smells so good! creating chemical free reed diffusers

I LOVE the smell of the holidays!  I wish my house always smelled like it does it today with a homemade apple pie in the oven.

I used to use air fresheners and scented candles to give me that yummy scent all the time, but now, with all the talk about chemicals, I think I'm done with all of those.  (OK, I just can't get rid of my candles, but I will stick with soy since it's the cleanest burning.)  It seems like EVERYTHING has nasty chemicals in it these days.  I'm constantly trying to avoid BPA, pthalates, etc. etc.  I'm sure we still come in contact with way too much of that stuff, but I do my best to avoid them.

I've searched high and low for scent options that don't contain any pthalates, but they are REALLY hard to find.  It seems that reed diffusers are the best option, but those even have chemicals in the fragrance oil when you purchase them!

So, I set out to make my own and it worked.  The house smells pretty delicious.  They aren't as strong as my old air wick, but I'll trade that for less chemicals in our home.  I was able to purchase the essential oils and rattan diffuser reeds on good old amazon!  The essential oils definitely go a long way.  I plan to use them to create my own cleaning products one of these days too!

Here's how I made my scented reed diffusers:

• Small vase or glass bottle
• Mineral oil 
• Vodka
• Diffuser reeds
• Essential oil(s) 

Pour a 1/4 cup of mineral oil into a container (with a lid so you can shake it up), add 2 Tablespoon vodka (this thins the oil so the mixture will travel up the reeds), then add your fragrance and shake it up!

I came up with a spicy wintery scent (think spiced cider) and a fresh fir scent (think Christmas trees).

I kept adding drops here and there to get the right scent, but I think it came out something like this:

winter spice scent

• 10 drops sweet orange
• 5 drops ginger
• 8 drops cinnamon leaf
• 1 drop nutmeg

fir  scent

• 5 drops balsam fir
• 5 drops cedarwood
• 5 drops juniper berry

I've got the winter spice scent in the kitchen and the living room right now and I'm loving it.  The fir scent is sealed up in a jar until we decorate for christmas (and I've already got some lavender oil ready for spring).  Whenever I want more scent I simply turn the reeds around!