The Easiest Two Ingredient Coffee Body Scrub Recipe

Christmas is just eight days away and the stores are full of different gift packs filled with beauty products ready to be gifted this holiday season. But instead of giving a cheap, chemical filled box of lotions and potions - why not give something you've created yourself? 

My sister and I have been making this scrub for months - and I only just realised I hadn't ever shared the "recipe" with you. I say "recipe" because, with just two ingredients, I don't know if it even qualifies as one! 

This homemade body scrub recipe not only exfoliates, but moisturises your skin to leave it feeling silky smooth. Once you've made it and realise how easy (and cheap!) it is, you'll be wondering why you ever bought body scrubs in the past!

So let me show you how to make it! >> 

Our Nordic Inspired Christmas Table + DIY Tutorials

Christmas is just twenty five days away! Our tree is up, the decorations are out and each night our house is lit up with Christmas lights. 

As we're on the final countdown to my favourite day of the year, we've been planning our Christmas celebrations and have decided on our table theme for this year. Each year we look forward to decorating our table for Christmas lunch/dinner with the family and love coming up with new ideas and themes each year.

This year we're going for a Nordic inspired red and white Christmas theme, paired with yummy edible place cards, cute decor pieces and lots more. 

But enough chitter chatter!
Let me share our Christmas Table and Christmas DIY Projects with you! >> 

DIY: Four Easy Halloween Face Painting Tutorials (for Kids and Adults!)

Halloween is this Saturday and together with our friends at The Reject Shop, my very talented sister, Katrina and I decided we should share some super simple Face Painting Tutorials for those of you who have no idea what you're going to do when it comes to a costume (and for those who think our Halloween Zombie Look Tutorial is a little too scary for their liking)

Whether your kids are trick or treating, or you're heading to a costume party - these four easy to achieve Halloween looks are perfect as they don't require a fancy or expensive costume. All you'll need is some face paint, clothes that will fit the look and a fun attitude! 

There's a clown, a bunny/kitten, a swashbuckling pirate and a doll and all the tutorials have been designed to work for both kids and adults using minimal paint (because we don't want you to look like a cast member from Avatar for the next three weeks as you try to wash off that all-over blue body paint look!)

So let me show you how to create these looks yourself! >> 

Step by Step Halloween Zombie Look Tutorial

If you've been reading Southern In-Law for a while, you may know that my sister, Katrina, is ridiculously talented when it comes to face painting and makeup.

Since Halloween is fast approaching, in only seven days time, we decided to team up to create an awesome or perhaps gruesome Halloween Zombie Face Painting Tutorial (well it's kind of a Halloween Zombie Makeup Tutorial, too!) to share with you so that you're Halloween ready. 

Paired with an awesome Halloween Costume from Smiffys, we were ready to share a pretty cool tutorial with you, so let's jump straight to it!

Here's how you can create your own Halloween Zombie Look >> 

Spoil Mum with a DIY Coupon Book {FREE Printables + A Giveaway!}

Mother's Day is fast approaching (Pssst: It's NEXT Sunday May 10th if you didn't know) and sons and daughters around the globe are scrambling for the perfect gift idea.

Well, I don't know about you - but my Mama is impossible to buy for. She has everything she needs, never uses massage/pampering vouchers, doesn't like sweets, doesn't like flowers as gifts, has every appliances under the sun and always gives the answer of "nothing" when asked what she'd like. 

But that doesn't mean I don't like to spoil her - it just means I have to get creative!

You see, whilst my Mum doesn't need things should could certainly do with a little extra time and that's why this Mother's Day I've decided to put together a coupon book for my Mama (and share it with you so that you can give it to your Mum or Grandma or motherly figure in your life!). 

To make sure she gets that extra time to herself, I've also come up with a few simple and budget friendly gift ideas with the help of our friends at The Reject Shop and I've put together free printables to make the whole process incredibly simple! This is the perfect last minute gift idea to show your Mum just how special she is to you.

So let me give you some inspiration for the perfect Mother's Day Gift on a Budget! {PLUS! Your chance to win a $100 gift card!}

Psssttt; the ideas are so easy (and I've done all the hard work for you!) that you can even achieve the perfect gift just one day before so don't worry if you're reading this at the last minute!!

Easy Ways to Package Homemade Treats for Gifts

One of the reason I love creating recipes and home made treats is sharing it with others. I love seeing the smile on someone's face when they try something delicious or are given their favourite treat and I love how food really can make memories. 

I love giving friends and family homemade treats as gifts throughout the year; especially at holidays like Christmas or Easter or packaging up a special treat as a little birthday gift. Since that's something I've done quite a bit, I thought I'd share some Super Simple Ideas for Packaging Homemade Treats for Gifts to share with you - as well as some recipe ideas you might like to try out. That way you can be sharing the foodie love with your friends and family ASAP! 

How to Make a DIY Pom Pom Garland for less than $10!

I'm one of those people who likes to know how to do everything. Really, if there's something I don't know how to do I get frustrated and then make it my mission to learn how to do exactly that. It's a really bad character trait which sees me wearing a million and one hats - and it's also a character trait that sees me trying and failing to knit a scarf each and every winter. 

The drive is there - I buy my yarn, dig out one of the six hundred and forty two knitting needles I've collected over the past 8 or so winters and I get to knitting.... only to get twenty rows in, with blisters on my fingers and one too many dropped loops, and tuck my teensy wincey scarf segment into the bottom drawer of my desk to "work on later".  

Let me tell you... later never comes. 

This year, however, when I saw the awesome collection of yarn at The Reject Shop I knew I needed to make something with yarn - but I admitted defeat when it came to knitting and decided I had to figure out another yarn project to do instead. 

I decided to make POM POMS! In-fact, I decided to make a pompom garland - and I worked out the ultimate pom pom making method that's stupidly simple and seriously fast. 

Instead of taking thirty three years to make a scarf (based on my calculations of how much knitting I manage to do a year, I'm guessing thirty three years is a pretty good estimate), I made a gorgeous pom-pom garland in just a few hours whilst watching TV with Jesse - and you can too! Best of all, it will cost you less than $10! In fact, it could cost you even less, depending on how many colours you want to choose. 

So let me tell you how to make one for yourself! >>

My Punny Valentine: 40+ Punny Valentines Gift Ideas with FREE Printable Gift Tags!

If you've been reading Southern In-Law for a while, you would have realised that I'm a bit* of a dork - and obviously that means I LOVE puns too!

So when I decided to come up with an easy budget friendly Valentine's gift idea, I knew exactly what I needed to create.....

The Ultimate Punny Valentines Gift Ideas list. 

*Understatement of the century.

And that's exactly what I've put together.

40+ Punny Valentines Gift Ideas on a budget, free Valentines Printable Gift Tags and there's plenty of gift ideas for everyone in your life - from candy focused gifts to non-food valentines gift and small gift ideas for friends and everyone in-between. 

So let's get onto the fun, shall we?!

How To Be Healthier, Happier & More Organised!

Well, the holidays are over and it's time to get back to reality. I'm actually one of those weirdos who loves starting a new work year as it means I can put new practices in place and because it means I get a new planner (and I loveeeeeeeeeeeeee planners and notebooks). 

This year, I thought I'd share some of my must-practice organisation tips to help you have a happier, healthier and less stressed 2015! 

So let me share my simple tips for being more organised this year! >>

DIY: Beautiful Gift Wrapping Ideas on a Budget

One thing I loveeeeeee about Christmas is spoiling friends and family with gifts - and my second favourite thing about doing that has to be wrapping said gifts! 

I've always loved wrapping presents as my Mum taught me how to wrap pretty early on, however, the older I got the more creative I got and I went from using simple printed Christmas papers to adding ribbons and patterns and bits and pieces. 

I thought as Christmas is fast approaching, I'd share some of my favourite gift wrapping ideas that we're using for our presents this year so that you can be inspired when it comes to wrapping your own - so let's get to it! 

DIY: Homemade Edible Christmas Gift Ideas!

Naturally, as someone who loves to cook and bake, I love sharing delicious homemade Christmas treats with our family and friends.

Each year I can be found baking away in the kitchen to Christmas songs whipping up batch after batch of shortbread or gingerbread cookies which are then left to cool before being wrapped up and shared with the people who make our life sweet. 

This year I wanted to share our favourite tips for making and presenting edible Christmas gifts so that you can share some with your family and friends this holiday season! 

So let me share our recipes and tips with you! >> 

DIY: Christmas Tree Decorating on a Budget PLUS a DIY Christmas Ornament for the Kids!

It really feels like Christmas now! Our Advent Calendar is all set, our Christmas Lights are up we've been baking lots of Healthy Christmas Recipes and we have lots of fun events planned for the coming weeks (and Jesse's brother will be here before we know it!).

But you just can't have a Christmas-y home without a tree - right?! I loveeeeeeee Christmas decorations but Christmas trees have to be my favourite. I'm the one who squeals with delight when Christmas decorations start popping up in shopping centres (even if they do start in October - that's fine by me :P) and the one who begs Jesse to have "picnic dinners" by the Christmas tree - twinkling lights and all. 

I'm also very particular when it comes to Christmas tree decorations. There has to be a theme and it has to match - and pleaaaaaaaaaaaaase do not try and touch my tree with tinsel (tinsel gives me the heebie jeebies!). 

This year, we decided to show you how you can create an incredible tree (and super cute DIY decorations) on a budget - because Christmas shouldn't cost you the earth! Together with our friends at The Reject Shop, we've created a gorgeous Christmas tree for under $100!

In fact, the tree, lights and all of the decorations only cost us: $94.50

Let me show you how we created our tree on a budget - as well as show you our super cute DIY Snowman Ornament! >>

DIY: Christmas Lights on a Budget!

Do you want to know something about my family?

In our area, we're known as The Christmas Light People. When we first started going to our church, when people asked Jesse or I where we lived they'd simply nod their head and say "Oh, the Christmas Lights House".... yup, that's it!

Every year, for as long as I can remember - we've put Christmas lights up on our house. They've changed over the years but without fail, there's always lights up on our house at Christmas time. 

Last year, for the very first time we almost didn't have them up - and we had so many questions from people in the street! "We're waiting for your Christmas lights!", "When are you putting your Christmas lights up this year?", "You still live in the big yellow house, right? You don't have your Christmas lights up!" "It's not Christmas without your lights".

Work had gotten in the way and we got to mid December and we stilllll didn't have lights up - but one weekend of hard work and they were up - and the cute Christmas thank you cards from kids in our street started turning up in our letterbox. 

This year, we decided to do things differently - we decided to put our Christmas lights up last weekend whilst we had some time off before work gets too busy and we run out of time to put them up! 

But let me tell you more about them! 

How to Make Your Own Raised Veggie Patch!

I loveeeeeee vegetables. Like, seriously love them - to the point where I have to limit myself or I'd probably just eat grilled zucchini and crunchy carrot sticks all day long.

So naturally, I have always wanted to grow my own veggies! We tried once, however, our veggie patch was in the wrong place and way too small and everything was eaten by the possums. 

This time, however, I had a plan - and I did my research. So, we started Operation Veggie Patch - and now we have our own little raised Vegetable Garden! 

But let me show you how we made it! 

DIY Halloween Treat Bags [Includes FREE Templates!]

I love holidays because they're the perfect opportunity to work on fun craft projects! With Halloween fast approaching, I decided to put together a super simple (but super cute!) Halloween Craft Project to share with you all!

Every year on Halloween we have loaaads of little trick or treaters arrive at our house with their pumpkin buckets or paper bags ready to load up with treats - but this year I decided the old loot bag needed a bit of a face lift. Everyone spends so much time on their costumes - so why not have a super awesome bag to match!

These Halloween Treat Bags also make the perfect gift bags or party favours as you can fill them with whatever you fancy - and I'm giving you all of the templates for freeeee! How's that for a Halloween treat?! 

But let me show you how we made these treat bags; 

SIL Style: Creating a Beach House Vibe in Your Own Home!

Image Sources: Top | Bottom

In our last SIL Style post, I shared my tips for creating your own Industrial Inspired Office Space, however, with summer fast approaching I'm dreaming of a beach escape - so I thought I'd share my tips for creating your own Beach House Paradise at Home! 

Whilst I love modern and industrial inspired interiors, I also love the shabby chic beach-house style and now is the perfect time to refresh your home with a beach inspired look! To me, beach houses are relaxing and tranquil - with crisp, clean colours and splashes of seaside blues.

But you don't need to be by the beach to have that look - you can easily recreate the tranquil, calming atmosphere of a beach house in your own home. 

So let me share my tips for creating casual beach chic interiors >> 

How to make a Healthy Cookie Mix in a Jar!

If you've been reading Southern In-Law for a while, you'd know that Jesse and I are kinda sorta cookie fiends. Or maybe that should be cookie monsters.... 

We make at least one batch of one of our Healthy Cookie Recipe each fortnight and we love sharing them with our friends and family - but what better way than to share the cookie love than with a super cute Healthy Cookie Mix in a Jar! 

There are dozens of recipes online for Cookie Mix in a Jar - but after having a look through dozens, I realised that there weren't any recipes for Healthier Cookies - and gluten free mixes were hard to come by. Being the queen of making classic treats healthier, I decided the Cookie Mix in a Jar idea needed a healthy makeover and I set to work! 

So let me show you how to make a Gluten Free and Healthy Cookie Mix in a Jar! >>

How to Make A Terrarium on a Budget!

I loveeeeeeee a good DIY project and I love making handmade gifts for friends, however, DIY projects can get a little bit pricey if you don't know how to hunt down a bargain.. 

Luckily I am the bargain queen - so when my friends at The Reject Shop were looking for someone to help them out with some projects, I knew I could help out! Jesse and I are big fans of The Reject Shop because we can walk away with bags upon bags of things and still have money left in our wallets. 

There are so many awesome things in store, however, on our last trip we headed into the store with a project in mind - we wanted to make a terrarium! I'd seen millions on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to create one of our own to give to a dinosaur loving little friend - so we got to work! 

So let's take a look at how we put together our DIY Terrarium on a Budget!

How to Line a Spring form Tin - EASILY!

I have a method for lining springform tins which I thought was pretty ordinary, however, after explaining it to some friends and readers - and even a baking diva - I found that perhaps my ordinary method wasn't that well-known. 

This post explains the easiest way to line a springform tin - and also the least messy! It also makes your cakes/bakes/quiches/cheesecakes way easier to get out as you're not having to lift the base of that evil lip!

All you'll need is some baking paper and a springform tin.

I used a mini springform tin (which I use for breakfast bakes and single serve quiches or quinoa bakes) as it was easier to take photos of - but this method works for springform tins of any size.

Next you'll want to grab the base of your tin and flip it upside down. The "lip" will be facing downwards.

Not how you'd usually do it, but this is the secret!

Now, take your piece of baking paper and place it over the top of your base (which is upside down)

You only need a piece that's big enough to cover the base with a little bit of overlap.

Push your covered lid into the groove at the bottom of the pan (just as you normally would).

At first it may feel odd as this isn't how you usually do it - but trust me, after a few goes you'll get it perfectly.

Secure your tin by closing the latch.

If you've pushed the base in correctly, it'll close easily - but it might take you a couple of tries on your first go.

When secured, the base of your tin will look like this. 

The base will be securely in the bottom of the tin and won't fall out when you push on it. 

If there are any creases or bumps in the paper, simply stretch and pull the paper to remove them.

You want to be careful that you don't rip the paper. If there aren't any bumps - you're ready to pour in your mixture!

And there you have it - the simplest, easiest way to line a springform tin!

When you do it this way, all you have to do is run a knife around the edge, undo the latch and pop whatever is inside out! 

If you want to keep this post for future reference  

But tell me, do you have any baking or cooking tips or tricks?

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