Hello, Tumbleweed friends! Today I’m sharing a quick and easy way to add a fresh scent to any room in your house, using a few simple ingredients that you may already have on hand. I just love having our home smell fresh and clean, and I do this in a variety of ways. First, cleaning all of the surfaces in the house on a regular basis removes dust, cooking odors, and other contaminates, and maintains a smell that says “I’m clean.”

Another way to add scent to a space is through plug in room fresheners, but I have never been a fan of those. They are almost over-scented for my taste and feel a little oppressive, so I’m not going to talk much any more those here.

The most popular way to add a nice scent to a room is through burning candles. As I spend much of my time in the kitchen area of our home, that is where I will safely burn a candle on the counter. My favorite scents are fresh and light, not heavy. No pumpkin vanilla spice for me:) And as much as I love scented candles, I don’t feel comfortable leaving them in another room when I am not there, making them an impractical option for most of the other rooms in the house.

Another popular way to add a fresh scent to your space is through diffusers. When reed diffusers first hit the market years ago, I thought they were genius and wish I had invented them:) In our home, they are a perfect addition to our guest rooms and bathroom spaces to keep everything fresh as a daisy.

I thought I had heard about almost every way to add fresh scents to a space when I stumbled upon putting essential oils on wooden beads and then arranging them in a small container with other botanicals. They were easy to make, didn’t create a mess, were safe for unattended rooms, and the scent lasts for months. Sign me up!

To start, purchase large raw wooden beads, without holes drilled in them. These can be found at most craft stores or on Amazon, as wooden bead accessories are having “a moment.” If you missed how I recently created a beaded garland using raw beads, you can read about that here: Bo Ho Ho…

Next, select some wooden or cardboard flowers, also available at craft stores or Amazon. They have a paper-like consistency and are sometimes call sola wood flowers. The last item you will need is some preserved moss. I got mine on Amazon, but again, any craft store sells moss.

Lastly, you need a vessel to hold your creation. I had several vase/candleholders from the Dollar Tree that I had used for a wedding, that are square and sturdy. You can also use almost any other low vase or tumbler, and a stemless wineglass would also work well for this application. Time to get started!

In a small measuring cup, add three teaspoons of almond oil or other carrier oil, such as cocoanut. Carrier oils are used as a base oil to dilute essential oils and absolutes before they are used for skin, aromatherapy, or craft projects like this. Add several drops of your favorite essential oil or a mixture of several. I used lavender, tangerine, mint and one called Clarity by Aveda. This is the time for you to become the mad scientist and have fun with different aroma profiles!

Once you have the scent just the way you want it, place the oil and wooden beads in a quart sized zip lock bag and seal shut. Roll the balls around in the oil until coated. At this point, it will look like there is too much oil, but after you soak them overnight, it will all be gone…I promise:) In another zip lock bag, place your wooden flowers, small pinecones, or leaves and toss to coat with the oil. After a few hours, I actually combined the beads and flowers into the same bag as almost all of the oil had been absorbed.

Next comes the fun part. Place some of the green moss in the bottom of your container. Next, layer in 3-4 of the scented wooden beads and top with a few of the wooden flowers. There really isn’t a right or wrong number of items to use; it will be determined by the shape and size of your vessel.

The day I finished mine, we were invited to dinner at some dear friends house. Not wanting to arrive empty handed, we brought a bottle of wine and one of these scented bead room fresheners, which I covered with plastic wrap for the journey. She immediately put the freshener in their powder room, and when I entered that room later, I was delighted to see that it had filled the room with a lovely lavender-based scent.

Not to be Captain Obvious, but the possibilities for these little room fresheners are endless. Today, I took a sprig of fall pumpkins and leaves and cut a few off to add to another diffuser. It gave it a totally different look and feel, and paired with a fall scent, would be a welcome addition for the next season. For the Christmas holidays, I think adding the fragrances of pine or cinnamon, and elements such as pinecones, wooden beads, and small colorful poinsettias will make these a welcome addition to any room.

These little fresheners would make excellent hostess gifts, teacher gifts, or even a “get well soon” gift for someone who is shut in to add a little aromatherapy to their space. I know you probably think I’m a little too excited at what really amounts to re-inventing potpourri, but I just love the simplicity of only three ingredients, and the new “today” feel that the addition of the wooden beads give these little cuties. I hope I’ve inspired you to make some today!

Good tidings,

Diane