Little Lotion Bars in Pretty Tins

Are you thinking about gifts for the holidays? Today I have homemade little lotions bars  in pretty tins that are perfect for slipping in your purse. Dressing up the packaging with some washi tape and patterned paper makes these especially wonderful. 

Including packaging, these run about $1 - $2 per packaged lotion bar, super affordable. To keep cost down, I ordered most of products online through Amazon. 

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat melt:
3/4 cup Beeswax
3/4 cup Shea Butter ($3.50) - you can substitute cocoa butter for an amazing natural chocolate scent or vegetable shortening as a cost cutter as well.
3/4 cup coconut oil ($2.00) - I like coconut oil for it's many wonderful qualities, but olive oil, almond oil, or a mix of these liquid oils can be substituted.

It will take about 10 minutes for the ingredients to go from solid to liquid. 

*Optional step: You can add essential oils (for scented lotion bars) and or vitamin E oil (for preservation).

 You can pour the lotion bars into any mold you'd like, but for these, I just poured the lotion bars directly into the tins I will be using for gifting.  I was able to find my tins for $5 per 10 pack. While my lotions bars were cooling (which happened very quickly since the tins are small), I decorated the lids (which took about 5 - 10 minutes).

 I printed small labels on patterned paper from Pebbles Inc. Front Porch collection.  I used my Silhouette digital die cutting machine to cut those labels into small circles (if you don't have a Silhouette, you could use circle punches, dies, or even just a scissors). I cut a second larger circle from Front Porch paper as well. I sized this circle to be slightly smaller than the lid of the tin.  Use Permanent Glue Dots® to attach the smaller paper circle to the larger one and to attach the large circle to the lid of the container. 

You can also add little strips of paper or washi tape to the edge of your tin. 

...and there you have it easy little gifts in about 20 minutes!