Gray Bath Salt Scrub

I researched the health benefits of several different oils and salts and came up with a salt scrub that is great for skin and smells AMAZING!

Here is a breakdown of the ingredients/health benefits:
Avocado Oil - Vitamin A, D & E
Coconut Oil- Vitamin E, helps smooth skin, relieve stress and is an antioxidant
Gray Salt - magnesium, calcium and potassium. This salt is completely natural - it is unrefined and unwashed and contains no additives.
Acai Oil- very mild sweet fruit smell, has vitamin B1, B2, B3, C, E,omega 6 &7, is a natural emollient, helps acne, reduces swelling, eases muscles

Play Dough!

I didn't have any time to shop for my baby cousins birthday, so I made a few batches of play dough for her instead (and a few more to take to work.) The texture is great and the colors were fun to play around with. The one that looks brown in the picture is actually purple, I'm a lousy photographer.

Here is a link to the recipe I used http://anartnest.squarespace.com/home-made-play-dough/2009/4/19/home-made-play-dough-project.html

Everyone should try this, even if you don't have kids!

Vanilla Extract

It's really easy to make and it tastes so much better than store bought vanilla. All you need is vodka, a couple vanilla beans and a jar. I found good vanilla beans from Madagascar at Rainbow Grocery, and just used cheap vodka from the corner store.

Make sure to cut the beans so that the bean is fully submerged in the vodka. You can either scrape out the inside of the beans and add them to the mix or you can drop in the whole bean without doing anything to it. I prefer to just drop the vanilla beans in, it takes longer (about a month) but it doesn't leave any vanilla floaters in the extract.