Home scents

While I just love the way my home smells in the summer time, with the windows wide open and the fresh air breezing through. But in the winter, your home can get that closed up stale smell. I love homemade potpourris and purchased scented candles and tarts to add wonderful smells to my home. In this article I will give you some ideas to make your own potpourri’s and also the names and contact information to several of my favorite commercial candle and tart companies.

Some scents for your home can be as easy as boiling a few cinnamon sticks along with some cloves and other spices in a small pan on your stove top or wood burning stove. How about studding some citrus fruits with cloves and sitting them in an attractive bowl on your kitchen counter? All of these small things will help the get rid of stale odors in your home. But I like to take these things just a step further.

CHUNKY COUNTRY POTPOURRI

dried apple slices

dried orange slices

dried sunflowers

pinecones

dried pomegranates

dried artichokes

dried pods- gathered from fields and woods

To dry your apples, slice in 1/8 inch thick slices into a bowl of water to which you have added a few teaspoons of lemon juice. To remove most of the liquid from the apple slices, place the slices on a paper towel in your microwave. Using the high setting microwave for 45 seconds. Now place your slices on a cookie sheet and put in a warm 150 degree oven for about 1 ½ hours, turning once. Finish drying by stringing slices and hanging.

Combine your dried apple slices with orange slices and artichokes that have been dried in a food dehydrator. Air dried sunflowers, seed pods that you have gathered along roads or in fields, pomegranates and pinecones. To air dry pomegranates, poke several holes in each, using a pin or tooth pick, and just set out to dry.

If you wish you can add a few drops of your favorite scented oil to the mixture. When the scent starts to fade, just refreshen with some more oil.

APPLE POTPOURRI

1/3 cup of a type of natural fixative such as cellulose or orrisroot

5 to 10 drops of red dye

1/4 ounce of apple scented oil

10 drops of cinnamon scented oil

resealable plastic bag

large airtight container

½ cup dried lemon verbena, lemon balm, lemon mint or lemongrass (or you can use a combination of these)

1 cup dried apple slices, stud some of these with whole cloves

½ cup of dried red rose petals, rosebuds, rose hips or red strawflowers (or any combination of these)

1/4 cup of 2 inch long cinnamon sticks

Combine the fixative, dye and the oils in a resealable bag. Let the scents blend for at least 2 weeks, shaking often to mix the ingredients.

Transfer the mixture to the large airtight container and add the remaining ingredients. Close tightly and let the potpourri blend for at least another 2 weeks. If you need to refresh the potpourri, just re-scent the cinnamon sticks with oils and return the potpourri mixture to the airtight container for several days.

SPICY PUMPKIN POTPOURRI

1 small pumpkin

food slicer with a ripple or waffle blade

food dehydrator

1 cup of hydrangea blossoms

2 cups orange and yellow strawflowers (shred 1 cup and leave the 2nd cup whole)

2 cups of dried yarrow

1 cup dried grape hyacinth seedpods

½ cup money plant seedpods

½ cup dried marigold petals

½ cup bittersweet

1 cup dried orange globe amaranth

1/4 cup beechnut pods

1 cup dried orange peel

12 bay leaves

12 miniature pumpkins

1/3 cup allspice berries

1/4 cup whole cloves

6 cinnamon sticks

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

12 star anise

10 drops of cinnamon scented oil

20 drops of spice essential oil

Using half of the small pumpkin, make waffle slices using the ripple blade of your food slicer. Chop the remaining pumpkin into chunks. Dry the slices and chunks in a food dehydrator or in your oven.

Mix all ingredients in an airtight container and allow to cure for at least 6 weeks.

ROSE POTPOURRI

1 ½ quarts of dried petals or tiny rose buds

1 cup dried lemon verbena, lemon scented geranium or lemon balm

1 cup dried rose leaves

1 cup lavender

1/3 cup dried orrisroot

several drops of rose scented oil

Mix together your dried florals. Add the oil and gently mix together. Seal in an airtight container and let cure for at least 2 weeks.

These potpourri recipes should give you an idea of what items to use and how to use them. Any of these potpourri's can also be enclosed in a small square of tulle or netting and tied with an attractive bow to make a scented sachet for a drawer or closet. Just don't let the sachet touch your clothing since the oils could leave a mark.

I also love insence. I generally purchase mine at flea markets for pennies each. You must have some type of insense holder to contain the sticks and the ash. Mine were very inexpensive and are a long strip of wood with a hole in one end, which is used to insert the wooden end of the insense stick. Insense comes in a wide variety of scents also, and leaves a wonderful, musky, smokey smell behind.

Now onto commercial scented candles and tarts. I have several favorite companies which seem to carry a wide variety of scents and unusual looking candles. While I generally purchase tarts, since I have a small child and I dislike leaving a burning candle anywhere that she could accidently knock it over. Tart are actually scented wax, that is heated in an electric tart burner. The tart burner melts the wax and releases the scents. These are not a dangerous as burning a candle, since there is no open flame. I do recommend using a quality tart burner, or small electric potpourri burner with the tarts. And do be careful since the wax is still hot.

The Yankee Candle Company is probably the best known candle company in the world. These tarts and candles come in approximately 75 different scents in the following categories Florals, Spices, Classics and many more. These candles come in several different size jar candles, samplers, floaters, pillars and tapers. All their scents also come in tarts. They have many other wonderful items available such as jar toppers, Car Jars (air fresheners for your car), candle holders, tart burners and other tools for candles. New items are being added continuously.

While the Yankee Candle Company has thousands of retailers world wide, I live in a small rural area, and many of the new fragrances are not available here, as well as the decorative items. You can contact them at Yankee Candle Catalog Sales, PO Box 110, South Deerfield, MA 01373.

Another of my favorite places in which to purchase candles is Heartland Candles, in Holmes County, Ohio. They have over 100 fragrances including a very unusual Pink Grapefruit scented candle which smells wonderful. They also carry a selection of “Frosted Muffin Candles” in over 30 scents. These candles are the size of a large muffin and have a wax “frosting”. My favorite scent in these is the Mint Chocolate, they smell and look good enough to eat. They can be reached at Heartland Candles, 5566 N. Market Street, Berlin, Ohio 44610 or by calling (330) 893-8400, from 10 AM to 5 PM, Monday thru Saturday.

One last favorite place is a web site called Huckleberry Cove Wicks n’ Pickn, owned by a lady named Rose Simmons. She makes triple scented grubby candles in a variety of scents and shapes. I personally have several of her candles sitting on my desk and they smell wonderful even without lighting them. There are also many accessories to choose from, as well as seasonal and unusual scents.

I hope this gives you some ideas on some new and unusual scents for your home. Remember though, please use extreme caution in burning candles, they should never be left unattended, particularly around small children or pets.