Bath & Beauty Gifting the Creative Way

I love bath/beauty products and seem to have acquired many more products than I could ever use.  Many of the items I have are for use in the bathtub.  Unfortunately, I don't currently have a place to take those long, relaxing baths.  It may be awhile before I can remedy that situation, so I figured I should find a way to use some of what I already have to make new products that I can use in the shower and nice gifts for my friends who do have  working bathtubs. 
For my first project, I decided to use products from a set I had received as a gift.  The scent was a delicious Apple-Pear. I had used most of the body wash and some of the body mist, but there was a small packet of scented bath salts and some foaming bath cream just sitting there.  I grabbed them up along with some other ingredients and headed to the kitchen.

I already had these cute jars from Amazon.com that have  matching spoons attached.  
They are  perfect for holding some Creamy Bath Salts!

I gathered together these ingredients:  1-3/4 c. Epsom Salts, 1/4 c. Apple-Pear Bath Salts,  8 sprays of Apple-Pear Body mist, 1/6 c. (approx. 1-1/4 oz.) Apple-Pear Bath Cream,  and 1/4 c. Baking Soda.  For mixing, I chose an oven-safe glass bowl (because I knew that I would need to bake this recipe to remove some of the moisture if I wanted Bath Salts instead of Bath Paste) and a wooden spoon.   I turned the oven on  and started mixing.

mOnce I had everything mixed up, I smoothed out the mixture in the bowl and brought it up the sides a bit so that it would be about the same thickness before going in the oven (see photo below-left). Only 10 minutes in the oven, and  it came out fluffed up (below-center).  After letting it cool a little, I folded the mixture and let it sit some more so it would rise and fluff up again.  After final cooling, I fluffed it with a fork to make a looser texture and scraped the residue from the sides of the bowl back into the mix (below right).

This finished product made just about 2 cups which fit nicely into my jar.  I added a label on the front of the jar as well as a little "use by date" sticker on the top.

 I had a good bit of the Body Mist remaining, so I simply put it into a smaller spray bottle and labeled it as well so my friend would have a matching bath/body set.   I'm hoping she enjoys using them as much as I enjoyed making them.                          Happy Birthday, 'Nea    :)

I have put the complete recipe without photos below so that you can just copy/paste it for your own use.
Be sure to scroll to the bottom to read "The Rest of the Story" before you try the recipe for the first time.

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Nea’s Creamy Bath Salts

What you Need:
1-3/4 c. Epsom Salts
¼ c. other scented Bath Salts or Sea Salt
8 sprays of scented body mist
1/6 c. (aprox. 1-1/4 oz.) scented creamy bath liquid or Bubble bath
¼ c. baking soda
Glass Oven-Safe Bowl
 
Preheat oven to 250 degrees
 
Stir together the Epsom Salts, other Bath Salts in Glass Bowl
Spray Body Mist over that mixture 4 times and stir
Repeat 4 more sprays of Body Mist and stir again to make sure scent is distributed throughout
Stir in the Creamy Bath Liquid (or Bubble Bath)
Add in the Baking soda and stir until combined well
 
250 degrees 10 minutes it puffs up and bubbles a bit on the top
Let rest about 20 minutes then fold lightly w/wooden spoon to bring warmer salts to the top
Let rest another 20 minutes and gently fold again
Let cool completely 
Fluff with fork scraping any baking soda residue from sides of bowl back into the mix
 
*Make sure it is cooled completely before scooping lightly into airtight glass container making sure not to pack it in tightly.  This will be just slightly damper than your average bath salts and it needs room to breathe so that it is easier to spoon out of the jar.  Use within 3 months for best results.

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*The Rest of the Story

What the pictures don't show is that on my first attempt putting the Creamy Bath Salts into the jar, I patted them down a bit to fit the entire 2 cups into my container.  I didn't pack it tightly, but I was also apparently mistaken about the mixture being completely cooled.  I closed the lid on the jar and promptly ran out the door to spend the evening with friends.  When I returned the salts had obviously "risen" inside the jar.  With no room for the mixture to grow, the pressure had squeezed the Creamy Bath Salts so that some liquid had leaked out around the seal and ran down the outside of the jar.  I had to open the jar and take out the now tightly packed salts that were damp from the warmth in the sealed container.  I put them back in the larger bowl and added another 1/4 cup of Epsom salt to help dry them out and  let them cool over night before re-fluffing and refilling the jar.  So - make sure your mixture is REALLY cooled before putting it in the airtight container you choose.