DIY Bath Salts {Mother’s Day Gift}

 

DIY Bath Salts

Hi crafty friends! With Mother’s Day quickly approaching, I thought I would share my journey about becoming a mother and an easy Mother’s Day gift idea. This bath salt gift is perfect for any mom. The bath salts are easy to make and infused with lavender and rose essential oils to help mom relax after a long day. Because let’s be honest, being a mom can be exhausting. It’s one of the most rewarding roles we have and comes with an astounding amount of emotions. I know for me, having a toddler makes life just a little hectic. You would think after having two older kids I’d be used to the craziness but I’ve learned that every child is different and it’s always an exciting experience. However, I will gladly take the wild moments because at the end of the day I’m thankful for being chosen to be their mom. It’s my favorite role and I’m grateful for the moments when we create new memories in the kitchen and the craft projects we make together.

 

Ocean Toy Soap

Then there’s the joy I feel when my little guy picks flowers from the garden and let’s me know he found them just for me. These are the moments that melt my heart and make me incredibly happy to know I’ve been blessed with being their mother.

Like many mothers around the world, there’s days when I count down the minutes to bedtime and look forward to a long bubble bath. It makes me think about how hard my mother worked to raise my sisters and me. For this reason I like to give her gifts that help her relax and pamper herself. Creating your own bath salts is quick, easy, and great for gifting.

How to make bath salts

Supplies:

• 3 cups Epsom salt
• 2 cups sea salt
• 1 cup baking soda
• Lavender Essential Oil
• Rose Essential Oil
• Pink and purple food coloring or soap dye.
• Test tube or mason jars

Step one: in a large bowl combine epsom salt, sea salt, and baking soda.
Step two: Separate the bath salts into different bowls if you want to use more than one scent and color. Add 10-15 drops of essential oil per bowl.
Step three: Add 2-3 drops of food coloring, be careful not to add too much to avoid dyeing the skin. Store in airtight container.

I don’t share personal stories on here often but with Mother’s Day coming up I’ve been reflecting on my own experience on becoming a mom and thought I would share the story with you. Years ago our little family of three became a happy family of 5, but not without a few bumps in the road. About 7 years ago I experienced two miscarriages within a year. It was truly the hardest time period of my life and really hard to come to terms with. I didn’t understand why it was happening and what I did wrong, or could’ve done to prevent them. Little did I know how common miscarriages are and there’s usually nothing you could do to prevent one from occurring. My first miscarriage occurred at 14 weeks and my second at 12 weeks. My initial thought after the second miscarriage was “I don’t think I’m brave enough to try again.” I wanted to accept that my son would be an only child and emotionally get past the loss of two pregnancies. It took a lot of support from friends, family, my doctor, and even online friends I met who went through the same thing. As time went on my doctor suggested genetic testing and shortly after we had answers. I was diagnosed with MTHFR (methylenetetrahydroflate reductase) deficiency. I’m not nearly knowledgeable enough to explain the entire gene deficiency but I know it plays a major role in processing amino acids and folate (a crucial vitamin needed for fetal development). With the help of my doctor we had a medical plan that would hopefully create a healthy baby. We were blessed with the news of expecting 8 months late on Christmas morning.

The pregnancy was treated very carefully and was my hardest pregnancy of the three. I was put on bed rest at 6 weeks, allowed back to work at 12 weeks then found out I had placenta previa at 16 weeks. I spent nearly my entire pregnancy in bed but in the end was blessed with our daughter, and I’ll always be grateful for the journey. She was born at 36 weeks and a little on the small side. You can only imagine the fear we experienced as the NICU nurses stood beside our bed waiting for her to be born, just in case she needed to be taken to the NICU. It was truly terrifying but I knew we were in good hands. Because of this experience I will forever be grateful for the medical advances we have today in our country and the research that has been done to help moms deliver healthy babies.

More Mother’s Day ideas you may like:

DIY Lemon Soap

Coffee Sugar Scrub

DIY Bath Bomb