Scented Pine Cones with Essential Oils

I love the scented pinecones you can buy during the holiday season, but did you know you can easily make your own, with essential oils, for practically free?

To make scented pinecones, you’ll need:

PINECONES, collect them from pine trees or purchase them from a craft store (I’d really recommend collecting them!)

ESSENTIAL OILS- cinnamon, clove, orange, or your favorite warm scent combination (we also have some great pre-made holiday blends at the store)

parchment paper or heavy-duty foil

sheet pan

plastic bag (gallon size)

a pretty basket or container for your pinecones

See the entire recipe and directions at the Stone Gable Blog.

Fall Essential Oil Blend for the Home

This month I wanted to share our favorite fall essential oil blend. We always get compliments when we’ve used it at the store! This combination of oils smells extremely comforting and is perfect for the chilly, dreary days of fall.

How many drops you use in your diffuser is entirely up to you, and can be increased or decreased depending on how strong of a scent you prefer.

Generally, in a diffuser at home, I use 8-10 drops, though at the store we’ll often use 13-15 drops at once since it’s a large, open room.

IN YOUR DIFFUSER, DROP IN EQUAL AMOUNTS OF:

ORANGE ESSENTIAL OIL

PATCHOULI ESSENTIAL OIL

CLOVE ESSENTIAL OIL

CINNAMON BARK ESSENTIAL OIL*

Patchouli sometimes has a bad stereotype associated with it, but it adds creaminess and depth to other essential oils. The scent of patchouli is also relaxing as well as mood-boosting. It’s actually one of my favorite oils.

Orange oil is also a nice mood-boosting essential oil. Increase the amount of orange in this recipe for a brighter, cheerier blend.

Clove and cinnamon bark essential oils are fantastic spice oils that have a warming effect on the body. Both of these spice oils also have antibacterial properties and are effective against airborne bacteria when diffused into the air. 

Other ideas are to trade lemon oil for the orange oil in this recipe or to add a drop of anise or nutmeg oil for a slightly different blend. The possibilities are endless. The more you use this blend, the more familiar you will be with the scents of the different oils and what your own preferences are. Also, if you make it too strong or with too much of an ingredient and you don’t like it, just dump it out and start again. An ounce of essential oil has thousands of drops, so it’s no problem to start over. 

*For a less expensive option than cinnamon bark oil, you can use cinnamon cassia (we have both at the store). Cinnamon cassia is made from the bark, leaves, and twigs of the cinnamon tree rather than just the bark. Cinnamon cassia can be used interchangeably with cinnamon bark oil, it just isn’t as pure of a cinnamon scent (but it still smells great!).

Spiced Vanilla Sugar Scrub

This sugar scrub smells like fall and is a great way to moisturize and exfoliate your skin!   

Ingredients:

1 Cup Coconut Oil

2 Cups Raw or Granulated Sugar (or both)

1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Ginger

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

1/8 tsp Clove

Note: feel free to add a bit of orange or patchouli essential oil to further enhance this recipe!

See the entire recipe and directions at Sanctuary Home Decor.

Our Favorite Fall Essential Oil Blends

This month I wanted to share our favorite fall essential oil blend. We use it in our diffuser all the time at work and always get compliments!  This combination of oils smells extremely comforting and is perfect for the chilly, dreary days of fall.

How many drops you use in your diffuser is entirely up to you, and can be increased or decreased depending on how strong of a scent you prefer.

Generally, in a diffuser at home, I use 8-10 drops, though at the store we’ll often use 13-15 drops at once since it’s a large, open room.

IN YOUR DIFFUSER, DROP IN EQUAL AMOUNTS OF:

ORANGE ESSENTIAL OIL

PATCHOULI ESSENTIAL OIL

CLOVE ESSENTIAL OIL

CINNAMON BARK ESSENTIAL OIL

Patchouli sometimes has a bad stereotype associated with it, but it adds creaminess and depth to other essential oils. The scent of patchouli is also relaxing as well as mood-boosting. It’s actually one of my favorite oils.

Orange oil is also a nice mood-boosting essential oil. Increase the amount of orange in this recipe for a brighter, cheerier blend.

Clove and cinnamon bark essential oils are fantastic spice oils that have a warming effect on the body. Both of these spice oils also have antibacterial properties and are effective against airborne bacteria when diffused into the air.

Other ideas are to trade lemon oil for the orange oil in this recipe, or to add a drop of anise or nutmeg oil for a slightly different blend. The possibilities are endless.

Holiday Lip Balm with Essential Oils

I am a lip balm fanatic, and love DIY recipes, so this is a great recipe for making a holiday themed lip balm! If you’ve never made lip balm, it’s very simple and economical too- one recipe makes a LOT of lip balm, so it’s perfect for gift giving. We sell all the necessary ingredients and lip balm tubes at the store. You can use your own combinations of essential oils, but one that I really like is with our Christmas Eve essential oil recipe blend.

This recipe made a little over 13 tubes of lip balm.

Ingredients:
1 1oz. bar of beeswax
3 tbs. coconut oil
3 tbs. cocoa butter (or shea butter) 

Essential oils:
25 drops spearmint essential oil
20 drops lavender essential oil
15 drops balsam fir needle essential oil
15 drops vanilla essential oil (optional)

Ingredient note: Previously I’ve used 4 tbs. each of coconut oil and cocoa butter, though I used 3 tbs. this time for a harder, waxier balm.  If you’d prefer a softer lip balm, increase the amounts of coconut and cocoa butter (you may want to add a few extra drops of essential oils as well if increasing the recipe)

Essential oil note: I don't like very strongly flavored/scented lip balms, so if you do you may want to increase the amount of essential oils by a few drops each. 

Directions:
For a complete instructional rundown with pictures, see our lavender vanilla lip balm recipe post.

Prepare your ingredients and open all lip balm containers so the liquid beeswax mixture can be quickly poured and easily filled before it starts to harden.

Melt beeswax in a double boiler.  If you don’t have a double boiler (like me!) you can use a small bowl in a pot of water.  Once the beeswax is melted, add the coconut oil and cocoa butter.

Pure cocoa butter is hard, so I found it easiest to scrape the cocoa butter with a spoon in its jar and then pouring the shavings it into my measuring spoon.

Stir ingredients with a metal spoon until melted.

Once all the ingredients are melted, let cool slightly before adding the essential oils.  If desired, you can separate the recipe into halves before adding the essential oils if you’d like to make more than one flavor.

Note: I would advise using a Pyrex or something with a spout to pout the melted mixture.  I tried using pipettes, but found that just pouring the beeswax mixture into the lip balm tubes was the easiest, since the mixture started solidifying in the pipette before I could fill all the containers.

Holiday Essential Oil Blend Recipes

The following blends are wonderful room scents to use during the holiday season.  The easiest way to use them is in a diffuser (we have four different essential oil diffusers available at the store) that uses ultrasonic vibrations to create a fine aromatherapy mist.  

These holiday blends can also be used as a room spray with water in an atomizer (we have empty glass spray bottles available at the store) or in lotions or any number of DIY beauty products.

The oil concentrations below are appropriate for a diffuser, though you can increase or decrease the amount of oil based on your preference and how strong you want it to smell.

Holiday Spice Blend

This blend is one of my favorites for the holidays.  We frequently have it in the diffuser at the store and I always get compliments on it.  Now only does it smell great, but cinnamon, clove, and lemongrass have strong antibacterial qualities and orange oil is fantastic for boosting mood and reducing anxiety.

4 drops cinnamon bark essential oil
3 drops clove essential oil
3 drops orange essential oil
1 drop lemongrass essential oil (optional)

Peace and Harmony Blend

Patchouli is my favorite smelling oil- it's rich and comforting.  It is also an oil that improves with age, so hiding an extra bottle in the back of a drawer is not a bad idea.  Patchouli is also a very calming and centering oil, that combines with the scent and benefits of orange oil wonderfully. 

4 drops patchouli essential oil
4 drops vanilla essential oil
3 drops orange essential oil

Pomander Blend

4 drops orange essential oil
4 drops clove essential oil
2 drops vanilla essential oil (optional)

Yuletide Blend

4 drops balsam fir needle essential oil
4 drops tangerine or orange essential oil
2 drops pine essential oil
1 drops anise essential oil

Christmas Eve Blend

3 drops lavender essential oil
3 drops vanilla essential oil
3 drops balsam fir essential oil
1 drop spearmint essential oil

Royal Peace Blend

Myrrh and frankincense were the gifts brought to the baby Jesus by the wise men.  Myrrh helps to reduce stress and frankincense is purifying and is frequently used in meditation blends, so the combination is perfect for the season as well as anytime you need some extra peace and tranquility.  

4 drops myrrh essential oil
4 drops frankincense essential oil

Enchanted Forest Blend

This combination of oils is very evocative of a winter forest, and is a fantastic Christmas Tree scent.  

5 drops balsam fir needle essential oil
3 drops atlas cedar essential oil
2 drops cedarwood essential oil
2 drops pine needle essential oil

Sweet Relaxation Blend

5 drops lemon essential oil
2 drops patchouli essential oil
1 drop clove essential oil

Candy Cane Blend

4 drops peppermint
5 drops vanilla

Comfort and Relaxation Blend

5 drops vanilla
4 drops lavender