Handcream

Ball jar in canning section of Walmart

It all began with Brooke sending us homemade handcream for Christmas 2010!  Loved it, got the recipe and have made countless batches of it ever since!  I made it at JCRV just after Christmas and everyone -- even the men - loved it. So now it's become a gift that keeps on giving!  When I give it away, I always try to attach the recipe on the gift tag.  I learned early on that people are going to ask for it, so just why not include it up front.  I have super super dry hands and legs.  So I'm always looking for just the right lotion and just haven't ever found it.  This may be it. My dermatologist told me the ingredients are everything a dermatologist loves!  The only thing he'd add would be sunblock.  I use this day and night.  Not to replace sunblock, however.  That's totally important. I even use it on my face sometimes at night. The small Ball jars at Walmart are perfect for it.  Since resale shopping is one of my fave hobbies, I also look for clean, clear sugar bowls with lids and wide mouths.  Around Christmas there are usually Christmas-themed jars in the resale shops.  Important that it has a lid, and a mouth big enough to reach a hand in.

Ingredients:

27-30 oz baby lotion
32 oz Vitamin E cream (I mostly use Fruit of the Earth brand from Dollar General or Walmart because it doesn't stink)
7.5 oz Vaseline
Optional: Sunblock -- I haven't yet tried this because I don't know how much to add and I don't want to change the fragrance

Mix with a mixer.  It takes a mixer due to the Vaseline.

This recipe makes a batch that fills 8 or 9 of the small jars. Total cost for one batch is between 20-25 dollars.  Takes less than 30 minutes. Perfect teacher gift or Christmas gift!

Isy helped by cutting the baby lotion containers for us

Making lotion at JCRV

This week I showed a group of about 11 ladies at JCRV how to make it.  They each took a jar and the recipe home with them.

Thanks for introducing this to me, Brooke!

Jerri scooping it out

Cindy Lou Who mixing it up

1-16-13:  Made some more at JCRV crafts!  It just keeps on giving!

she had the stickers designed

she found these lids at walmart

1-17-14:  Love what Leanne Kess did with her handcream that she learned to make with us. Lovely job, Leanne!

10-2014:  I've been seeing Fruit of the Earth lotion in Dollar General lately.  So I decided to give it a try.  Much less expensive. The package of 2 is the amount the recipe calls for.  I still like it, but it's not as rich as when I use the cream. So next batch, I will go back to the cream.