Wednesday 27 November 2013

Easy Earl Grey Bath Salts

This is a really simple, cheap and quick DIY and it makes a great gift!



Ingredients:
Course Sea Salt
Epsom Salts (I found them at Boots, they don't seem to be sold many places just as plain Epsom Salts)
Earl Grey Tea Leaves (or any other scent you want to add - I think you can use oils but I haven't tried it)
Bicarbonate of Soda



If you want to give it as a gift, you will also need a nice jar/tin and some pretty paper to decorate it along with glue.

Use twice as much sea salt as epsom salts, add in about 1/3 as much of bicarb of soda (as epsom salts). (So that's 6 parts sea salt, 3 parts epsom salts and 1 part bicarb.) Mix it all together and add in enough tea leaves to give it a nice scent (about half the amount of epsom salts was about right for me). And that's it, easy!



To make the jars, I used some plastic ones that had once held scented playdough. I just washed off the old labels and made new ones from some pretty paper I have. Then I glued them on using glue mixed with about the same amount of water and covered it with a couple more coats of the glue mix once it was dry.



I gave these ones to my boyfriends mum and sister for their birthdays, and I gave some as Christmas presents last year. They are a super quick way to make a cheap gift.

Thursday 21 November 2013

Jewellery Holder DIY

My latest project was to turn an old wooden cutlery tray into a jewellery holder for all my necklaced and bracelets.



It was pretty simple and quick (except for waiting for the coats of paint to dry) but I did it over a few days. I'm sure you can work it out for yourself but here are the steps in case you want some tips!

1. Sand down the wood a little so the paint will stick better.



2. Spray paint. I am terrible at spray painting, this is only the second time I've attempted it and I got a few drips etc. Basically, the trick is to keep moving and do super thin coats, but I haven't quite mastered it yet!



3. Screw in little hooks. I found these at a local shop that sells household/DIY stuff. It was about £1 for a pack with loads more than I needed so I've got some left over I could use for another project.

4. Hang all your jewellery on it! (Sorry for the poor quality picture, I haven't got the lighting sorted in my new flat yet!)



I was intending to hang it on the wall but I've just moved into a rented flat so that may not be possible any more. It looks fine leant against a wall though. Now all I need to do is sort through my jewellery as I hardly ever wear most of this!