I am not a parent, but I was a full-time nanny for 5 years. One of my favorite things was helping kids make creative and crafty gifts. All the children that I cared for loved making this Sugar Scrub. It's the easiest thing in the world to put together, and in the end, it's a gift for mom (or anyone!). Kids know that no one will let them eat a bowl of pure sugar, but they sure love measuring and mixing it. Imagine leaving your little ones with the sitter, some sugar, and this tutorial, and then coming home to a pile of completed holiday gifts! All I ask is that you make sure the nanny gets to take one home too!

Look for Natalie Zee Drieu's posts later this month on more kid-friendly projects from the Klutz Natural Beauty Book.

Sarah James at Instructables is at it again with another DIY beauty product: vegan lip balm. Learn all the basics for this bee-free kisser balm.

More:

• How-To: Make Your Own Deodorant
  
• Homemade Shampoo
  

Melanie writes:

Need a quick, simple and cheap way to shrink your pores? Look no further than your refrigerator! The answer lies in egg whites! Egg whites contain Lysozyme, an enzyme whose main function is to digest bacterial cell walls. In some studies Lysozyme has been shown to stop spoilage (such as in wine making) and is added as a natural preservative to some foods. Some even use this mask to clear blackheads.

As an avid cook and a mother of two young children, I find myself constantly washing my hands. As a result, I suffer from very dry skin. Living in a dry climate doesn't exactly help with that either. I've tried all kinds of lotions, but when it comes down to it, I realized that the lotions don't have a lot of time to do much good when I'll be washing my hands again in five minutes. What I needed was something that moisturized as I washed my skin, rather than removing the much-needed natural oils.

Olive oil moisturizes the skin, lemon freshens and is especially good for removing onion and garlic odors from the skin, and the sugar/salt combo exfoliates dry skin and renews the appearance of your hands. Salt can be drying, so you wouldn't want to make the scrub entirely of salt, but I added a bit for some coarser pieces. If you'd rather, simply replace the amount designated for the salt with additional sugar.

But wait! On sale today is MiSpa's special gift box, flora-licious, featuring a bevy of her handmade beauty products and additional samples from sponsors. And just for *today only* you can get this entire gift box that's beautifully wrapped for only $22.50 (regular $45). It's a great gift for Mom for Mother's Day or heck, treat yourself to this box of goodies. It's such a great deal. Hurry though, because quantities are limited.
Thanks to Mimie, she's giving CRAFT Readers free shipping! Just enter FREECRAFT for orders over $20, until May 15th.

MiSpa has a special gift deal each month so sign up for her newsletter to get notified for the next one!

Part of my nightly cleansing routine is to wash my face and use toner applied with disposable cotton pads. I always thought it was a waste that I had to apply it on and throw it away. That's why this tutorial on how to make reusable makeup pads from a charm square and some scrap Minky fabric caught my eye. Apparently, they feel even softer when applied to your face! [ via CraftStylish ]