Still have people on your shopping list? Skip the lines and try one of these homemade gifts for a more personalized holiday this year. There's homemade gifts for baking, bartending, sipping and self care. Plus, there's ideas for what to sip as you get crafty.
By definition, bitters are bitter and aromatic herbs and spice infusions in tinctures or spirits. You’re probably familiar with the bar staples: Peychaud’s and Angostura bitters, but with the recent focus on mixology, bitters have come to the forefront. There has been more focus on the flavors of bitters and how they can enhance a drink. With the right packaging, homemade bitters are also a perfect DIY gift idea!
I'm choosing not to stress and to enjoy my final Christmas preparations. Homemade gifts are one of my defense mechanisms against the holiday hangups. Instead of battling feuding families in malls, hit the wine and spirits shop (extra bonus: might as well buy yourself some wine while you're there) and your favorite spice store. Two stops, and you'll have the makings of homemade vanilla extract. Cue up your favorite holiday albums (Mariah Carey and She & Him, for me please), spike the egg nog, and then, it's as simple as pouring liquid over vanilla beans.
Exfoliation is a necessary step to keep skin glowing, and making a homemade sugar scrub, it turns out, is easy- just mix the ingredients in a bowl, transfer to a jar, and … that’s it! Plus, homemade scrubs give you the power to customize the scents to your fancy and to make sure every ingredient is top quality.
To say I am hard on this body of mine is an understatement. My work as a stylist often has me schlepping heavy totes of props from my third-floor apartment, standing for loooong days, hunched over to tweeze and primp food, and in general, I tend to tense up and internalize stress. I'm sure I'm not alone in these feelings, regardless of your profession, and I'm sure I'm not alone in needing a little more time and space for self care. That's why I'm sharing this lovely sea salt foot soak DIY.
I've been playing with more apothecary recipes and slowly building my arsenal of ingredients. What we put on our bodies and in our homes is just as important as what we eat, so I see these recipes as a natural extension of my cooking and baking.
When I made a major shift in my diet toward clean eating, my skin took on a new glow, and I felt more energized, but one aspect that never changed, much to my chagrin, was my oily hair. Even though I switched to all organic, all natural products, I still needed to wash my hair almost daily. It turns out, my excessive washing, even with all natural products, was probably doing more harm than good. Have you heard of the “no ‘poo” (ie: no shampoo) movement in natural haircare?
With Mountain View, San Jose, Seattle, Portland, Oakhurst, Stockton, San Fran, Berkeley and Los Angeles under our belts, Lindsey and I have seen our fair share of planes, rental cars, and Air BnB's. Some of those homes-away-from-home have been so memorable as to be downright missable (did you meet Chaos the dog?!?). Others have been .... adequate. So when one of our Air BnB's had a certain "funk" to it, we devised this DIY Essential Oil Diffuser idea.