Dollar Tree Spring Decor: DIY Bird Craft Fragrance Warmer for Your Home Decor

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February 18, 2020 By Rebecca D. Dillon 9 Comments

Need inexpensive home decor ideas for spring? This easy Dollar Tree spring decor project for crafting a DIY bird craft fragrance warmer not only looks great, it’s also fun to make! Keep reading to learn how to craft this cute bird craft using materials almost exclusively from the Dollar Tree, for Dollar Tree spring decor that’s ready to decorate your home in just 20-minutes.

Everyone I know has been sick recently. This includes my niece who’s been in complete misery for two straight weeks. It’s typical this time of year even if it’s felt like spring nearly every other week here in Southwestern Virginia. So, of course, I’ve been dosing the fire cider and snatching up elderberry syrup whenever I can. Except it happened anyway. I finally succumbed, albeit while kicking and screaming, to the sickness while simultaneously realizing that humans really are the harbingers of death.

I spent my morning double fisting coffee and a glass of water with apple cider vinegar and turmeric honey. I also wasted a lot of energy (that’s in really short supply right now) trying to decide if I should put on makeup before I left the house to stock up on Umcka Cold + Flu. At the very least putting on mascara seemed pertinent. Without fail the one time anyone ever decides to go to the grocery store looking like hell, it guarantees you’ll run into twenty people you know. Even in a city of 100,000, it happens more than you would imagine.

Kroger is my usual haunt. That and The Fresh Market, because Earth Fare is going under. Even shopping at another Kroger outside my usual of a dozen Kroger’s in town it doesn’t seem to make a difference. You always see someone who knows you. So admittedly, I wasted a ton of energy debating whether or not to “put my face on” just to leave the house when I could have left already and been back, elderberry lozenges and Bragg’s in hand, in the time I spent arguing with myself. (Yes, I did minimal makeup. No, I didn’t see anyone I knew.)

Speaking of elderberry syrup, someone should have clued China in on its pure awesomeness before the coronavirus had a chance to spread outside their borders. You can almost understand why they locked people in their houses. (Not saying that isn’t seriously F-d up but apparently the death toll is being woefully underreported.)

But seriously, no one really wants to leave the house when they’re sick. And it’s not like we want other people to get sick. It’s just here’s rent to pay and groceries to buy. And of course, that one day when you’re at your very worst, you run out of toilet paper. And I mean, coffee filters work okay for a while, but…

There should, quite honestly, be a service for sick people. They would deliver fire cider and elderberry syrup and honey and chicken noodle soup and toilet paper, maybe some newfound sanity — all at no charge. Plus, if you have kids, a caretaker for your for your children is also a must. I know, that for a lot of people, it’s supposed to be their husband or significant other. But, I mean, seriously. Who are we kidding here?

Being single, though, and not having anyone to run to the store for you when you’re ill is super sucky. It’s a lot like that agony of dealing with Valentine’s day once a year. It’s not fun. Valentine’s day should totally be a second Halloween anyway. Or give us singles sick day instead. One where beefy boys bring us hot toddies in bed and we get to dig a slew of homeopathic remedies out of their g-string.

But there it is. And here I am. Sick. It’s funny that when I need to work I have no idea what to write about. And now, when I’m sick, I want to write so I can bitch and moan about woe is me, I’m so sick. But that’s the crux of it really. I don’t have the coronavirus. I have man flu.

Anyhow, I thought since I most recently shared a recipe for DIY wax melts with beeswax, that a craft project using a fragrance warmer for spring home decor would be a fitting follow up. While this Dollar Tree spring decor DIY bird craft can’t actually be used to melt your wax tarts, it is inexpensive and fun to make. Use it decorate your home for spring, or to give as a cheerful housewarming gift to someone special. Or make it on a sick day. We all know there’s only so much Netflix one can suffer through before you’d rather be back at work anyway.

Dollar Tree Spring Decor DIY

I hadn’t been inside a Dollar Tree in a long time, as they moved from my favorite location. However, lately, I’ve been passing by a different Dollar Tree location often since moving, on my way to visit The Fresh Market. (And yes, also a guy.) So late last year, I decided to stop in and see what they had. To my delight, I was able to find awesome containers for recent Dollar Tree projects like my whipped sugar scrub recipe, and my adorable Dollar Tree valentines, which I discovered on a second trip.

Because I had so much luck with finding crazy affordable supplies for those projects, I gave the Dollar Tree another look when I was ready to start making craft projects for DIY spring decor. And that’s how I came up with this super cute craft idea for DIY Dollar Tree spring decor. Thus, these cute bird craft fragrance warmers were born into existence. And now you have another fun and easy craft project to get your home ready for spring entertaining. Enjoy.

DIY Bird Craft Fragrance Warmer

Materials & Supplies:

Ceramic Fragrance Warmer
Twine
Spanish Moss
Floral Garden Decorative Bird

Bird Nest with Eggs (Or 2 small styrofoam balls painted with speckles to look like eggs, set on top of Spanish Moss with a Small White Feathers)
Twigs, Berries, and Florals, of choice from Dollar Tree
Hot Glue Gun and Hot Melt Glue Sticks

Directions:

To create your Dollar Tree bird craft, start by tucking the Spanish moss inside the fragrance warmer. Then, add the tiny bird’s nest with the eggs.

Alternatively, you can also use painted styrofoam balls made to look like bird’s eggs along with some small white feathers. Simply place the eggs and the feathers on top of the Spanish moss, inside the fragrance warmer. (You can use the hot glue gun to keep everything together.)

Next using hot glue gun, glue the Spanish moss onto the top of the fragrance warmer.

Arrange, then glue, twigs, berries and assorted florals of your choice to the Spanish moss on top of the fragrance warmer.

Follow with the little bird, gluing him into place nestled inside the Spanish moss with the floral accents around him.

Finally add additional floral elements to the bird’s nest inside the fragrance warmer as desired. Glue into place using a hot glue gun.

That’s it! Your DIY Dollar Tree spring decor for a bird craft fragrance warmer is complete. Now all that’s left is to display your newly created home decor for spring in your home or office. Alternately, you can also give this super cute, little bird craft as a housewarming gift for a friend or family member.

Yield: 1 Bird Craft Fragrance Warmer

Bird Craft Dollar Tree Decor DIY

This easy DIY spring bird craft is a fun and pretty Dollar Tree spring decor project to decorate your home. Or gift this beauty as a housewarming gift for a new neighbor, friend or family member.

Active Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost $10

Materials

Ceramic Fragrance Warmer
Twine
Spanish Moss
Floral Garden Decorative Bird
Bird Nest with Eggs
Twigs, Berries, and Florals, to suit

Tools

Hot Glue Gun
Hot Melt Glue Sticks

Instructions

Tuck the Spanish moss inside the fragrance warmer. Add the tiny bird’s nest with the eggs and adhere to the fragrance warmer using the hot glue gun.
Now glue the Spanish moss onto the top of the fragrance warmer.
Arrange, then glue twigs, berries and assorted florals on top of the Spanish moss using the glue gun.
Follow with the bird by gluing him into place nestled among the floral accents and Spanish moss.
Add additional floral elements to the bird’s nest inside the fragrance warmer if desired, and glue into place.

Easy DIY bird crafts for DIY spring decor. How to make DIY Dollar Tree spring decor to decorate your home on a budget. Fun & easy ways to upcycle a fragrance wax melt warmer in just 20-minutes to create beautiful, bird inspired DIY spring home decor. Easy spring decorating ideas using Dollar Tree materials for beautiful home accents and accessories. Or make and gift this lovely Dollar Tree bird craft for a spring housewarming gift to a new neighbor . DIY home decor ideas for spring on a budget.

If you enjoyed this Dollar Tree spring decor DIY for making a bird craft fragrance warmer, then be sure to pin this easy DIY craft project to Pinterest for later. Or check out some of these other home decor crafts for spring. You may also like my women’s craft night ideas which include a bird craft project for making a decorative DIY spring bird mason jar. Alternately, explore more spring flower craft projects here.

Also, P.S. Don’t forget to wash your hands. (And, if you do get sick, try one of these great remedies for cold and flu relief.)

Discover more of my spring home decor projects by following me across all your favorite social media platforms. You can follow Soap Deli News blog on facebook, twitter and instagram. You can also find me on Blog Lovin‘. Or sign up to receive an email whenever I share a new post!

Filed Under: DIY Craft Project, Handmade Home, Homemade Gift Ideas Tagged With: craft night ideas, craft project, craft tutorial, crafts, decor, decorating, diy, diy crafts, dollar tree, easy, handmade home, home decor, spring

DIY Wax Melts: Easy Wax Melts Recipe with Beeswax

February 13, 2020 By Rebecca D. Dillon 12 Comments

These easy DIY wax melts are a fun way to scent your home this spring! Inspired by DKNY’s Be Delicious Blossom® fragrance, these wax melts with beeswax are scented with a blend of ruby cassis, ripe pineapple, sweet rose blossoms and dewy fresh air. They’re then accented with cornflowers and colored with Granny Smith green mica powder.

How to Make Affordable, Easy DIY Wax Melts for Home Fragrance

Wax melts are often made from soy wax. However, unless you’ve been on a candle making binge lately, it’s unlikely that you have soy wax on hand. If you’re a soapmaker, on the other hand, it’s entirely possible you do have the ingredients needed for my DIY wax melts.

Rather than using soy wax for these wax melts, I chose to use palm kernel flakes and beeswax instead, as these are both ingredients that soapmakers are more likely to have on hand. This combination of ingredients works just as well as soy wax, and is an easy alternative if your wax melt warmer is feeling underappreciated.

Of course, as I know a lot of you are on budget, I’ve allowed for several variations of this recipe. Don’t have the funds for clamshell molds? No worries. You can make my easy DIY wax melts with beeswax using a small, existing silicone mold, such as a chocolate or mini ice cube mold. You can also hand roll your wax melts once the wax sets up, but before it fully hardens, and skip the mold all together!

In addition, you can also always swap out the fragrance oil for my DIY wax melts with another fragrance oil of your choice. Alternately, you can also use essential oils if you prefer to scent your home with natural fragrances. My natural essential oil blends for perfumes make a lovely substitution for synthetic fragrance oils.

Ready to get started?

Be Delicious Wax Melts Recipe with Beeswax

Ingredients:

2.5 oz. palm kernel flakes
2.5 oz. beeswax
.6 oz. Crafter’s Choice Be Delicious Blossom Fragrance Oil
pinch Granny Smith green mica, optional
blue cornflowers, optional

Tools & Materials:

digital scale
digital thermometer
2 clamshell molds
utensil for stirring

Directions:

Using a digital scale, weigh out the palm kernel flakes and beeswax. Combine in a double boiler, then heat over medium heat until melted. Once the beeswax and palm kernel flakes have melted, remove from heat. Allow to cool slightly.

While the mixture of beeswax and palm kernel flakes, cool, weigh out the fragrance oil and set aside.

Then, add a few cornflowers to the clamshell molds you’ll be using to make this recipe for wax melts.

Use a digital thermometer, such as this laser thermometer, to measure how hot the wax is. Once the wax reaches 140°F, stir in the fragrance oil. (If you are you using essential oils in your wax melts, use half the amount of essential oil as the fragrance oil, or a maximum of 7%. You can replace the remaining amount of fragrance oil with an odorless carrier oil, such as fractionated coconut oil to ensure they melt easily in your fragrance warmer.)

Then mix in a pinch of mica powder.

Immediately pour the melted wax melt mixture evenly into two clamshell molds. Allow to cool.

Your wax melts are ready to use once they’ve fully hardened.

How to Make Wax Melts without a Mold:

If you don’t have a mold for making these easy DIY wax melts, then allow the wax to cool past 140°F. Once the wax looks solid, but is still in a semi-solid state (about the consistency of shea butter) roll the wax into balls.

You can press cornflowers or other botanicals onto the outside of the wax melts to keep them from sticking to your hands.

Then simply allow the wax melts to harden completely prior to use.

Yield: 2 Clamshell Wax Melts

DIY Wax Melts Recipe with Beeswax

Make these easy DIY wax melts with beeswax to freshen your home with a fun fragrance blend of ruby cassis, ripe pineapple, sweet rose blossoms and dewy fresh air.

Active Time 10 minutes

Additional Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Difficulty Easy

Materials

2.5 oz. palm kernel flakes
2.5 oz. beeswax
.6 oz. Crafter’s Choice Be Delicious Blossom Fragrance Oil
pinch Granny apple green mica, optional
blue cornflowers, optional

Tools

digital scale
digital thermometer
2 clamshell molds
spatula

Instructions

Weigh out the palm kernel flakes and beeswax.
Combine in a double boiler, then heat over medium heat until melted.
Meanwhile, weigh out the fragrance oil and set aside.
Add a few cornflowers to the clamshell molds. Set aside.
Once the palm kernel flakes and beeswax melt completely, remove from heat.
When the wax reaches 140°F, stir in the fragrance oil and mica powder.
Then pour the melted wax melt mixture evenly into two clamshell molds.
Allow to cool and fully harden prior to use.

More Ways to Scent Your Home This Spring

Wax melts aren’t the only way to scent your home. Here are some other great DIY ideas for freshening up your space as you dive into spring cleaning.

If you enjoyed my recipe for making easy DIY wax melts with beeswax, then be sure to pin this project to Pinterest for later. And check out my recipe for making DIY Christmas wax melts for the holidays. Also be sure to follow my Pinterest boards for more great DIY ideas and projects.

Discover more of my homemaking projects by following me across all your favorite social media platforms. You can follow Soap Deli News blog on Blog Lovin‘, facebook, twitter and instagram. Or sign up to receive an email whenever I share a new post!

Filed Under: DIY Craft Project, Handmade Home Tagged With: air freshener recipe, crafts, diy, easy, fragrance, fragrance oils, handmade home, home fragrance, homemaking, spring, spring cleaning

Essential Oil Perfume Recipes: How to Make Natural Fragrances Using Essential Oils

February 10, 2020 By Rebecca D. Dillon 8 Comments

Learn how to make natural essential oil perfume recipes for beginners. If you love fragrances, but want a non-toxic alternative to synthetic fragrances that can trigger allergies, headaches and skin irritation, then this post is for you! Discover how to make natural fragrances using essential oils with this collection of essential oil perfume recipes, natural essential oil blends for perfumes, and perfume making tips for beginners that will save you money.

I love fragrances. Unfortunately, not all fragrances love me. Synthetic fragrances, especially, have been known to give me a raging headache. Everything from fake vanilla to heavily scented floral scents can trigger trigger sinus problems, allergies and headaches that last for days. They can also cause unfortunate skin reactions. If you have sensitive skin, then you know just how troublesome skin reactions from artificial fragrances can be. Growing up, I definitely struggle with itchy skin from everything from laundry detergent to lotions. It was not fun.

So rather than risk a reaction from store bought perfumes, I prefer to make my own essential oil perfume recipes. By choosing certified organic essential oils, I know that I’m getting a safe product that I can trust when properly diluted. And, because I know exactly what essential oils I’m using to make my essential oil perfumes, I can avoid those that irritate my sinuses or cause allergic reactions. Store bought perfumes just don’t offer the same transparency. Because fragrances are considered proprietary, I have no way of knowing what chemicals or other ingredients are used to create that particular scent. Therefore, the best way to avoid this is to make my own.

How to Make Essential Oil Perfumes

I’ve made a number of perfume recipes over the years. Some of those perfume recipes contained fragrance oils I’d used during my soap making days. So I knew they didn’t trigger a reaction. Others, however, I created with only a blend of essential oils. There are a lot of essential perfume recipes online. You can basically use any essential oil blend recipe you like. Simply add it to perfumer’s alcohol, a pre-made fixative base or to a carrier oil such as fractionated coconut oil (also known as Isopropyl Myristate) or jojoba oil. (Learn more about how to use perfume fixatives for lasting scents.) You can also make a basic salve base, which is 3 parts carrier oil to 1 part beeswax, with the addition of your essential oil blend for a solid essential oil perfume.

Continue reading for my essential oil perfume making tips for getting the perfect scent, even if you’re terrible at blending essential oils. Plus discover my collection of natural essential oil perfume recipes and tutorials to help you create your favorite new, custom scent!

Perfume Making Tips (That Save You Money!)

I want to start by sharing some easy perfume making tips for your essential oil recipes. I’m sharing these tips first, because if you’re like me, by the time you read through the other stuff you may feel so overwhelmed you decide to give up before you get started. And that is the last thing I want you to do. Sometimes you just need some baby steps to get your feet wet before you’re comfortable going full force into a new art or hobby.

1. Use plant based, all natural fragrance oils for your essential oil perfume recipes.

I am not the best at figuring at top, middle and base notes for my own essential oil perfume recipes. To be honest, I find it all to be a huge challenge. Not to mention the investment of time I don’t have. Therefore, when I make my own essential oil perfume recipes, I’ll often use an essential oil blend recipe that I’ve found elsewhere.

Sometimes, however, I find that I want a more complex fragrance blend than what I can make myself. I mean, perfumery is seriously an art. It takes a lot of time, knowledge and money to perfect the perfect scent. Essential oils on their own are expensive. So messing up when crafting a custom essential perfume recipe can be devastating on several levels. No one wants to blow money on a perfume scent that has to be tossed. Therefore, when I want a more complex natural essential oil blend, I like to turn to plant-based, all natural fragrance oils.

There are a few soap making companies that now offer all natural fragrance oils. While they do cost more than their synthetic counterparts, they’re still definitely a lot cheaper than trying to formulate your own.

Right now, Wholesale Supplies Plus seems to offer the widest range of 100% natural fragrance oils. They were one of the first soap making companies to take notice of the need for all natural fragrances and started offering this line years ahead of much of the competition. While these fragrances start at around double the cost of synthetic essential oils, the quality more than makes up for the difference. There’s also the added bonus of not having to spend a LOT more money buying all the essential oils you’d need to create just a single essential oil blend for your perfumes.

Their natural fragrance oils are plant-based aromatics made using pure essential oils and aromatic isolates derived solely from natural, raw botanical sources. Plus, all of their natural fragrance oils are certified to be free of synthetic ingredients. Their current lineup of all natural fragrance oils includes scents like honey blueberry lavender, green tea & rose, gooseberry & birch water, coconut & white tea, lavender & coconut milk, jasmine vanilla and mango smoothie.

I love that the Wholesale Supplies Plus website is geared towards beginner to intermediate crafters with affordable pricing. So it’s easy to find the IFRA maximum skin exposure levels for each of their fragrances. This allows you to easily determine skin safe dilution for your essential oil perfume recipes. There’s even a fragrance and essential oil calculator located on the product page for each of their essential oil based fragrance oils so you can quickly pick the right ratio for your essential oil perfume formulations.

2. Use a fixative base with your essential oil perfume recipes so they last longer.

Essential oil perfume fixatives are a must for long lasting perfumes and fragrances. Fixatives work in your essential oil perfume recipes to slow down the degradation of more volatile oils used in your perfumes. Thus, they essentially slow down evaporation rates. This ensures that your scents last longer when applied to skin. Therefore saving you money as you won’t need to reapply your perfumes as often.

There are a number of essential oils that function as fixatives in your essential oil perfume recipes. You can find out what essential oils work as fixatives in perfumery outlined here. Each of these essential oils not only extends the life of your perfumes, they also add a distinct note to your fragrances. Therefore it is important to choose which essential oils to use as fixatives based on the notes in your essential oil blends. You’ll want all the fragrance notes, obviously, to work in harmony for the best scents.

If you aren’t a pro at blending essential oils and don’t have the time or money to further your knowledge and experiment, there is a simple alternative. An easy way to incorporate a fixative into ANY essential oil blend is to purchase a natural perfume fixative base. Essentially, these bases are like little solid perfumes. You simply pick a scent note that works with your essential oil perfume recipes. Then, apply the fixative base prior to application of your perfume. By doing this, you not only extend the life of your perfume, you can also use different bases with the same essential oil perfume blend to create different scents.

I’m fond of the fixative bases available from Wild Veil Perfume. This shop offers a wide selection of fixative bases to choose from in different scent notes. Some of these include botanical musk base notes, earthy base notes, conifer base notes, spicy base notes, tea base notes and more. In addition, you’ll also discover a nice collection of absolutes and resinoids you can use to formulate your own essential oil perfume recipes.

How to Formulate Custom Essential Oil Perfume Recipes

If you want to formulate your own custom, essential oil perfume recipes, then you first need to learn the art of blending essential oils. As with fragrance oils, you can’t just throw any scents together that you like. They need to work well with another so you get a pleasing aroma.

Essential oils come in a variety of scent notes straight from nature. They can be woodsy or herbal, citrus or grassy, floral or spicy. Learning which essential oils blend nicely together does take some research, however. There’s no magical way to know what essential oils blend well together without taking the time to learn. An easy way to discover which essential oils blend well is to conduct an internet search. You can also purchase books on essential oils that teach you the basics of essential oils and blending.

An easy way to get started is to pick an essential oil you are fond of to be the heart of your essential oil perfume recipe. A popular choice, for example, is lavender essential oil. Then look up what essential oils blend well with lavender. You’ll get a long list of all the essential oils that blend well with the one you’ve chosen when you search. This gives you a good idea of where to get started in choosing the essential oils to blend with the lavender to compliment the scent.

For example, Mountain Rose Herbs, a popular source for certified organic essential oils, tells me that lavender essential oil blends well with bergamot, black pepper, cedarwood, chamomile, clary sage, clove, cypress, eucalyptus, geranium, grapefruit, juniper, lemon, lemongrass, mandarin, marjoram, oakmoss, palmarosa, patchouli, peppermint, pine, rose, rosemary, tea tree, thyme and vetiver essential oils. It also tells me that it’s aroma is sweet, floral and herbaceous — information that can help me decide how to formulate the essential oil perfume blend.

Unfortunately, blending essential oils is a lot more complicated than that. (And one of the reasons why, as a beginner, you may want to start by using existing essential oil blends for your essential oil perfume recipes.) In short, you need to choose top and base note essential oils that are harmonious with lavender essential oil, which is your middle note.

But here’s more on that.

Understanding Essential Oil Notes for Basic Perfumery

When using essential oils for natural perfumery, you need to choose your essential oils based on their rate of evaporation, or what is called their volatility. The volatility of essential oils are separated out into three categories. These categories are known as top notes, middle notes and base notes.

Top note essential oils evaporate the fastest as they contain the smallest molecules. While, middle note essential oils typically last several hours. The base note essential oils, on the other hand, contain the largest molecules and therefore evaporate the slowest. The natural fragrance of base note essential oils can last a full day or more.

When formulating custom essential oil perfume recipes, you’ll want your recipes to consist of all three notes for the longest lasting scents and a complex aroma. This can vary depending on your formulation of essential oils used — some essential oils are much stronger than others — as well as personal preference. However, there is a loose guideline for blending top, middle and base note essential oils.

Your top notes in your essential oil perfume recipes should consist of 10%-30% of the essential blend. While the middle notes, which are the heart of your perfume, should make up anywhere from 30% to 50% of your perfume blend. Finally, the base notes should consist of 15%-30% of your perfume essential oils recipes. Many base notes are also fixatives, such as patchouli essential oil.

Top Notes:

Top note essential oils are typically more light and airy essential oils. They introduce you to the scent of your essential oil perfumes. Usually thin and mobile, top notes often display diffusive, sharp, penetrating, uplifting, refreshing or light properties.

Common examples of top note essential oils include the following:

Basil essential oil
Bergamot essential oil
Eucalyptus essential oil
Fir & Pine essential oils
Galbanum resin
Juniper essential oil
Laurel Leaf essential oil
Citrus essential oils such as Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime, Mandarin, Tangerine & Orange
Neroli essential oil
Palmarosa essential oil
Mint essential oils such as Peppermint & Spearmint
Petitgrain essential oil
Sage essential oil
Verbena essential oil
Yuzu essential oil

Middle Notes:

As previously stated, the middle notes are the heart — and most important part! — of your essential oil perfume recipes. These essential oils should be the focal of your essential oil perfume blend, with the other essential oils being chosen around these middle notes. As your middle notes are often full bodied and complex, you want your top and base notes to harmonize, balance and complement with the middle notes you choose.

Popular middle note essential oils used in essential oil perfume recipes include:

Black Pepper essential oil
Cardamom essential oil
Carnation essential oil
Cassie essential oil
Chamomile essential oil
Cinnamon essential oil
Clary Sage essential oil
Clove essential oil
Coffee essential oil
Cypress Leaf essential oil
Fir essential oil
Balsam essential oil
Geranium essential oil
Ginger essential oil
Helichrysum essential oil
Jasmine essential oil
Lavender essential oil
Lemongrass essential oil
Lotus essential oil
Melissa essential oil
Orange Blossom essential oil
Rose essential oil
Rosemary essential oil
Tuberose essential oil
Ylang Ylang essential oil

It’s important to keep in mind that black pepper, cinnamon and clove essential oils are skin irritants. Therefore, they should be used in very small amounts as part of your perfume formulations.

Base Notes:

The foundation of your essential oil perfume recipes are the base notes. These essential oils tend to have dense, heavy and strong aromas that support your overall perfume formulation. Deep and tenacious, these essential oils may also include your fixatives. (Learn which essential oils are fixatives here.)

The following essential oils, absolutes and other botanical aromas are popular base notes as part of formulations for essential oil perfume recipes:

Agarwood essential oil
Fossilized Amber Oil
Ambrette essential oil
Amyris essential oil
Angelica Root essential oil
Balsam of Peru essential oil
Cedarwood essential oil
Cistus essential oil
Cocoa absolute
Elemi essential oil
Fir essential oil
Balsam absolute
Frankincense essential oil
Labdanum resinoid
Liquidambar essential oil
Liquidambar Oleoresin
Myrrh essential oil
Oakmoss essential oil
Orris root extract
Patchouli essential oil
Sandalwood essential oil
Tobacco absolute
Tonka Bean absolute
Vanilla absolute
Vetiver essential oil
Violet Leaf absolute

If you’d like to learn more about creating custom essential oil perfume recipes, then check out this post on how to create custom essential oil blends from Mountain Rose Herbs, as well as this post from Hello Glow on how to blend essential oils. This article on essential oil blending factors from Restorative Aromatics is also incredibly helpful.

How to Make Essential Oil Perfume Recipes 3 Ways

Now that you understand the basics behind blending essential oils for custom essential oil perfume recipes, you’re probably wondering how to actually make perfume. Obviously you can’t use your essential oil blends neat (or undiluted) on skin. This can cause skin sensitivities and irritation and in general is just a terrible practice. Therefore, you’ll want to dilute your essential oil blends for your perfume recipes so they’re skin safe.

There are three basic ways to create the perfect essential oil perfume recipes. You can make essential oil perfumes using either oil, alcohol or a solid perfume base. Before blending your essential oil perfume blend you created with oil or alcohol, you should allow your perfume recipe to first age for two to three weeks in a dark or amber glass bottle.

Oil Based Roll On Essential Oil Perfume Recipe

To make an oil based perfume, you simply mix your perfume essential oil blend with a carrier oil of your choice. Jojoba oil, sweet almond oil and fractionated coconut oil are all popular bases for oil based essential oil perfumes. You will want to use a carrier oil with little to no fragrance in order to avoid having it come through with your chosen aroma. Alternately, you can also use 100% cyclomethicone or a blend of equal parts cyclomethicone to your carrier oil of choice. (Cyclomethicone is a synthetic silicone commonly used in cosmetic applications for skin and hair care as well as perfumery.)

Your essential oil blend for your oil based essential oil perfume recipes should comprise of between 15%-30% of your chosen carrier oil. (If you are using essential oils that are known skin irritants or have a lower maximum usage rate per IFRA guidelines, then stick to the lower end of that percentage.)

To make your oil based perfume, simply add the essential oil blend to a rollerball bottle. Then follow with your chosen carrier oil. Swirl to mix, then cap and label your rollerball bottle.

Alcohol Based Essential Oil Perfume Recipe

Creating perfume using an alcohol base is similar to creating a perfume oil. Simply combine and swirl the essential oil perfume blend at the decided ratio to perfumer’s alcohol in a glass beaker, once aged. Then store your finished essential oil perfume in a glass perfume bottle or spray perfume bottle. (These perfume atomizers are also super cute! As are these best selling quartz gemstone perfume bottles.)

Solid Essential Oil Perfume Recipe

A simple recipe for making a solid perfume base is to combine 3 parts beeswax to one part carrier oil. (You can use carnauba wax as a vegan alternative. However you should reduce the wax in this case by 25% as carnauba wax has a higher melting point.) Once you’ve determined the percentage of your aged essential oil blend you’d like to use, mix the carrier oil you’ve chosen with the essential oil blend in a glass beaker or container. Then set aside.

Now melt the beeswax in a double boiler over medium heat. Once the beeswax is completely melted, immediately stir in the combined essential oil blend and carrier oil mixture. Continue stirring until the beeswax remelts, then pour right away into small glass cosmetic jars.

Let your solid essential oil perfume sit until fully hardened, then screw on the lids.

Essential Oil Perfume Recipes for Natural Fragrances

Here are some easy and fun essential oil perfume recipes. These recipes are perfect for beginners. While some of these perfume recipes contain fragrance oils in lieu of essential oils, you can swap out the fragrance oils with any essential oil of your choice, using the above guidelines for making essential oil perfumes.

Or get started with a beginner’s natural perfume kit. This DIY essential oil perfume kit contains 36 essential oils that are commonly used to create custom, natural fragrances.

Essential Oil Blends for Perfumes

Alternately, try one of these essential oil blends for perfumes. These essential oil perfume recipes use essential oils that are easy to source and readily available. They are also great essential oil blends for beginner perfumers.

Totally Chill Essential Oil Perfume Recipe

18 drops Grapefruit essential oil
8 drops Lavender essential oil
8 drops Sweet Orange essential oil
4 drops Clary Sage essential oil
2 drops Roman Chamomile essential oil

Lemon Crush Essential Oil Perfume Recipe

15 drops Lemon essential oil
9 drops Rosemary essential oil
6 drops Neroli essential oil

Paradise Bliss Essential Oil Perfume Recipe

18 drops Grapefruit essential oil
8 drops Lavender essential oil
8 drops Sweet Orange essential oil
5 drops Clary Sage essential oil
2 drops Roman Chamomile essential oil

Unisex Woodland Spirit Essential Oil Perfume Recipe

20 drops Sweet Orange essential oil
10 drops Virginia Cedarwood essential oil
6 drops Peppermint essential oil
4 drops Rosemary essential oil

The Spice of Life Essential Oil Perfume Recipe

15 drops Bergamot essential oil
12 drops Sandalwood essential oil
6 drops Vanilla absolute
3 drops Clove essential oil

Men’s Essential Oil Cologne Recipe

12 drops Patchouli essential oil
12 drops Bergamot essential oil
6 drops Vetiver essential oil
6 drops Bay Laurel essential oil
2 drops Neroli essential oil
2 drops Ginger essential oil

Grounded Earth Essential Oil Perfume Recipe

12 drops Virginia Cedarwood essential oil
9 drop Palmarosa essential oil
9 drops Patchouli essential oil
3 drops Neroli essential oil
3 drops Vetiver essential oil

Love is in the Air Essential Oil Perfume Recipe

20 drops Rose essential oil
10 drops Vetiver essential oil
10 drops Lime essential oil

The Sensuous Woman Essential Oil Perfume Recipe

12 drops Bergamot essential oil
10 drops Coriander essential oil
8 drops Neroli essential oil
6 drops Rose essential oil
4 drops Jasmine absolute

Books on Making Essential Oil Perfume Recipes

Ready to learn even more about making essential oil perfume recipes? Try one of these books on making essential oil perfume recipes to take that knowledge even further.

Organic Perfume by Kaylee Evans
Perfumes, Splashes & Colognes by Nancy M. Booth
Homemade Perfume by Anya McCoy
Perfume: The Art and Craft of Fragrance by Karen Gilbert
Make Your Own Perfume by Sally Hornsey
Essential Oil Perfumes by Scott Jenkins
Mixing Essential Oils for Magic by Sandra Kynes

If you loved learning about how to make custom essential oil perfume recipes, then be sure to pin this tutorial to Pinterest for later reference. You can also discover more of my beauty and skin care projects and recipes by following me across all your favorite social media platforms. You can find Soap Deli News blog on Blog Lovin‘, facebook, twitter and instagram. Or sign up to receive an email whenever I share a new post!

Filed Under: Bath & Beauty Recipes, DIY Craft Project Tagged With: crafts, diy, essential oil, essential oil blend, essential oil recipes, essential oils, fixatives, perfume, perfume making, perfume oil, solid perfume

Dollar Tree Valentines for Gifts, Party Favors and BFF’s

February 4, 2020 By Rebecca D. Dillon 7 Comments

Whether you need Valentine’s day gifts for someone special or affordable favors for your Valentine’s day party, these easy DIY Dollar Tree valentines are the perfect way to show you care, And you don’t need to spend a lot of money. Crafted entirely using products from the Dollar Store, these dollar store valentines are easy to create and customize. Keep reading to learn how to craft your own Dollar Tree valentines two ways in 5-minutes or less.

To be frank, Valentine’s day is not my favorite holiday. My son is grown and off in grad school, and I’m an empty nester. So there’s no excitement in decorating a Valentine’s day box for cards, or picking out the perfect valentines for his classmates. And when you’re dating, especially in your forties, yet another holiday (how many of these things are there?) often evokes a WTF moment in which your brain teeters on shutting down completely. (Or at the least throwing up from the trepidation.)

That’s not to say there’s no love in my life. I have some pretty amazing friends. That my friends are the true blue forever kind of friends always gives me a warm and cozy feeling. It feels good to know that if I’m ever truly in need, they’re there.

These women are the kind of friends that, even if you drop off the face of the planet for a while, they’re still around to help you climb back into their universe when you’re ready. The people who you’d do anything for and they’d do anything for you in return. Including standing up for you when you aren’t around. So while Valentine’s day may not be the same gross happy couple ooey gooey holiday for me as it is for everyone else, I feel really good about celebrating Galentine’s day instead.

Easy DIY Dollar Tree Valentines

Regardless of who’s your gift recipient, these super cute Dollar Tree valentines are perfect for kids and coworkers as well as friends and family. They’re both affordable and easy to make. Gift them to your valentine solo, or pair them with one my free printable valentines cards for an extra special, DIY Valentine’s Day gift.

I made these Dollar Tree Valentines using mini metal buckets intended for wedding favors. They’re perfectly sized for Valentine’s day party favors or mini gifts. And I love that there are a number of ways to use them. Whether if it’s as a candy bucket for Valentine’s day treats or a mini Valentine’s day bouquet complete with a heart shaped lollipop flower.

They even come with tiny white ribbons. However, I chose to use Valentine’s day themed ribbon I picked up from the floral section at my local Dollar Tree and saved the smaller ribbon for a later project down the road.

DIY Dollar Tree Valentines with Candy Hearts

Conversation hearts are a Valentine’s day classic. It’s always so much fun reading the little sayings stamped onto each heart shaped candy. (If you’ll notice on this photo, the green one front and center says “Gal Pal.” And no, that wasn’t planned. It just happened.)

However, you don’t have to fill your buckets with little messages. Any small candy, such as jelly beans, also work great for this Valentine’s day gift idea.

What You Need:

mini metal buckets
ribbon
Valentine’s day candy
foam heart table scatter
3.8 in W x 5.75 in H zipper seal bags
glue dots or glue
scissors

What To Do:

First, fill a zipper seal bag for each Valentine’s day candy bucket you’d like to make. Place the zipper bag inside the bucket to fill to the correct height. Then, cut off the zipper top on the bag.

Next, use scissors to cut the ribbon to length. Then tie the ribbon tightly into a bow around the top of the bag. Place the bag of candy hearts inside the mini metal bucket.

Then, adhere foam hearts to the front of each pail using either glue dots or glue. Alternately, you can also use heart shaped stickers for this step.

Your Dollar Tree valentines with candy hearts are now complete and ready for gifting! Simply repeat this process until you have the amount of Valentine’s day gifts you need for your party, event or gifts.

DIY Dollar Tree Valentine’s Day Bucket Bouquet

I love these little Valentine’s Day bucket bouquets. Not only is the “flower” in these Dollar Tree valentines edible, but once the candy lollipop is gone, the floral arrangement can be used throughout the month of February to decorate a small space, sided table or a work desk. And, unlike real flowers, there’s not need to swap out the water or worry about them dying.

What You’ll Need:

mini metal buckets
heart shaped lollipops
floral stems
floral foam
scissors
knife

What To Do:

Using a knife, cut the floral foam into small sections that fit inside the mini metal buckets.

Then, center the heart shaped lollipop into the center of the foam block and push it down to the bottom of the foam. Now place the foam block inside the bucket.

Using scissors, cut down the the floral stems into smaller sections and arrange them inside the foam around the lollipop.

Keep working until your mini Dollar Tree valentine bucket bouquet looks full and lush, and the foam block is no longer visible.

If desired, you can tie a decorative ribbon around the bucket and tie it into a bow. That’s it!

Love my DIY Dollar Store valentines, but don’t have time to make them right away? Then be sure to pin this project to Pinterest now, so you can easily find it again when you have more free time.

More Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas

If you enjoyed my ideas for easy, DIY Dollar Tree valentines, then you may also like some of my other Valentine’s Day gift ideas.

You can also visit my DIY Valentine’s Day Gifts board on Pinterest for more great DIY ideas for easy Valentine’s day gifts.

Also make sure your follow Soap Deli News across all your favorite social media platforms for more great DIY ideas throughout the year. In addition to Pinterest, you can also find me on facebook, twitter and instagram. Or sign up to receive an email whenever I share a new post!

Filed Under: DIY Craft Project, Holiday DIY, Homemade Gift Ideas Tagged With: candy, crafts, diy, dollar tree, frugal, gift idea, holidays, inexpensive, party favor, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day gifts

Creative Ways to Upcycle Dishes with Lead Paint for DIY Home Decor

January 13, 2020 By Rebecca D. Dillon 7 Comments

Believe it or not, decorative dishware produced as late as 2004 has been found to contain lead paint. While no longer deemed safe for eating, you don’t have to toss your favorite vintage dishes. Instead try one of these creative ways to upcycle dishes with lead paint to create unique, DIY home decor!

Your Dishes May Not Be Food Safe!

I think most families have some Corelle dishes in their cupboards. They are a popular plate and dish brand thanks to their durability and trendy designs. Today, people covet the old styles, scouring flea markets and thrift stores to complete their collections.

I bought two sets of Corelle dishes years ago because I was sick of chipped or broken plates. Corelle plates are virtually indestructible, so they last for many, many years.

A word of warning though, if they do break, they shatter! You’ll be finding glass shards on the floor and in the next room for weeks.

Your beloved Corelle dishes may bring back fond memories of sitting around the dinner table with family and friends, but they may also be slowly deteriorating your body due to lead paint exposure.

Tamara Rubin, Lead Safe Mama, recently tested several vintage Corelle pieces and found lead paint in the decorative designs.

They are vintage, so it doesn’t apply to you, right? No, for these purposes vintage is anything before 2005. That’s only 15 years ago. Considering the durability of the plates and bowls, it’s definitely possible that your dishes are older than 2005.

In her article, Tamara shows screenshots of conversations with Corelle. Corelle states that lead paint was common in glazes and decorative designs before the 1990s. Corelle has not used lead paint for decorative designs since the “mid 2000s”. They recommend using any pieces made before 2005 to be used as decoration only.

Plain white plates are testing okay. The lead is found in the paint that was used for the design on plates.

Creative Ways to Upcycle Dishes With Lead Paint

No one wants to just throw away their plates, but you can’t use them to eat off of. So what can you do with them?

There are a lot of ways to upcycle dishes and plates. You can use them in a number of ways to decorate your home both inside and outside. Following are some creative ways to upcycle dishes with lead paint.

Painted Elephant Wall Art via Sabotage900

Creative Way to Upcycle Dishes for Wall Decor

Hang Them on The Wall

If your plates have a decorative design, you can hang them on the wall. Many people hang them in their dining room or kitchen because, well, that’s where plates are used most often.

Don’t be limited to just food related rooms. Use a grouping of plates above the bed for a whimsical and fun grouping that won’t cost you anything.

Paint Plates for Unique DIY Art

If you don’t like the design of your plates, paint them! Painting plates is easy to do. Since you won’t be washing them, you can use acrylic paint or enamel and not have to worry about the paint being food safe or washable. You could even prime them and spray paint them if you want to completely change the color and design.

You can use a stencil or paint them freehand. This is a great way to get custom decor that matches the colors in your home.

This wall art idea from Sabotage900 features an illustrated deer for fun & quirky, unique home decor using repurposed dishes.

I also really love this idea for Painted Plate Octopus Wall Art from Homebody UA for using groupings of painted plates to create unique, painted plate wall art for your home.

Or, you can paint a decorative pattern or a mandala design on your vintage plates as another way to upcycle your dishes.

Decorate Without Painting

If you’re not artistic or don’t want to paint them, you can change the look of old plates with some greenery or flowers. Simply use hot glue to attach sprigs of flowers or greens and maybe a bow or some other decoration and hang the plate on the wall.

Decoupage Plates

If you don’t want to paint, decoupage your plates. Use patterned scrapbook paper to die cut or hand cut cute shapes. Animals and flowers are always popular.

You can also use fabric to decoupage plates. Either cut a shape or cover the entire plate with fabric like you would with the scrapbook paper.

Use Mod Podge to glue the paper to the plate. You can also use Mod Podge as a sealer to easier cleaning.

Chalkboard Sign

If your plate has a decorative edge, it might make cute chalkboard sign. Use chalk paint to paint the center and leave the pretty edge. Then hang on the wall or use a plate stand to display. You can change the sign easily for different holidays or use it for inspirational quotes.

This chalkboard style plate from Ranch Life Gifts illustrates a cute way to use chalk paint to upcycle your dishes with lead plate that are no longer food safe. You can also use this same concept to create an upcycled plate, chalkboard countdown calendar for Christmas.

Upcycle Dishes to Use As a Backdrop

For more creative ways to upcycle dishes, use plates to decorate your mantel or on a desk or buffet table. Set a larger plate on a stand and then add candlesticks, vases, and other items in the same color scheme.

This is an easy and inexpensive way to decorate. Shop your own home for objects that would look cute grouped together.

Make Creative Centerpieces with Upcycled Dishes

Larger dinner plates or serving trays with lead paint can’t be used for food, but they can still be used as centerpiece. Add potpourri or flowers to make a cute centerpiece.

Change your centerpiece with the seasons by using pine cones, Easter eggs, or dried berries for Christmas.

Make Unique DIY Garden & Yard Art

You can use plates, bowls, and cups in your yard, flower beds, or on your patio. For bowls, paint them red and add some white polka dots to create a cute mushroom for the yard like this example of vintage dish mushrooms from Blue Cottage Creation.

You can also attach a coffee cup to the center of a dinner plate to make a flower. Attach to a stake and place in your yard or flower beds for whimsical flowers.

This upcycled plate flower from Tambrey the Repurposer is a great example of one of the many ways to upcycle dishes for garden art.

You can even make an upcycled vintage dish bird bath, like this example from MsCenna.

Or craft a fun teacup bird feeder, similar to this upcycled teacup bird feeder from GoGo Garden, for another cute way to upcycle vintage dishes.

Craft a Tiered Stand for Organizing or Decor

If you have three plates that match or coordinate in varying sizes, you can create a tiered stand. Use the biggest plate on the bottom and add an upside down wine glass or even a piece of wood or a glass shot glass or short vase as a spacer. Then add the middle sized plate and another spacer and then the smallest plate.

E6000 is the best glue to use for glass. Don’t use this tiered stand for candy, but you can use it for flowers or other decorations and knick knacks.

Cute Way to Upcycle Dishes Into Planters

Upcycle bowls, tea cups or mugs as planters. I’m hesitant to plant in something that I know has lead paint, so I’d use a liner to hold the dirt and plant and set that inside the cup or bowl.

For more way to upcycle dishes as planters, I really like this idea for a mosaic upcycled, teacup succulent wall planter from Peace by Piece Co. As well as this upcycled teacup, mosaic herb planter by Charming Deco Boutique.

Upcycle Dishes for Unique Home Lighting

While repurposed teacup candles are one of the more popular ways to upcycle dishes, this use is unfortunately not recommended other than for decorative purposes. As teacups aren’t designed to be reheated over and over again, like mason jars are, they can potentially explode while burning.

However, you can upcycle your dishes to use as lamp bases and pendant lighting!

I just love this idea for an upcycled teacup lamp from DAUSnGLO.

What are some of your favorite ways to upcycle dishes? I’d love to hear how you’ve repurposed your vintage dishes to create your own unique DIY home decor. So be sure to share your thoughts in the comments! And don’t forget to pin this post with creative ways to upcycle dishes for later reference.

Discover more creative ways to upcycle dishes, along with budget-friendly DIY home decor ideas, on my Pinterest boards. Or keep up with all of my DIY ideas by following me on social media. You can find me on facebook, twitter and instagram. You can also sign up to receive an email whenever I share a new post!

Filed Under: Decorating, DIY Craft Project, Health & Wellness, Lifestyle Tagged With: crafts, decorating, diy, garden art, home decor, how to, recycle, recycled, repurposed, upcycle, upcycled