Coconut Sugar Scrub

My Pinterest has been full of projects I'd like to do, ever since I discovered this addictive little website, last summer. I have done a few things, but there are plenty more I always want to do! I decided to start with an easy one this weekend. I made coconut sugar scrub, for hands and feet. It was super easy to make, smells so good, and makes your hands and feet feel super soft!
Here is my final product.

The recipe was really easy. It is one part coconut oil to two parts sugar. I used a half cup of coconut oil, with one cup of sugar. I slightly melted the coconut oil, to make it easier to stir. I also added about ten drops of lavender essential oil, but I still mostly smell coconut. I think next time, I'll either omit the essential oil, or add more of it. The jar tops were easy and fun to make. I just used watercolors and painted sheets of white paper. Here is an Instagram photo I took, while doing it.

This is a cute and easy idea to add to a gift basket! It would also be a perfect mother's day gift- but I guess I'm a little late on that one.

It's the perfect excuse to paint with watercolors!

It brings me back to my childhood.

I have to say, this little craft was very relaxing and fun! A hand and foot massage with coconut sugar scrub would be a perfect way to wrap up the weekend.

Strawberry Jam

With all the delicious fresh strawberries I have been seeing at the Farmer's Market recently, I decided it was finally time to make my first batch of homemade strawberry jam. I remember "helping" my mom make jam when I was young (I think this consisted of mostly eating berries, and maybe a small amount of mashing the berries for her, followed by eating more berries). We bought 4 over-flowing quarts and brought them home. This is less than half of the berries.

Here they are on my lap, on the way home, compliments of my Instagram.

I admit, I was a little nervous about ruining the whole batch, so I called my mom a few times before starting the jam, asking for advice. After searching the internet and looking at several strawberry jam recipes, I decided to use the same recipe my mom has used for years- the one that comes with the "Sure-Jell" fruit pectin. It calls for 5 cups of crushed strawberries (about 4 pints), 7 cups of sugar (yes, you read that right) and a package of fruit pectin. After some slightly burned finger tips, here is what I ended up with!

As I was in the process of making jam, I also had homemade bread rising! Nothing beats homemade bread, topped with freshly made jam. It reminded me of after-school snacks, when I was growing up.
YUM!

On another note, we made hummingbird food yesterday for the first time this season, and they have already returned to our backyard!

They were loving the rain today.

I had a busy but relaxing weekend, finally completing some little crafty projects I have been wanting to do for awhile. More blog posts to follow soon (I hope!)