DIY Bath Bombs + Personalized Beauty Bowl!

The Personalized Beauty Bowl with Bath Bombs

Hello, there!

I recently had a fantastic baby shower thrown by these three wonderful women:

{Brittany, Hayley, me, Ashley}

The shower was impeccable, as I knew it would be, because all three are stylish, fun women. So I had a really fun time thinking of the perfect hostess gifts to make and give them! This craft doesn't use vinyl, but I had to blog about it, anyway, because I'm just so gosh-darn proud of how they turned out!

After some serious thought I decided to go with homemade bath bombs. I've been looking for an excuse to make my own version of these overpriced luxury items, and found a really fantastic and easy tutorial for them from the amazing Martha Stewart! 

Martha Stewart's Bath Bomb Tute

(But the packaging was all my idea. I can't even give credit to Pinterest :) 

For the Bath Bombs:

I chose the MS tutorial over the tons of others available because hers used ingredients that I had on hand, and  she has a video tutorial that was so easy to follow! I won't describe each ingredient and step because she does it so well :) 

I have to say, though, that I always sift together powdery materials- whether I'm baking or crafting. Sifting materials you'd have to mix anyway makes a big difference!

I picked out a floral scent for under $1 at Wal Mart for this craft. A couple drops of cheap fragrance goes a looooooooooong way, let me tell you! 

Adding the liquid is the part I was most worried about. I bought a sprayer to make sure I did it right... 

I sprayed all around until I saw the mixture fiz up...

Then mixed it all together, adding more sprays as I needed to...

Until the mixture clumped between my fingers.

 I was worried about this step because I'd read on other tutorials that you have to be very careful about the amount of liquid you add, how, and when, but I found that you don't have to be so conservative. Spraying around a little at a time allowed me to wait for the perfect clumping consistency, but, ultimately, I think if it was a little too damp that would have been fine, too. Some of the liquid evaporates while the mixture sits around, anyway, so I even had to add more liquid even after I'd mixed it to the perfect consistency!

I found my citric acid in the bulk section of a Whole Foods organic store, which turned out to be a happy inconvenience because it was next to bulk jars of dried lavender and rose buds. I spent $.30 on a baggie of rose buds to add some class to my soaps! This extra step made the bombs look and smell so professional!

I put some rose petals in the bottom of the muffin cups then spooned the mixture on top. It took a lot of mixture to fill the cups, so don't be afraid of over-filling! 

Pat it down as firmly as you can. This is what makes the bombs stay together and in the shape you want. 

I let them sit for about an hour then they easily came out of the tin onto a piece of parchment paper to finish drying overnight. The MS recipe made about 28 mini muffin cups worth of bombs- perfect for my three gifts!

For the Personalized Beauty Bowl:

I started off with white Corning bowls and a pack of colored sharpies. 

All I had to do was write a personalized message to each of my friends using a different color around the outside of the bowl! If I trusted my drawing skills more I would have designed the inside of the bowl, too. 

This bowl will {hopefully} be used as a jewelry catch-all or some other bathroom beauty use and stand as a creative reminder of how much I care about each person! 

A great hostess gift, right? I even got to keep a few bath bombs for myself, and they are wonderful I-tell-you-what!