What’s better than riding in your own car with the windows down and feeling the breeze through your hair? How about riding in your own car with the windows down and smelling something fresh and clean? While it’s not always easy to design your own air freshener that’s perfect for you, it sure is easy to create your own custom air freshener, so why not do that? It’ll only take you a few hours, including the time it takes to dry, and you can personalize it however you want!
How to start?
-Research the supplies you need to make your car air fresheners, such as cedar chips, fabric, ribbon or string.
-Decide on the shape you would like to make your air freshener and what colours or patterns you would like to use.
-Find an image of the shape of your chosen design from around the internet or from one of the craft books that are available at most craft stores.
-Create a stencil for your design by cutting out a piece of paper in the shape that you want and placing it over top of patterned paper (this will give you an outline).
-Remove the stencil carefully once done tracing the pattern with a pen or pencil. -Cut out fabric pieces in the shapes of your designs and lay them onto foam core board.
-Glue each piece into place until the entire air freshener is complete.
-Measure the length of ribbon or string needed and cut accordingly. Sew ends together using thread to create a loop through which strings can be threaded for hanging decoration.
-Hang up new air freshener in the car!
What can you customize?
This is the perfect DIY project for anyone that wants to make their car smell good. There are so many different ways you can customize this project: you could use scented oils, essential oils, or even different fabrics. The sky is the limit to what you want to create. In addition, by making your own air fresheners, it will feel more personalized and special. This project also has endless possibilities as far as what fabrics you want to use, how big or small the design will be, etc. It is easy to go online and find tutorials for this project, but if you don’t have time to search through them all, here are some helpful websites
If you want something quick and simple (or don’t have any fabric) then try using an old t-shirt. It might not be as fancy as other designs but if it smells great then who cares? If you do have access to different fabrics then get creative with what colours or patterns you use. You can also try using oilcloth instead of cotton; oilcloth lasts longer than cotton because cotton eventually starts to break down over time due to exposure to heat, sunlight, pollution, and moisture in the air.
Materials
-Two paint colours of choice.
-Thin bristled paintbrush.
-Cardboard, size of choice (I used an old cereal box).
-Tape to tape the cardboard together.
-Ruler or straight edge to draw lines on the cardboard.
-Pencil to trace the lines you’ve drawn on the cardboard onto the cardboard itself.
You can erase pencil marks by rubbing them with a paper towel or rubbing them with salt water (for permanent marks). Then, if desired, add any other shapes or designs in your two favourite paint colours to make it as personalized as possible! Once everything is dry, carefully cut out the shape of your design from the taped cardboard. You may need to fold the shape in half if it’s very long so that it will fit into a standard kitchen zip-lock bag. After cutting out all shapes from the taped cardboard and folding each one in half for storing purposes, place them inside their respective zip lock bags. Make sure there are no folds in any of these shapes because they will be turned into car air fresheners once attached to clothespins that hang off of one side of an open window while driving around town in order to create a fresh scent while you drive.
main photo: unsplash.com/Luigi Manga
