DIY Dino Terrariums

DIY Dino Terrariums ~ Succulent Terrarium Tutorial ~ Kid's Dino Birthday Party

This was the second year in a row that Sam requested a Dino themed birthday party and when you’re kiddo is turning FIVE, you smile & embrace all the fun! Which for me, means diving into all the Dino Pinterest projects I’m constantly pinning.

I grew up in the age of birthday favors, but struggle a bit with them now as a mama. In the past, it has just been candy. This year, I really wanted something the kiddos could keep & enjoy. From that the Dino Terrariums started to take shape. I opted for spending more money on the favors, but made them serve dual duty as a party craft too.

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Living With Essential Oils: DIY Face Serum

Living with Essential Oils: DIY Face Serum ~ Green Beauty ~ Recipe by Bubblegum Sass

 

In my quest to use more natural products, I switched to a face serum a couple years ago. It felt great on, provided the moisturizing I needed in our dry climate, and smelled amazing. Until the oils went rancid, that is. I generally got through about 3/4 or 2/3 of a bottle before the oils went bad, even using it daily. Although I thoroughly enjoy supporting local, I decided to try my hand at making my own face serum, so I could make very small batches & hopefully waste less in the long run.

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Living With Essential Oils: Clean Your Empty Bottles

Living With Essential Oils: How to Clean Your Empty Bottles ~ DIY Blog post by Bubblegum Sass

 

If you start down the path of enjoying essential oils {which I highly recommend}, you will find yourself with little empty oils bottles around the house. At first it’s just one or two because you’re new to oils and don’t go through any of them too quickly. A year later, you realize that you might need to do something with that bottle stash. That was my experience, anyway. Turns out cleaning your bottles is pretty straightforward. It’s also pretty helpful when you get into making all sorts of roll-on remedies for yourself & friends, and saves you from having to buy new bottles.

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Santa’s Workshop: Marble with Nail Polish

Santa's Workshop: Marble with Nail Polish ~ DIY Gift Ideas ~ Bubblegum Sass

 

At this year’s annual Pinterest Christmas Party with the ladies, our lovely host, Shauna, had us try out a quick little project: marbling with nail polish. She picked up white bowls & mugs at the dollar store. Then all you need is a disposable foil container, nail polish, hot water, and some creative bravery.

 

Santa's Workshop: Marble with Nail Polish ~ DIY Gift Ideas ~ Bubblegum Sass

 

There’s lots of great full tutorials already out there {like here and here}, so I’m not going to do step by step. Just going to offer some tips we discovered as we each took a turn at this project.

Tip #1: Get your work area set up, all the nail polish colours you’re going to use picked out & open each bottle, so everything is ready to go quickly.

Tip #2: Open a friggin’ window {or two}! It was a damn cold winter night, and I’m pretty sure we got a little high on fumes.

Tip #3: In case you thought doing this with young kids was a good idea {ummm, nail polish & kids don’t usually mix}, please reconsider. It’s a simple “adult” craft. Again, hello, fumes.

 

Santa's Workshop: Marble with Nail Polish ~ DIY Gift Ideas ~ Bubblegum Sass

 

Tip #4: Work quickly. Drizzle the nail polish close to the surface of the water, slowly, but do work quickly. The polish will start to get gummy as it hardens & can lead to lumpy {somewhat ugly} results. But hey, if you don’t like how it turns out, just use nail polish remover & start again.

Tip #5: You don’t necessarily have to take the time to swirl the nail polish in the water with a toothpick before dipping your item in. Simply the way you drizzled the nail polish colours into the water can give beautiful results.

Tip #6: Prepare to be surprised! Or brace yourself! Or heck, just dive in & DO NOT overthink it. This is one of those crafty projects that you can’t predict what the end product will look like. Yes, you’re choosing the colour scheme, but that’s about all you have control over. I found it exciting, others found it a little frightening. Experiment!

 

Santa's Workshop: Marble with Nail Polish ~ DIY Gift Ideas ~ Bubblegum Sass

 

You can generally rate the success of a Pinterest project by whether you’d repeat it. And yes, I would definitely gives this one another go. Several of us at the party were interested in attempting to dip our bowls upside down, so that the inside gets marbled {not food safe, but to keep jewelry in}. I think tile coasters would be awesome too {and a great hostess gift idea}. But high on the list to try, is a marbled hanging planter! They’re gorgeous!

Happy crafting!

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Santa’s Workshop: DIY Soothing Milk Bath

Santa's Workshop: DIY Soothing Milk Bath Recipe ~ Essential Oils ~ by Bubblegum Sass

 

Oh man, I used to buy such a lovely milk bath mixture, but then the shop changed their recipe & it was much less lovely. Anyway, I’d sort of forgotten about how enjoyable milk baths were, until I started diving more into this whole DIY bath & beauty using essential oils. There’s lots of great recipes online, as it turns out, but I thought I would post my version to share with you. Tweak it as you like, to get the results & scent you adore.

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Santa’s Workshop: DIY Natural Foot Powder

Santa's Workshop: DIY Natural Foot Powder ~ Essential Oils ~ by Bubblegum Sass

{Excuse the pun} This is a great stocking stuffer gift: DIY Natural Foot Powder! In previous years, I’ve purchased my husband some natural foot powders. It was always nice to have a container of it by the front door to sprinkle into shoes after arriving home. Keeps the entry way stinky-shoe free and helps with general foot odor. It’s been a while since I purchased any, and decided it was time to try my hand {not foot} at making our own. After all, with so many wonderful essential oils in the house, I figured we’d be set.

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