan bath bombs.

 

It was so very simple and most all ingredients are either already in your house or are available in any grocery or drugstore. Now that does sound good right. Not only because the product really is natural if you can actually (almost) eat it. So I asked Lucie (head of marketing & Berlin store fairy) if I can share this simple DIY with you here. She said yes!

So lets get started (recipe makes two vegan bath bombs):

♥ 100 g baking soda (Natron)
♥ 50 g citric acid (Zitronensäure)
♥ 35 g corn starch (Maisstärke)
♥ 15 ml almond oil (Mandelöl)
♥ essential oils, food colors, nonpareils – optional

  1. Now it is really simple. You have to mix well. And by well I mean well. If it is not really mixed the bomb might break when drying up. So take you sweet time, let your mind wonder and start relaxing.
  2. Then press the mixture into a form. We had some half balls but I guess you could easily use silicone mutton of praline forms. However it needs to be packed really good. Otherwise it will all crumble.
  3. Now it needs to dry over night. And ready to go. Wrap them up, gift or just enjoy a bath yourself.

This is a wonderful gift idea. It could also be a cool idea for a girlfriends night. Oh the possibilities.

vegan bath bombs Pony Hütchen

I’ve heard from PonyHütchen before the event but I was happy to have gotten a better idea what they are doing. I have to admit I am usually not the biggest fan of natural cosmetics. Not because I think it is not good valid cosmetics more so because of the fanatics behind it. Fortunately this was not the case it was just lots of love, enthusiasm and joy. I loved the displays they put up in the bathrooms and the packaging is so cute too. It is nice to see such a young fun brand.

vegan bath bombs ponyHütchen products

After I tried their hand cream at the event – it smells amazing and makes the smoothes hands, really no joking here – I was really happy to find a sample of the deodorant cream in the goodie bag. I will give this a good try during my business trips as I like to travel with the smallest amount of weight and it comes in a tiny cute tin. I am excited how it works.

vegan bath bombs Pony Hütchen2

Anyhow, I just wanted to share this discovery from my weekend with you. If you are into vegan handmade cosmetics this could definitely be something for you as they do have some decorative things too. And they own an online shop for everyone not in Berlin. I am not sure about worldwide shipping though.

Now I am wondering, have you ever tried making cosmetics yourself?

Happy Tuesday,

Tobia

 

PonyHütchen Store Berlin | Straßburger Straße 37 | 10405 Berlin

linked to creadienstag | Dienstagsdinge | Handmade on Tuesday | MMI | Freutag

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Blend in Wrapping Paper Storage

- Tobia 7 Comments

In this post I mentioned my inability of a perfectly wrapped present. That doesn’t mean I do not have the necessary equipment to do so. Who else is collecting wrapping paper like there is no tomorrow? But more often than not wrapping paper supplies are just ugly and sturdy to store. This bothered me for years until I came up with this “blend in wrapping paper storage” idea.

Maybe you have the same problem and maybe you have some unused space behind a door that was just waiting to get some purpose. Well here might be your solution.

blend in wrapping paper storage

I try to explain it to my best ability. In the end though it depends on your available space and the things you want to store. So see it as a guideline rather then a real tutorial. But for better understanding I made this measurement chart and if you want you can download it here.

 

blend in wrapping paper storage_Measurments

What you need:

❤︎ sturdy fabric in your wall color depending on your measurements
❤︎ 2 eyelets

blend in wrapping paper storage_bags

Instructions:

  1. This project contains of three fabric pieces: part I = basic piece, part II = paper roll bags, part III = ribbon bags
  2. Measure your space.
  3. I went with a width of 70cm and a hight of 110cm holding 10+ paper rolls and lots of ribbons.
  4. The cover up is basically just a flap of fabric 5 cm bit longer so it covers the bulk. Which I added to my actually size.
  5. So my basic piece is 70 x 225 cm.
  6. I added about 2,5cm seam allowance to all my edges. Depending on your fabric you could double your seams on the edge where the eyelets will go so they won’t rib once weight is added.
  7. For piece II: I went with a total of 150cm. This adds up as I had 10 smaller bags (each 10 cm) and two bigger ones in the middle (each 25cm)
  8. For piece III: I went with 100 cm and a height of 18 cm but you can be flexible here depending on what you will want to store. Just make sure the pockets down’t spill over.
  9. Sewing together is actually pretty easy. it only gets a bit tricky when you have to adjust part II to  part I. I went with adding the outer edges first. Then I played out the bottom one and pinned it the creases in place. I put the facing each other so they sing open when the role ist stuck inside.

blend in wrapping paper storage_creases

10. In the end you just hammer in the eyelet. This could be a tough job depending on your fabric and you definitely should have a sturdy underground. I might or might not have damaged the hard wood floors in the process.

Then you are good to hang it and fill it with all your goodies and it will blend right in with your wall when not being needed.

blend in wrapping paper storage_open closed

What do you think? Would you like it? How do you store your gift wrapping papers?

Happy sewing,

Tobia

linked to creadienstag | Dienstagsdinge | Handmade on Tuesday | MMI | Dekodonnerstag | Freutag

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10 Last Minute DIY Gift Ideas

- Tobia 2 Comments

Only a few more days until Christmas. Are you all done on your shopping list? Or did you plan on doing lots of handmade gifts this year? If so you might enjoy my round-up of last minute DIY Christmas gifts (click on the pictures for the full post and tutorial).

1. Homemade Tea

I am a big sucker for chai teas. Mostly they are way too sweet for my taste. You are with me? Make your own.homemade gift chai tea

But then on the other hand there is nothing better than a hot cup of green tea for breakfast, no?

gift idea homade vanilla green tea

 

2. Baking goods

Do you love baking? Do you have friends who love baking? Why not make them a little baking kit with lots of supplies?

baking gifts

 

3. Star Hair Accessory 

Making hair accessories is actually quite simple. Here is a sparkling one.

sparkling hair accessory

 

4. Tea Cup Cozies

Just a fun litte way to spruce up a cup. Perfect for any home lover and foodie.

gift idea cozies

5. Velvet Bracelets

Too lazy to be doing your DIY. How about buying DIY like those gorgeous holiday bracelets.

bow bracelet in shop

6. Homemade Candles

If this isn’t the season for candles I don’t know. How about making your own and being creative in form and smell and look?

homemade candles

7. Hand Stamped Napkins

During holidays we get all fancy and in my house it’s all about cloth napkins to get this festive feel. Here is how I made my dad some for last Christmas.

gift idea hand stamped napkin

8. Colorful T-Shirt

It looks a bit summery but this tutorial also works on sweaters. Maybe with a reindeer? (only in German)

gift idea shirt

9.  Cake Pop Ttuffles

For people who have everything it can be so complicated to find a gift. Or maybe you just need a little hostess gift for the Christmas party? Well here you go. (only in German)

p23_cake pop praline_b4

10. Fabric covered Bracelet

A girl can never have enough bracelets, right? And specially when they are made of fabric or leather matching the favorite shirt!

DIY fabric covered bracelets

Well so much for the round-up. Now its your turn the get started. Will you share if you do a project? I would love to see your version.

Happy crafting,

Tobia