Homemade gardeners salve DIY

A few days ago was my stepmothers birthday. She had a rough week and needed cheering up. Problem is we have very dissimilar tastes. She loves football, nascar and gardening. My dad loves nascar, football and eating so they make a great pair. But gift buying has always proved difficult for her. Last present we got her were some heirloom seeds. But we were a two income family back then. 

So the past year I've had to get very creative about gifts. Our budget doesn't allow for any wiggle room or gifts. 

Enter Pinterest. I looked up different gardeners salves and balms. I came across one that seemed fairly simple and gathered ingredents and then kinda winged it from there  it because my attention span gets annoyed with recipes and I wanted to add some stuff. Ha. 

I know she loves the smell of lavender so I went with that and a little vanilla to soften it. (vanilla essential oil doesn't smell like you'd imagine. It smells more like extract. 

I used this recipe for a guide of about how much of everything and substituted things I wanted to use instead and added as well. 

http://www.crunchybetty.com/the-roofarm-and-recipes-for-not-just-for-gardeners-salve

I used 

30 grams coconüt oil 

30 grams beeswax beads

30 grams jojoba oil

30 grams apricot seed oil

15 grams shea butter

30 drops lavender essential oil

30 drops vanilla essential oil 

I dumped the coconüt and beeswax in a double boiler (a metal bowl on top of a pot with an inch of water in pot)

When it was melted I added all the oils and stirred. Poured into a mason jar and let it sit. I didn't take a pic of the final product but it looked like any other salve or balm you buy. 

I took a picture right before I handed it to her. I used one of those turtle shaped elastics to hold it on. Thought it would be a cute surprise later. 

The result was she really liked it. She's a tough egg so I consider this an overwhelming success. She kept dipping her finger in while we were there. And the smell?!? Omg it smelled so good but also so light. Not overwhelming. You really had to stick it to your nose to smell. 

And she now has an all natural no chemical salve to cover her hands with before or after working in the garden and not worry about chemicals!

I had a little leftover I put in a plastic jar

And Dave has been using it. He has major skin problems. BAD. Like really bad. He loved that this really moisturizer and left his hands soft but not greasy at all. He has extremely delicate skin on his hands so for something. To work for him and not hurt is a huge win!