DIY Customized Car Air Freshener

Have you ever made something WRONG and ended up with something better than you expected? Even if the end product is not even close to what was planned. That happened to me and I ended up with an awesome homemade car air freshener. But this customized car air freshener was originally supposed to be tee shirts!

I got a quote to have one adult tee and two kids tees made. Maybe it’s because I didn’t want a large number of shirts or something but the company wanted $100 dollars for three tee shirts.

Yeah, that wasn’t a smart buy for me but I really wanted branded shirts.

So I went to the craft store.

There were plain tees on sale at Jo Ann Fabrics for under five bucks each. I got iron transfer paper.  I love Jo Ann’s because they take competitor coupons so I always print out online coupons for craft stores and use my Jo Ann’s app to get big savings.

I made a cute plain shirt for the kids and I with my URL on the back.

Then I looked at the shirt I made for Pork Chop and realized the URL was upside down. (When you craft with kids around and have to tell them a hundred times to stay far away from the iron and then have to explain that even though they’ve never seen me use one, we do, in fact, own an iron, you are bound to make mistakes every now and then.)

Pork Chop then comforted me by saying, “It’s ok, Mommy. I really didn’t want to wear a shirt with “Gym. Craft. Laundry. on it. I really liked “Scruggbug Corner” better.”

Sigh 

Anyway, I decided to make something useful out of my mistake.

The front logo came out great and I am still in love with my new brand…

So I decided to make a car air freshener with it. Wouldn’t that be the first thing you would think of when messing up a shirt?

Besides I could use the whole shirt and make air fresheners for everyone I know! (Merry Christmas! Your car stinks!)

Actually, they would make great scented ornaments if you use a pine scented oils.  (You can get small essential oil vials for crafting at JoAnns or Michaels.)

I can print an Elsa picture onto transfer paper and use it to make a closet air freshener for Pea.  Drop it in my gym bag to keep my clothes fresh.  The possibilities are endless!

Materials for DIY Air Freshener: 

• Old tee shirt
• white glue
• piece of cardboard
• a dropperful of essential oil or aromatherapy oil of your choice.
• ribbon
• hot glue
• iron
• scissors
• iron transfer paper

Instructions:

Print your picture on the transfer paper according to their directions.  *Tip:  Print with the “best quality” and “photo paper” settings. If you really really want a Gym. Craft. Laundry. freshener click here for a template 😉  Make one for everyone you know who drives around in a stinky car or needs some stress relief aromatherapy during their commute.

Iron onto the old shirt.

Cut out both the picture and a piece of cloth for the back.

Cut out a piece of cardboard approximately a quarter inch smaller than the picture.

Drip the essential oil (I used Lavender for it’s stress relieving properties and because it’s my favorite scent) into the cardboard along the sides.

Glue the fabric on the front and back of the cardboard.

Use a glue gun to close the sides if needed and to glue on the ribbon so you can hang it from your rear view mirror.

Done!

I prefer this one to my earlier version of car freshener because it doesn’t take up valuable cupholder space.