How to Make Essential Oil Smelly Jelly Diffusers
Gel air fresheners provide a low-maintenance, mess-free means of adding fragrance to your home. However, store-bought versions contain dangerous chemicals that are harmful to people and the environment. It's easy and inexpensive to make essential oil smelly jelly diffusers that naturally scent your space, and they can even act as cheerful accents to your decor. The following recipe makes 16 ounces of smelly jelly. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Medium saucepan
- 1/2 to 3/4 cups boiling water
- 1/2 to 3/4 cups cold water
- Unflavored gelatin
- 1/2 to 4 tsp essential oil
- Vodka, vitamin E oil or salt (optional)
- Food coloring (optional)
- Glass jars with lids
Instructions
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1
Bring water to a boil, and add one to two packets of gelatin. Remove the saucepan from the stove burner. Stir the mixture until the gelatin has dissolved.
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2
Add cold water to the mixture and stir well. Add the essential oil (or blend) of your choice and continue stirring. Lavender, cinnamon, peppermint or any citrus oil will freshen the air with a non-toxic fragrance.
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3
Add a drop of vitamin E oil, a few drops of vodka or one tablespoon of salt and stir well. Any one of these additions will act as a preservative to keep your smelly jelly from becoming moldy. If you plan to use your diffusers often or use smaller jars, a preservative might not be necessary.
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4
Add three to five drops of food coloring to give your natural air freshener diffusers a cheerful appeal. Pour equal amounts of the mixture into separate bowls before adding coloring if you want to make more than one color. Stir until the coloring is distributed throughout the mixture.
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5
Pour the mixture into jars, cover with lids and allow to cool overnight on the counter.
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Place diffusers throughout your home. The gel will shrink away as the scented gelatin evaporates and releases scent. Keep the lids on jars when you don't need to freshen the air. Reuse the empty jars by filling them with a new batch of essential oil smelly jelly.
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Tips & Warnings
Recycled baby food jars make smaller sized smelly jelly diffusers.
Tie a pretty ribbon around the opening of your scent jars or glue crystals to the outside of them to dress them up and coordinate them with your decor.
Create a layered look by allowing one color to cool before mixing up another batch of a different color and pouring it on top of the first one.
Leaving a smelly jelly diffuser in direct sunlight or in a hot area might cause your homemade air freshener to liquefy. If this happens, allow the diffuser to cool off -- and solidify -- in the fridge, but keep the lid on the jar, or your food might absorb the scent.
Keep smelly jelly diffusers out of the reach of unsupervised pets and children.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Thomas Northcut/Photodisc/Getty Images
