Homemade Air Cleaners for Cars

Make a homemade air freshener out of craft foam and felt fabric.

Car air fresheners are effective at cleaning the air in your car and leaving a lovely scent, but they are expensive and only last a month or so. You can easily make homemade air cleaners for your car that you can refresh whenever the scent is no longer noticeable. Using your imagination and a few craft supplies, you can create a wide array of car air fresheners and cleaners that will last a long time. You can create a design that is seasonal or just use a symbol that is meaningful to you.

Things You'll Need

• Cardboard
• Craft foam sheet
• Felt or other fabrics
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Glue
• Essential oil or air freshener spray
• Cording or heavy twine

Instructions

1. Draw the design you want for your air freshener onto a sturdy piece of cardboard. You can draw the design freehand or use a stencil. You may wish to use a simple Christmas tree design for the holiday season, a pumpkin for the autumn months or a beautiful sunflower for the spring or summer months.

2. Draw the design on the craft foam by placing the cardboard template on it and tracing around it with a sharpened pencil. Do the same with your pieces of felt.

3. Cut out the craft foam and felt designs.

4. Poke a hole into the top of the cutouts by using a hole punch through all three pieces at the same time.

5. Glue the felt onto the front and back of the craft foam cutout. You will only need to glue around the edges to secure the design. Let it dry fully. If you are doing a sunflower design, you may choose to use yellow felt for the petals of the flower and to glue a black felt dot in the middle. You may also want to try to make small people figures and glue different fabrics on them for clothing and yarn for hair, according to the Danielle's Place website. The craft foam is not very absorbent, but the felt and fabrics will hold the scent for a long time.

6. Spray some air freshener oil onto the felt fabric. You may also use one or two drops of any essential oil that you like---it only takes a little bit, so use sparingly. You can find essential oil at craft and hobby shops or health food stores. The air freshener spray is located at discount and auto supply stores near the commercially prepared air fresheners.

7. Thread about 12 inches of your choice of cording or heavy twine into the hole at the top of your car air cleaner. You can now hang it over the rearview mirror or anywhere else you desire in your car. When the fragrance disappears after a month or two, just simply apply another drop or two of essential oil or the air freshener spray.

References

• DaniellesPlace: Father's Day Crafts Kids Can Make