Holiday Open House Series~ Celebrating Everyday Life with Jennifer Carroll

Today we’re so pleased to have Jennifer Carroll, the author of the blog and magazine Celebrating Everyday Life with Jennifer Carroll here to visit for our Holiday Open House series. Jennifer’s beautiful blog/magazine will truly put you in the holiday spirit, the project below is one of her wonderful homemade gift ideas.

Hello, hello! I’m so honored to have been invited by Amy, Christy and Terry to visit with you today. My name is Jennifer Carroll and I’m the editor of Celebrating Everyday Life with Jennifer Carroll, a magazine and blog that focuses on food, decor and inspiration to help you celebrate, everyday!

The holiday season is in full swing and the countdown is on, which also means the stress levels keep creeping up higher and higher. To help combat that, I wanted to share my stress-busting solution: lavender bath salts. It is very easy to assemble several of these beautiful jars in minutes so you will not be caught short handed for a last-minute gift this year, and you’ll of course want to keep some for yourself too!

Here’s what you need to make this gift:

Lavender buds + bath salts + small jars. That’s it! I order my lavender buds from Amazon, one pound at a time, and let me tell you it lasts and lasts and lasts. You can use any type of bath salt I just recommend if you are going to use one that has a scent in it, make sure that it will complement your lavender. Plain epsom salt is a good choice if you’re concerned about clashing scents since it has no smell.

To assemble, simply pour a layer of your bath salts into the jar (a funnel can be helpful with this), then pour a layer of lavender buds on top, keep repeating layers until your jar is full and you have the look you desire.

You can embellish your jar top with a bit of fabric and ribbon, even attach a tiny scoop if you’d like. I like to keep the “wrapping” simple so that the lovely layers are visible… they are so pretty to me! Taking a bath with fresh lavender buds like this feels almost decadent and I know your friends, family members, co-workers, teachers, neighbors and whomever else you decide to bless with this gift, will all agree!

Note: you could even gift your jar in a drawstring muslin bag so guests could fill the bag with the lavender/salt blend and drop it, tea-bag style, into their tub if they are concerned about the buds in their bath causing trouble with their drain. I personally like to see the buds floating around and simply scoop the bulk of them out so they don’t go down the drain. But I know this can be a concern to some folks so I offer this as a possible solution.

In the November/December issue of my magazine we featured an article on welcoming guests to your home for the holidays and included this lavender bath salt idea as one way to help friends and family feel at home. I invite you to check out the issue to read more ideas on welcoming guests and discover lots of holiday inspiration!

Here’s to a soothing Christmas season!

Happy Celebrating!

Thank you so much Jennifer for sharing these beautiful bath salts, they are gorgeous, I would love to receive one as a gift! Be sure to check out the post we did on Jennifer’s beautiful e-zine HERE.

And head over {here} if you’d like to enter our current giveaway for a $50 gift card to Online Fabric Store.

Here is the Open House Guest line up ~

Last Week:

Tuesday ~ Everyday Occasions

Wednesday ~ Dixie Delights

Thursday~ DIYShowOff

Friday~At the Picket Fence

Sunday~Surprise Home!

This Week:

Monday~ Celebrating Everyday Life with Jennifer Carroll

Tuesday~ Housepitality Designs

Wednesday-Friday~ 11 Magnolia Lane