DIY Lavender “Essential Oil” Tincture- Think Ahead Handmade Gift Ideas Series

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DIY Lavender Essential Oil Tincture- Think Ahead Handmade Gift Ideas Series

Who knew it was so easy? Learn to make DIY Lavender Essential Oil Tincture at home! The first post in Hello Creative Family's Think Ahead Handmade Gift Ideas Series! This lovely lavender extract can be used in a variety of lavender recipes and DIY projects! Simple to make and makes a lovely gift!

I’m so excited to officially launch our Think Ahead Handmade Gifts series today!!! I hope that you all had a chance to read my post on Tuesday where I introduced the concept of the series and gave you all the opportunity to sign up for our Handmade Gift Givers Club. If not, hop on over to our Handmade Gifts Made Easy post and take a peek! 

Basically the concept is simple. Handmade gift giving is AWESOME, but it takes some advanced planning to do a really good job of it. We want to help all of you stock your gift closet. That means planning ahead, thinking seasonally, creating lists of people who you give gifts to and what they like and getting in the habit of making handmade gifts each month to give throughout the year. 

5 Reasons To Give Handmade Gifts

Never miss when a new handmade gift idea is released by signing up for our Handmade Gifters Club! Every time we release a new handmade gift idea, you’ll get an email straight to your mailbox. We’ll also share with you the best places to get the supplies you need, and give you access to exclusive freebies. Best of all… It’s Free!!! 

Sign up here (if you are reading this in an email, click through to the site to sign up):

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It’s July and lavender is in bloom so today I’m going to teach you how to make a lavender “essential oil” tincture.

Who knew it was so easy? Learn to make DIY Lavender Essential Oil Tincture at home! The first post in Hello Creative Family's Think Ahead Handmade Gift Ideas Series! This lovely lavender extract can be used in a variety of lavender recipes and DIY projects! Simple to make and makes a lovely gift!

6 years ago, I planted a tiny little culinary lavender plant in our community garden plot. For 6 years the plant has sat there, growing each year, attracting bees to our garden with it’s beautiful, scented buds. Occasionally I have chopped a handful off and brought it home, stuck it in a vase on our table and delighted in the fact that we grow such lovely lavender. Not once have I used this lavender for anything other than visual enjoyment. What was I thinking??? 

There are so many INCREDIBLE recipes and DIY projects that you can make with lavender. I decided that this is going to be the year that I tackle some of those projects– Lavender sugar, lavender tea, lavender sea salt, lavender oil and today’s post… Lavender “essential oil” tincture.

So before we get going with this DIY post we should start with this question:

What is essential oil?

According to Google, “an essential oil is a natural oil typically obtained by distillation [steam, steam/water, water] and having the characteristic fragrance of the plant or other source from which it is extracted.”

Now, most of us don’t have access to a distillery to distill the natural oils of our favorite plants or herbs, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t get a lot of the amazing benefits of an essential oil by making our own DIY tincture version at home. 

What is a tincture?

Tinctures are liquid extracts made from herbs, usually extracted into alcohol.

Tinctures can be taken orally to cure a wide variety of ailments, but they can also be used in a variety of different ways where you would commonly use an essential oil. 

For example, you can use this lavender tincture:

– In your ultrasonic diffuser to scent the air and help you fall asleep.

– Mixed with a bit of coconut oil as an after bath lotion to help little ones fall asleep.

– Mixed with witch hazel as a natural bug spray to keep mosquitoes at bay.

– In our lavender yoga mat spray (the spray also makes a lovely cleaner). 

– In a linen spray to scent sheets.

– As an extract to flavor lip balm.

– To add lavender flavor to make lavender lemonade. 

– To scent bathwater for ultimate relaxation

– Lavender flavored cocktails

– As an extract in your baking (Yummy! Lavender shortbread anyone???)

Plus much much more!

What Occasions Can You Give A Lavender Tincture For?

Really the possibilities are endless, but a few of our favorites are:

– Mother’s Day

– Birthdays

– New Baby

– Housewarming

– Christmas

– Get better soon/ hospital gift

And let’s not forget all of the things you can make with your tinctures too that would make wonderful gifts!

Ready? Read on to learn how to make DIY Lavender Essential Oil Tinctures.

Who knew it was so easy? Learn to make DIY Lavender Essential Oil Tincture at home! The first post in Hello Creative Family's Think Ahead Handmade Gift Ideas Series! This lovely lavender extract can be used in a variety of lavender recipes and DIY projects! Simple to make and makes a lovely gift!

How To Make DIY Lavender “Essential Oil” Tinctures

Materials:

–  1 litre/1 quart mason jar

– 2-4 cups of lavender flowers (If you are buying your lavender or have a limited amount of lavender flowers in your garden you can get away with 2 cups of lavender flowers. The more you can stuff your mason jar with lavender flowers, the stronger it will be! If buying lavender, you can find it here.)

– 1 litre of vodka or grain alcohol (You can use the cheapest vodka you can find for this tincture. You do not want to use rubbing alcohol as it will leave behind a very strong odour.)

– 2 coffee filters

– Dark bottles to store your lavender tincture in

– Blender, food processor, mortar and pestle or something to crush your lavender flowers with (get creative… you could even put it in a plastic bag and whack it with a rolling pin!)

Who knew it was so easy? Learn to make DIY Lavender Essential Oil Tincture at home! The first post in Hello Creative Family's Think Ahead Handmade Gift Ideas Series! This lovely lavender extract can be used in a variety of lavender recipes and DIY projects! Simple to make and makes a lovely gift!

Instructions:

 Step 1: Remove the flowers from the stalks of your lavender. I left the top of my stalks on that the lavender was connected to, but removed the bottom of the stalks.

Step 2: Crush your lavender slightly. I put mine in our blender and pulsed it a few times. You want to have the natural oils start to release and bruise the lavender. You DON’T want to end up with lavender mush. 

Who knew it was so easy? Learn to make DIY Lavender Essential Oil Tincture at home! The first post in Hello Creative Family's Think Ahead Handmade Gift Ideas Series! This lovely lavender extract can be used in a variety of lavender recipes and DIY projects! Simple to make and makes a lovely gift!

Step 3: Put your lavender into a mason jar and fill the jar with vodka.

Who knew it was so easy? Learn to make DIY Lavender Essential Oil Tincture at home! The first post in Hello Creative Family's Think Ahead Handmade Gift Ideas Series! This lovely lavender extract can be used in a variety of lavender recipes and DIY projects! Simple to make and makes a lovely gift!

Step 4: Put a lid on your mason jar and leave it to “brew” for 1 week, shaking once or twice a day. Within 24 hours your lavender tincture will take on an amber color.

Step 5: After brewing time is over, strain your lavender tincture through a coffee filter to remove all of the flowers. I strain mine into a 4 cup measuring cup, rinse my mason jar, dry it and then do a second strain and strain it back through the coffee filter into the clean mason jar.

Step 6: Put a clean coffee filter on top of your mason jar and leave it for 1 week to let the alcohol evaporate from your tincture.

Step 7: Congratulations! You’ve made your first batch of DIY lavender essential oil tincture! Strain the tincture through the coffee filter 1 more time to remove any remaining sediment and then pour the tincture into dark colored bottles for storage. You want dark bottles so that light doesn’t effect the integrity of your tincture. 

Bam! Item 1 done for your handmade gift giving gift closet! 

Who knew it was so easy? Learn to make DIY Lavender Essential Oil Tincture at home! The first post in Hello Creative Family's Think Ahead Handmade Gift Ideas Series! This lovely lavender extract can be used in a variety of lavender recipes and DIY projects! Simple to make and makes a lovely gift!!

Like this idea? Build on the skill!

You can make tinctures out of all kinds of herbs and citrus rinds! Experiment! 

A few of the ideas we’re considering making are:

– Lemon peel tincture

– Rosemary tincture

– Oregano tincture

– Rose petal tincture

We’re really, really, really excited about this new series and would love for you to pin it to Pinterest to help spread the word about our love of handmade gifting!

Make sure share pictures as you make your DIY lavender essential oil tincture and any other handmade gifts you are creating! Tag #HCFHandmadeGiftClub on your social media posts! We want to see what your working on, you inspire us! Also check out our handmade gift ideas tag for more great ideas!

Tell me… Who are you going to give your lavender essential oil to and for what occasion?

Like this post? Make sure to check out these other body product ideas!

Exfoliate and moisturize your lips with our scrumptious DIY Vanilla Agave Sugar Lip Scrub! This recipe smells good enough to eat and the ingredients are so clean that you can! Easy to make in 5 minutes or less, this DIY recipe will become a beauty staple in your home that the whole family will love! Perfect for winter chapped lips! #DIY #DIYBodyProducts #Beauty #DIYBeauty

DIY Vanilla Agave Sugar Lip Scrub

These Easy DIY Candy Heart Bath Bombs are scented like cotton candy and are just about as sweet as can be! They would make the best handmade gift idea for Valentine's Day, teacher's gifts, mother's day, birthday's, birthday party favors or shower favors! Fun and simple to make! Even kids can help with these heart shaped bath bombs! #bodyproducts #beauty #handmadegiftidea #DIY

Easy DIY Candy Heart Bath Bombs

I'm concerned about the ingredients in the body products I put on my family, so I love this DIY Vapour Rub Tutorial. With all natural ingredients, this vapour rub is easy to make. Includes a basic recipe with just coconut oil and essential oils along with a recipe with coconut oil, cocoa butter, shea butter and beeswax. A great cold and flu season remedy.

DIY Vapour Rub

Filled with the moisturizing and anti-bacterial properties of coconut oil, olive oil and honey and the exfoliating effect of brown sugar, this DIY Vanilla Honey Chocolate Sugar Scrub Recipe will leave your skin moisturized, exfoliated and glowing! Use all over your body in the shower, on your hands and feet during manicures and pedicures and even on your face for a natural exfoliating face wash! Say bye bye micro-beads with this all natural DIY body product recipe!

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The perfect all natural solution for dry skin and cracked hands! These Easy DIY Lotion Bars Recipe are simple to make and would make a wonderful handmade gift idea! Perfect for teacher gifts, candy free Easter Egg stuffers, stocking stuffers and Valentine's day gifts!

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Cut the chemicals & revitalize your skin with this DIY Hydrating Face Mask Recipe. Filled with avocado, honey, oatmeal and other ingredients skin will love.

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7 Comments

  1. Hi Ceystal!
    I wonder if you can tell me where best place would be to find those dark coloured empty bottles for the tincture. I tried Michaels on Broadway but they disn’t have any.
    Your advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

    1. Hi Aiko,

      Are you in Vancouver? If so, they sell them at The Soap Dispensary on Main Street. 🙂 I’m sure you can also buy them on Amazon.

      Best Wishes,

      Crystal

  2. Chantelle says:

    Hi, I’m a bit confused – can I use witch hazel instead of vodka for this? I have some on hand – but don’t have unflavoured vodka handy. Thank you!!

    1. Hi Chantelle,

      I haven’t tried it with witch hazel, but since this tincture isn’t meant for consumption I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work. If you give it a try please let me know how it turns out.

      Best Wishes,

      Crystal

  3. Hoping you can help me- I used this article to make tincture. BUT I left it in the jar for 4 weeks. When I filtered it, it is green!!!!!! Not slightly green, but a beautiful deep rich green. What did I do wrong?

    1. Hi Stacy,

      Thank you so much for your message. Hmmmm that is very interesting! I’ve never experienced that before. Did you put the green leaves of the lavender in with the buds? How does the tincture smell? I would say that as long as the tincture still smells good it should be safe for using in room sprays and other non-edible fashions.

      Best Wishes,

      Crystal