Weekend Project! Reed Diffusers

WOW! I haven't done one of those in a LONG time!!!

This one is fun and I hope this post turns out ok, I think I have more photos than I do words!! Things get kind of weird on here when that happens. But "weird" is something I'm SO familiar with it will just blend right in!!! LOL

I was shopping at The Dollar Tree and found these reed diffusers. It's the latest thing in scenting your home. They take no electricity and the only drawback is if it were to be tipped over. They do contain fragrance oils and that could ruin wood finishes and carpets. If you have small children and can not put this in a place that is TOTALLY out of the way then I don't suggest you use these. I have cats but cats are not into perfumy things so I'm safe with mine here. Plus I only have a few of them. One in each bathroom and one in the guest bedroom. After a while you get use to the smell and you think you can't smell them anymore. But it's like that with almost all other air fresheners anyway.

SO on to this project. I had picked mine up at The Dollar Tree. Now there you really do get what you pay for. I got the "ocean breeze" scent. I have never been to the ocean and if it smells like that I will never be going!!! It had a cheap plastic like smell to it. I dumped the stuff out, rinsed out the bottle and proceeded to make my own.

I had been shopping at The Chemistry Store and I bought my diffuser base there. I have shopped there for many things and it is an Internet company you can trust. I also got my reeds there too. I bought the 12" ones and figured I could just cut them in half when I need them.

These little bottles came with reeds so I didn't need any right away but when I was ready to refill it, I did need new ones. To cut them in half is easy too. Just mark with an x-acto knife where 6" is. On a solid cutting surface place the blade of the knife on the mark you made and roll the blade across the reed. The reed will roll and as it rolls apply pressure. It will either snap or if you think it's close enough you can stop and snap it yourself. These reeds are very easy to cut and when it gets warmer out I'm taking mine out to the band saw and while they are all still in the rubber bands I'm just going to quick cut them all at one time. I will save out a couple of packages of them as I do have a few other bottles that are a bit taller. My sister prefers a certain fragrance in these diffusers and she saves me her bottles when she is done with them. Months earlier I receive the cap and later follows the bottle. The bottles she gives me are smooth on the outside and I thought of adding a die cut to it but then I thought about the oils of the bottle and one drop on the designing work I would add will ruin it. SO I was going to opt for a bow and again it's not necessary. SO my problem resulted in how to make this a stamped project. Well, easy enough. I'm making these diffusers for gifts so it's the packaging that is the stamping project!!!

Oh, almost forgot to tell you about the fragrance. You can pick some up in the soap making sections of your local craft store or you can go to Majestic Mountain Sage and order some there. They have TONS of scents and again it is another company I have dealt with for many years and love and trust them. One of the fragrances I got there was "Frosted Snowflakes." Oh my is that ever a pretty and soft scent!!! It had the word snowflake in it, I HAD to buy it!!! LOL Though the favorite sent I buy there is Fresh Cotton. There's lots to pick from. Only fallback is you don't know what they smell like until you receive them. If that is a concern of yours I suggest you get your fragrance at your local craft store. And if you have a coupon you can save some money too. These are essential oils or fragrance oils and they are not real cheap. You'll see as you shop there. Oh and I do believe The Chemistry Store carries scents too, I just found them to be a bit higher than Majestic Mountain Sage.

Ok to begin, you have your clean bottle and your reeds. I just mix my "mixture" right in the same bottle I'm using as my finished project. I mix one part fragrance to six parts diffuser solution. You can increase that ration if you feel your scent is a very strong one. Mix a small batch to test it first. If you are going to fill more than one you can mix it in a glass bowl. Use glass or a plastic that you are going to toss. Plastic hold the scent, glass doesn't. Then when you get the right scent for your nose pour the mixture into the bottles. Make sure you wipe them off when you are done. Oils on the glass make them slippery and you could drop them and make a bigger mess with it than you want.

Now with the bottle(s) filled place the cap back on to keep the liquid inside. I took my reeds and instead of an ugly rubber band around them I used some cute ribbon to match my card stock. I tied it around the reeds and then tied it in a bow! SO cute!!!

For the packaging. If you scroll down on the right of my blog, on the screen, just above the "My Mood Is" icon is a place on the Internet where I go make my box patterns. You are limited though to the size boxes you can make. The box for this project didn't fit in their parameters but I was able to print out enough of the box to get some basic measurements to do a flap over flap box instead of a tuck box. So if you need a box that you know is a bit larger you can get the basic measurements at that site too!

By doing the box on that site I was able to determine that I needed a piece of card stock 8-1/2" (love that, no cutting on one side!!!) by 9-3/4". Now before you begin scoring, if you want any design images on the box this is the time to do it. It can be done after you score but it's not as easy as it is at this point.

My scoring begins with the 8-1/2" side at the top of my scoring tool. Score at 1-3/4", 3-1/2", 5-1/4" and 7". The remainder of the card stock is not equal to the other pieces you just scored. It is a bit smaller but it doesn't matter, that is the part you put the tape or glue on to hold it together. You can mark it lightly with a pencil, it won't show when you are done. I will sometimes draw a light "X" on that piece.

Now turn your card stock so the 9-3/4" edges is at the top of your scoring tool. Score at 1-3/4". Turn the card stock and do the other end the same. That piece you marked with an "X" has two little square boxes at both ends. Remove those, you don't need them. And along that whole top and bottom you will snip in 1-3/4". You don't need to measure when you snip you will reach the score line and know when to stop. You will snip all of those little squares on both ends. These are the flaps to the top and bottom of the box.

Once you are done with the snipping you are ready to assemble the box. I used the Stampin' Up! Sticky Strip for the long side. I wanted something that was going to hold well. So you first tape that side together. Now looking at the box you will see that seam. The seam goes in the back. Turn that seam towards the back so you are looking at the front of your box. Fold in the side flaps first then the back flap and then the front flap. The front flap folds towards the back. This gives the front of the box a nice clean look. Yes, it does matter which flaps you fold in first. The side ones not so much though if you did left and then right on the side flaps you will want to do left and right on the top to keep it uniform.

Now that you know which flaps go where tape or glue the bottom flaps in place. Fill your box and tape or glue the top flaps. Or you can let the ribbon you tie around it hold the top down. That way the box stays nice when it is open. That one is your call. If you are making it for a gift it is ok to do it that way but if you are making it for a craft fair you may want to tape them shut. Ribbons could fall off in transit and you'd be spending a bit of time retying ribbons. NOT fun!!

Decorate the front as you like. Here I used the Stampin' Up! "Lots of Tags" Sizzlets and "All Holidays" stamp for the words. You can stamp the words first before you punch them out with the oval or go freehand. I opted for the freehand because I knew it would be too difficult to keep the oval from moving with the Stamp-a-ma-jig. It worked out just fine. I sponged the edges. Punched out a small flower and added a brad. I glued it all together and affixed it to the box. Oh for the background of the box I used the Stampin' Up! "Whimsey" wheel. I was fortunate to have a Bashful Blue cartridge for my wheel. It sure saves a LOT of time. Especially if you are making more than one!!

I think I remembered everything If not you can always email me with any questions. Please don't ask questions in the comments, Blogger does not have the capability of allowing use to reply back from there.

I guess I had enough words for the photos, they all fit on here just fine! Have fun with this. You can use other glass bottles, as long as you can put the cover back on them. Unless you are just using it for your own personal use you won't need a cover!

Thanks SO much for stopping by and have a great day!
Wanda