DIY Christmas Gifts Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Sibyl Smith Enterprises, LLC

Free Download Friday, WEEK 3: Homemade Body Butter Printable Labels

Here are the links to the homemade body butter labels, as well as a tutorial on how to cut them out!

To print the labels, just follow these links below.

There is a label that has “Lavender-Mint” on it, as well as a generic label with no scent – you can write it in based on whatever scents you use.

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Body Butter Labels (generic)
Body Butter Labels – Lavender/Mint Personal use only, please.

For the circular labels, print out the file onto your card stock of choice. I use a kraft-colored card stock. There is a light grey border on these so that you can use the circular cutter and reach the printed area. Cut along the border with scissors to decrease the amount of border.

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Now that you’ve cut the outer edge of the paper, you’ll be able to reach the printed area with the circle cutter. Center the label in the circle cutter and press the handles together – and the label will pop out!

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Use your favorite adhesive to put the labels on jars:
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Place on jar tops and store until you’re ready to start your gift giving!

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FREE Download Friday, WEEK 3: Homemade Lavender-Mint Body Butter

by Sibyl Smith Leave a Comment

Body Butter Blog 1 In the winter months, my skin suffers terribly from the cold, dry air. I also feel like I wash my hands 10 times more than usual to ward off the sick bugs to which we’re all exposed. Just today alone, I think I washed my hands every 2 minutes due to the fact that my youngest was battling the dreaded stomach bug. (It’s the worst when the iPad becomes victim…and then you’re stuck cleaning out the USB port with a toothpick.) So by January of each year, my hands are just so dry and cracked.

I love having a natural moisturizer to use that not only smells great, but also leaves my skin feeling like it’s been flooded with hydration. I usually use this body butter before I go to bed, and when I wake up in the mornings I can see a huge difference in how my hands are feeling. I give it as gifts during the holidays to teachers, neighbors, family and friends!

This homemade body butter is light and fragrant – and also make a perfect stocking stuffer or teacher gift during the holidays.

I use coconut oil,

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vitamin E oil,

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and whatever fragrance of essential oil that I’d like. For this batch, I am using a Lavender

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and Peppermint

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Instructions and Ingredients for Body Butter:
4 cups Coconut Oil
1 TBSP Vitamin E Oil
12-15 drops Lavender Essential Oil
12-15 drops Peppermint Essential Oil

***yields 15 Ball 4 oz. jars of body butter

Place all ingredients into mixer, blend for 5 minutes, and spoon into air tight containers. I used the kitchen aid mixer with the whisk attachment, but you can also use a hand mixer.

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For the containers, I am using the Ball 4 oz. jars – you can order them from Amazon, but I find them at my grocery store at a slightly cheaper price.

For a tutorial on how to print and cut the labels, click here. Personal use only, please.
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Getting ready for Black Friday – from home! Free downloads and DIY recipes all day!

by Sibyl Smith Leave a Comment

shopping list 1
This Friday, which is Black Friday 2015, I will be staying home. 🙂 I’ve never been one to wake up early and fight the crowds for a deal – especially now, since we have Amazon Prime. These past few years, I’m not sure if I even shopped in a stores during the holidays due to the ease of online shopping!

This Friday I am going to take the day to sit around and get a few of these following DIY projects done. If you’ve been following along with my Free Download Friday posts, you know that I am working to get things done a little earlier this year so that I can enjoy the holiday with my family instead of running around like a mad woman.

This Friday, I will have at least 3 posts throughout the day with recipes and free downloads and by the end of the weekend, I expect to be done with the bulk of our teacher gifts, neighbor gifts and stocking stuffers! Whoop Whoop!

Here’s what I will be making, packaging and labeling:
BODY-BUTTER,-SUGAR-SCRUB,-BATH-SALTS-Labels
Homemade Body Butter – Lavender/Mint
Homemade Sugar Scrub – Brown Sugar/Vanilla
Bath Salts – Lavender/Mint
Pre-made Smoothie kits

I’m hoping to find some small, wooden crates to use as gift boxes for them when it’s time to distribute them.

I’m stocking up to get many of the supplies I’ll need:
Homemade Body Butter:
Coconut Oil
Vitamin E Oil
Lavender Essential Oil
Peppermint Essential Oil

Homemade Brown Sugar Scrub:
Coconut Oil
Brown Sugar
Vitamin E Oil
Vanilla Essential Oil

Pre-Made Smoothie Jar
Protein Powder of your choice (I will be using Isagenix IsaLean Pro)
Additions like dried fruits, nuts and or chocolate chips

Each of these recipes take only minutes to prepare – seriously! You will need a mixer of some sort – I use the kitchen aid with the whisk attachment, but you can also use a hand mixer.

Check back tomorrow for more info, and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter for updates about upcoming downloads and recipes throughout this holiday season!!

Fall Recipes: Crock Pot Apple Butter Recipe with Printable Labels

by Sibyl Smith Leave a Comment

My son adores apple butter – I have not eaten it in years, but every fall he likes to devour an entire jar of it all by himself.

I have seen quite a few recipes online where the apples are cooked overnight in the crock pot, and that sounded like an easy idea – so we decided to give it a try!

We took about 6 pounds of apples, peeled and chopped them, and put them in the crock pot with a few spices – turned it on low, and that was it. The smell was so amazing that everyone kept walking by the crock pot just to inhale all of the holiday scents – it smelled better than any holiday candle we’ve ever had!

Once all of the apples were peeled and chopped, we put them in the crock pot with the spices and lemon juice and mixed them together.

This is what they looked like after about 2 hours in the crock pot on low. The smell was so amazing! Now, off to bed!

The apples cooked on low all night.

I turned off the crock pot and ladled the apple mixture into the Ninja – waited for it to cool a bit – and pureed it. You could also use your food processor or immersion blender, whatever you have.

This morning’s breakfast was a hit! Biscuits and apple butter – what a great fall breakfast and we definitely enjoyed how the house smelled during the process.

It will also come in handy as another quick and easy holiday gift to pass on – as it looks great in canning jars!

Recipe below!

Ingredients:
5-6 pounds of apples, peeled, cored and diced
2 TBSP Lemon juice
2 TBSP Cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp AllSpice
1/4 cup honey

Place peeled and diced apples in a crockpot. Add lemon juice, honey and the rest of the spices and stir to coat the apples. Turn crockpot on low and allow the apples to stew for 8-10 hours. (We cooked ours overnight, from about 7 pm to 6 am.) Once the apples are done cooking, allow them to cool a bit and place in blending appliance of choice – I use a Ninja, but you could use a blender, an immersion blender or food processor – and puree until it has reached the consistency of your desire.

And – are you aware of alllll of the health benefits of apples? I recently found this article and wanted to share it in this very fitting blog post!
http://www.well-beingsecrets.com/apples-health-benefits/

To download your own apple butter labels, click here: Free printable Apple Butter Labels.

If you need help with printing and cutting, here is a tutorial.

If you have enjoyed this recipe, please drop me a line or comment below to let me know!

Free Download Friday, WEEK 1: Homemade Vanilla Labels

by Sibyl Smith 2 Comments

Welcome to The Choice Umbrella’s first Free Download Friday of the 2015 Holiday Season!

For the next 6 weeks, I will be providing a Free Printable and Holiday DIY project on Fridays.

This week’s download is a label to be used for homemade vanilla, which is a great gift option during the holidays! There are labels to print on card stock, as well as an Avery template to use in case you have Avery printables available. I have had a hard time aligning my circular prints these days with the circular stickers, so right now I am just going with card stock. Personal use only, please.

uses the Avery Circular Label, 22807

If you haven’t seen the tutorial/recipe for the homemade vanilla, you can view it here.

I printed “Made On” label on kraft-colored card stock as well – but it could also be printed on an adhesive paper of your choice. There are light grey boxes that outline the labels for you to easily see an outline – I used a straight edge and a blade to cut these out.

I would love to hear how things worked out with your homemade vanilla and your labels! As we get closer to the gift-giving season, please post your homemade vanilla with the hashtag of #thechoiceumbrella so that we can see!

Homemade Organic Vanilla with Free downloadable labels!

by Sibyl Smith Leave a Comment

If you’re like me, you appreciate an unlimited amount of vanilla when you’re cooking and baking. So why not make yourself a “bottomless” vat of organic vanilla for use over the holidays, AND have extra to give as gifts? By following this quick recipe, you’ll have a large supply of vanilla at your fingertips – all you have to do is wait a few weeks for it to cure.

About a year and a half ago, I realized how much vanilla I was using on a week-to-week basis. I like using organic vanilla since since I’m trying to use whole ingredients. I realized that I could be making vanilla in my own kitchen, so I decided to give it a try – and I have been using it ever since!

It’s so easy, I hope that you’ll give it a try as well!

All you will need is an Fido Italian airtight glass container, vanilla beans, and vodka. (or your liquor of choice.)

Here are the supplies that I have used and recommend:
Airtight Jar: I love all of the Fido Italian jars and have them in all sizes

Organic Vodka: I use Rain Organic Vodka

Vanilla Beans: I am using the Yankee Traders Madagascar Vanilla Beans in this batch

Simply place the beans into your airtight jar and pour enough vodka over beans to cover them.

I like to slice a few of the beans open so that the vanilla “caviar” is released – you can strain this out later if needed by pouring through a coffee filter, or you can just leave the beans whole without slicing them at all.

Once you’ve poured the vodka over the beans, close up the container and you’re done! Now you just have to wait 4-6 weeks to use it. (and with each month that passes, it will get better and better!)

I print out a label and place on the jar so that I can remember the date of creation – otherwise I’ll forget. 🙂

4-6 weeks later, you will have your own vat of vanilla! While you’re waiting to use it, you can print out these labels and by other supplies to use if you’d like to give homemade vanilla as holiday gifts. Personal use only, please. Let us see how yours turn out by using #thechoiceumbrella in your post!

Vanilla Labels Download