These cute little hand and foot warmers are easy to make and a good way to use up fabric scraps. If you don’t have any fabric scraps, you can pick up the last bits from a roll at a fabric store for very little money.
Not only can these warm up your hands and feet, but if you add essential oils, you can turn them into personal diffusers and customize the scent according to your needs.
Try gifting the hand and foot warmers along with a small sample bottle of oil for refreshing the scent.
Sew a 1 1/2″ x 2″ (3 3/4 × 5 cm) piece of fleece to the center of one of the fleece squares to make a little pocket. You’ll want to attach it to the square on three sides and leave one side open (you’ll be inserting the small aroma pad in this pocket to customize your scent).
Now take another fleece square that is the same size as the one you sewed the pocket to, and put them together with the pocket side on the outside. Sew these squares together on 3 sides (leave one side open). Note: when you start or end sewing, reverse directions after 10 stitches or so to reinforce the area and prevent it from coming unstitched.
Fill the fleece warmer with rice or whole flax seeds (until 2/3 full—leave enough space to sew the remaining side without rice getting in the way). Add 3–5 drops essential oil to the rice or whole flax seeds (optional, but this helps cover the musty scent of the rice).
Once the rice or whole flax seeds are in, sew up the remaining side.
To use, simply pop your warmers in the microwave for 30 seconds or until pretty warm (but not hot!). Add a few drops of essential oil to the aroma pad, and place it in the little fleece pocket. Use to keep your hands or feet warm by holding them or placing them in mittens or socks. They should stay warm for about 15–20 minutes.
Use pinking shears to cut your squares to give them a decorative finish.
If you don’t want to sew a pocket for the aroma pad, you can always add your 3–5 drops of essential oil to the rice, then add additional scent directly to the fleece (just avoid citrus essential oils if putting oil directly on the fleece).
As mentioned above, we are highlighting one of the recipes—the Refreshing Rosemary Mint Shampoo—that is found in the gift guide. This shampoo uses peppermint and rosemary essential oils because they are both known to help stimulate hair growth and work well for all hair types. If you prefer a different scent or have different needs, check out Modern Essentials for more essential oil suggestions, and feel free to switch out the oils in this recipe. This shampoo makes a great gift for any of your holistically inclined friends!
Essential Oil Station. This is where your guests can make their own essential oil spray. You’ll need the 15 ml spray bottles, vegetable glycerin, essential oils, and distilled water with instructions for making the sprays. If you have a holiday-scented essential oil blend, it would be easy to just offer that. If not, you can offer a few single essential oils and recipes for your guests to make their own holiday-scented blend. Here are a couple holiday blends you can try: Holiday Diffuser Blends, Citrus Spice Diffuser Blend, Autumn-Scented Essential Oil Blends.
4–6 drops essential oil (a holiday-scented blend works great!)
Cut a piece of ribbon 19″ (48 cm) long. Use a marker to place a small dot in the center of the ribbon 2″ (5 cm) from one end of the ribbon to mark your starting point. From this point, make additional marks along the ribbon, spacing them apart at these increments: 2 3/4″ (7 cm), 2 1/2″ (6.5 cm), 2 1/4″ (6 cm), 2″ (5.5 cm), 1 3/4″ (5 cm), 1 1/2″ (4.5 cm), 1 1/4″ (4 cm), 1″ (3.5 cm), etc. (the spaces between the marks should gradually get smaller by a 1/4″ [.5 cm] as you move down the ribbon).
Select your beads. You’ll need 2 small beads to secure the ends and 10 larger beads for the “trunk” of the tree.
Cut a piece of thread/string about 30″ (76 cm) long (you’ll need about 10–12″ [25.5–30.5 cm] for the tree and extra for the loop at the top). Thread your needle, and tie the ends of the string together.
Put your needle through the ribbon at the starting point (the mark 2″ [5 cm] from the end), then through a large bead, then through a small bead; continue threading around the small bead, back through the large bead, and back through the ribbon at the same mark. This secures the bottom of the tree. Now put the needle through another large bead, through the ribbon at the next mark, through another large bead, through the ribbon at the 3rd mark, and repeat until all the large beads are gone. After the last bead is threaded, put the needle through the small bead, then around the small bead, back through the large bead, and back through the last mark on the ribbon. Tie a knot, then go back up through the ribbon, large bead, and small bead. Tie another knot a 2–4″ (5–10 cm) above the tree (or however big you want your hanging loop to be), and cut the thread.
Finish by cutting the ribbon ends to where you think it looks good, and apply clear nail polish or glue to the ends to help prevent fraying.
Make an essential oil spray by placing 1/4 tsp. (1.5 ml) vegetable glycerin in the 15 ml bottle. Add 4–6 drops of essential oil. Fill the rest with distilled water, and screw on the spray top. Shake to combine.
To use, spray your essential oil spray on the ribbon tree, and hang wherever you desire. Refresh the scent by spraying the tree again with more of the essential oil spray.
To make this vanilla extract, you only need a few things—vanilla beans, alcohol (such as vodka, rum, or bourbon), glass bottles, and labels. Vanilla beans can be expensive when bought locally; so to make this gift as inexpensive as possible, consider buying the beans in bulk from an online source like Amazon.com. Our 4 oz. Glass Bottles work really well for this project, and our 4 oz. Glass Bottles with Dropper Caps make it really easy to get the exact amount of vanilla you need when cooking.
The best thing about homemade vanilla is that if you leave the beans in the bottle, it just keeps getting better the longer you let it sit. When gifting this, make sure to leave 1–2 vanilla beans in every 4 oz. bottle so it not only looks authentic, but also so your friends can enjoy a richer vanilla flavor over time.