A Little Box

Something I made for my mom this holiday season! I found this cute little box at Hobby Lobby for about three dollars and started with a real light white wash. This was followed by the watercolor of the flowers which I highlighted with acrylic paint.

Now for what I put INSIDE the box! Need: 2cup Epsom salt, 1 tbsp water, fragrance, mixing bowl, mold and food color! That's right, I made bath salts for my mom. I did it rather unconventional however. First off, one should mix the Epsom salt, water, fragrance and food coloring all together. That went fairly well except for the fact that I didn't have food coloring for my first batch, so when I mixed it all together I got a nice pink rather than a "Cheery Christmas" red. Secondly, pack firmly into molds. I didn't have any molds. The website which I found this recipe instructed the creator to pack firmly into circular bath molds which snap together (like plastic Easter eggs). From there they were to set dry for a day, then the top half was to be removed (with the idea that the sphere shape would remain intact) and then leave the whole to rest for another 3-4 days. Well, ice cube tray... bath mold... no difference right? Wrong. I could not get the dang things to hold their shape for the life of me! I let them set close to a week with no results. Granted it would've helped if the ice cube tray had a second part to allow air to reach the whole bath salt. It probably also would have helped a great deal if I had a regular, cubic, small ice cube tray. I had long, fairly wide cylinders. Face it, no air was getting to the center of that sodium concoction.

However, it all worked out well I believe. A few days before Christmas I decided waiting was ridiculous at this point. I had tried everything short of sticking it in the oven. Well what in Pete's sake is wrong with having it just the plain salt? and instructing my mom to scoop two spoon fulls, or as much as her desired fragrance, into her bath. I got a huge mixing bowl. Poured my poor mixture into it and began to use my hair dryer in an attempt to prevail against this truly evil foe.

I lost.

I used the high setting on the hair dryer. Wet, fruity scented Epsom salt went EVERYWHERE!

Round two: Used the low setting and held the dryer close to the salt with my arm wrapped around the bowl to prevent any projectile chemicals.

It worked a lot better :) And so I continued, adding in more salt, and water as needed to make it soak in. Do not bother to ask how much I put in, I just poured the Epsom salt in and added a little bit of water at a time to keep the mixture moving; the salt should be wet but not runny. I added in even more fragrance than water, and even more food coloring than fragrance. It smelt wonderful I must say. The fragrance I also got at Hobby Lobby (fragrance- $2.99 from Hobby Lobby, Espom salt- $3 from Walmart, Water- free from my tap, a fruity smelling bathroom and Christmas adventures- Priceless). Strawberry and Sugar Cookie. It smelt glorious and I have to sway a bit as I entered my bathroom later that night. The dulcet smell, I could not get enough of it. Did I mention that I was doing all of this in my bathroom? My mom was in the kitchen so this was considered a covert affair and face it, I knew I would make a mess so at least it would do the least damage in the bathroom. After I had used most of my salt and fragrance, with the bath salts being mostly dry, I felt a sense of accomplishment and scooped some into my mom's box. Concluding the momentous occasion by wrapping the gift.

Christmas Day my mom opened it.

"Oh that smells wonderful, Katie!"

I couldn't resist smelling it.

I should have put the bath salts in a plastic bag. The salts now smelled pleasantly of the wood which had been holding it these last few days. Not a hint of strawberry or sugar cookies there.

:)   Touche Epsom bath salts. Touche.