Today I Learned...How to use "Macro" on my camera (Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub)

In my craze about Mason Jars I came across this pin on Pinterest, which led me to this blog where I learned how to make Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub. I just made the recipe (with a few additions to make it gifty). Enjoy!

Materials

1 cup olive oil
2 1/2 cups white cane sugar
50 drops Lemon Essential Oil (or other EO of your choice)
5 4oz. mason jars with lids
5 plastic spoons (or other scooping thingy)
5 5" squares of springy (or whatever holiday) fabric
5 24" pieces of matchy ribbon
1 8oz. mason jar (for left overs)
hot glue gun

How It's Done

1. Mix the oil, sugar, and EO until a gritty paste forms.

2. Scoop the mixture into the small jars leaving only a tiny bit of space at the top. I had some left over, so I put it into an 8oz. jar for myself :) (Or......you can just put it all in one big jar if you are not making this as a gift.)

3. Clean off the edges of the jars and put the lids on. (At this point you can be done, or you can go on to step 4 to make the jars gifty.)

4. Put the small fabric squares between the lid and the ring of the mason jar. (Oh yeah...you can label them "Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub -- Antibacterial" because lemon EO is antibacterial...yay!)

5. Use the hot glue gun to adhere the ribbon to the jar so it won't slip around while you are trying to tie on the spoon. (I glued at the back and on both sides of the knot at the front.)

6. Tie on the spoon (for scooping out the scrub) and maybe a note (you know, to...from, Happy Birthday, etc.) And you are done!

The lesson: when I was taking photos for this post, I wanted a nice close shot of my labels. Here's what happened on the first attempt:

Oh no! All washed out. I reached back into my memory...there must be a way to keep this from happening! Indeed, there is. My camera has a macro setting, for very, very close up shots. So I changed the settings, and here's my second attempt:

Success! Much easier to read and not at all washed out.

One more lesson for today, when you ask your hubby to help take photos for your post...give clear instructions:

His favorite salt and pepper shakers. They really roll across the table!