Adapted from The Herbal Home Spa, by Greta Breedlove (Storey Books, 1998).

Save up those odds and ends of old soap, add a little lavender, and you can make the sweetest, most relaxingly-scented soap balls to give as gifts or keep to use with great pleasure yourself!

You won’t believe how easy and how much fun these are to make. Children love to help, too, and there is no cleverer way to get them to wash their hands. (Moms will like the fact that lavender not only smells heavenly, it is also antibacterial.) You will end up with a charming finished product, very soothing to the senses. All in practically no time!

• 2 bars mild, unscented castile or vegetable-based soap (or the equivalent in odds-and-ends)
• 1/2 cup dried lavender blossoms (available online from many herb companies)
• 5 drops essential oil of lavender
• 1/4 cup warm water

To Make:

1. Using a cheese grater, grate the soap into a large bowl.

2. Add the lavender blossoms to the grated soap.

3. Add the essential oil to the soap mixture, combining thoroughly.

4. Add the warm water and stir.

5. Roll heaping tablespoons of the mix into balls.

6. Place on a cookie sheet and allow to air-dry completely, which will take approximately 2 days.