(shown: shuggah, and printable gift tags)

It’s about that time when you realize you need to whip up a hostess gift or that you forgot about secret santa at work…here’s 2 quick fixes. The first is shuggah (sugar scrub) the other is printables! What the heck is shuggah? It’s my sugar scrub recipe, made with foaming bath butter, organic brown sugar, white granulated sugar and a fragrance oil or two. Some people get really complex with their sugar scrubs, turning their nose up at anything less than raw ingredients whipped to perfection – but I’m super lazy (and I bombed Chemistry class). I find that as long as you make your scrubs in small batches, give it an expiration date, be mindful of allergies / sensitive skin and tell people NOT to eat it, it’s fine. This scrub is NOT intended for the bath tub…slippery! I keep mine on the kitchen sink for 2 months, then toss. It’s usually gone by then anyhow. I have two bowls, a measuring cup and mixing utensils specifically labeled: NOT FOR FOOD. You should too. I use 4 oz. Ball wide mouth canning jars, available at the grocery store, but if you prefer plastic cosmetic jars, suit yourself. Glass can break, so it is safer to use the plastic…but did I mention I am lazy?…and I have all these jars leftover from last year’s scrubtasticalness?

Here is the “recipe” or “how I throw everything into a bowl and make magic…”

16 oz Foaming Bath Butter (doesn’t smell great, hence the fragrance oil)

2 cups organic brown sugar

3 cups granulated white sugar

fragrance oil of choice (I used Dark Chocolate and Cream Cheese Frosting together to make “chocolate cupcake”)

large spoon or rubber spatula

2 plastic mixing bowls (one large, one small)

jar / container to hold scrub

This recipe makes about five 4 oz jars of scrub.

Plop (that’s a technical term) foaming bath butter into large mixing bowl, then granulated sugar. Stir everything until sugar  is incorporated into the bath butter. Then add organic brown sugar, mix well. I portion a little bit (about 4 oz) into a separate smaller mixing bowl where I add small amounts of fragrance oil until I get a good balance. Add fragrance slowly, if you feel like you added too much, then go to the larger mixing bowl and get more unscented mix to balance it out. Make sense? When you’ve got it smelling all yummy take a small amount into your hand and test it in the sink. If it doesn’t feel “sugary” enough add more sugar. Portion the resulting ideal mix into your container. It’s ready to be wrapped and gifted. My scrub doesn’t really leave your hands smelling chocolatey, I like it that way. This scrub is NOT intended for use on the FACE. I pretty much just use it on my hands.

If you are an organic everything type person or only into natural ingredients, this recipe is not for you. You can alternatively use grapeseed oil (or any nut oil), organic sugars, kitchen spices, essential oils all that fancy stuff. Plenty of natural sugar scrub recipes out there. Have you heard of this new-fangled thing they call Google? I’m currently working on a few natural scrubs that incorporate coconut oil, I’ll share them once they have been tested/perfected.

Alright, if you are still with me in this post you deserve a present! And I just happen to have one right here…printable gift tags! I love printables, you can use your new best friend, Google, to search online for all kinds of adorable, unique, useful, FREE printables. From recipe cards to calendars to gift tags like the ones I have for you below. You’ll also find Pinterest is a great resource for printables of all sorts. I love Pinterest. Click the image below to download this year’s tags. There are 4 folding tags (fox, deer, squirrel and birdies) set up on one 8.5″ x 11″ sheet.