Winter is almost here, but don’t be afraid to hang onto fall until after Thanksgiving! A candlewick room diffuser is a great way to add a seasonal scent to your home and is a simple diffuser that you can make by yourself. Here are a few ideas for fall-scented essential oil blends as well as some winter-scented blends you can try in your diffuser:

Spiced Citrus:

20 drops orange essential oil
10 drops lemon essential oil
15 drops clove essential oil
15 drops cinnamon bark essential oil

Pumpkin Pie Spice:

20 drops cinnamon bark essential oil
10 drops nutmeg essential oil
10 drops clove essential oil
5 drops ginger essential oil

Winter Wonderland:

20 drops orange essential oil
10 drops peppermint essential oil
5 drops frankincense essential oil

Winter Forest:

15 drops wintergreen essential oil
15 drops spruce essential oil
15 drops cypress essential oil

We thought we’d bring the following idea back from the archives since it was so popular when we introduced it a few years back. This fun diffuser is a great way to subtly spread the aroma of your favorite autumn or winter oil blend throughout a room!

Candlewick Room Diffuser

Difficulty: Easy

Materials Needed:

• 2 oz. Dropper Bottle (a 1 oz. Dropper Bottle will also work)
• Candle wicking (This project used unwaxed cotton candle wicking without a central wire. Alternately, a wick for an oil lamp or fiberglass water wicking material could be used. These items can often be found at a craft or floral supply store.)
• Essential oils (You will need about 15–30 ml of your favorite fall essential oil or blend. See diffuser blends above for ideas of creating your own!)
• Jojoba Oil (optional; used to dilute the oil or blend if it is too strong)

Instructions:

1. Remove the dropper cap from the glass bottle.
2. Add 15–30 ml of your desired essential oil or blend to fill the glass bottle about 1/2 way full. Dilute with Jojoba Oil if needed.
3. Cut the wicking material in lengths that are the same as the height of the bottle plus 1″.
4. Carefully remove the glass pipette from the bottom of the dropper cap. Cut the top of the rubber bulb off a little ways above the plastic cap.
5. Push the wick (or wicks) through the hole in the cap until they protrude about 1″ above the top of the cap. If you are using smaller wicks, use several wicks together (we used 5 smaller wicks in the diffuser pictured above).
6. Starting at the top and working your way down, unravel the top 1/2″–3/4″ of the wick, spreading the strands apart from each other. The easiest way we found was to push the end of a paper clip into the wick about 1/16″ from the top and then to pull it upwards to undo the strands above that point. Then move down another 1/16″ and repeat the process until the desired amount is unravelled. This step allows more surface area of the wick to be exposed to the air, allowing the oils to diffuse into the air more efficiently.
7. Place the bottom part of the wick(s) into the bottle with the oil, and screw the dropper cap with the wicks back into place on the top of the bottle.
8. Put the diffuser in a place where it won’t get knocked over easily and there is ample air flow. Allow 15–20 minutes for the oils to soak to the top of the wick, and then enjoy your chosen aroma as it diffuses through the room!

Extra Idea:

To make the autumn leaf arrangement shown above:

• Use this pattern to trace the leaves onto thin sheet metal (craft stores or a home improvement or hardware store are great sources for this).
• Carefully cut the leaves out of the sheet metal using metal sheers (tin snips).
• Paint the leaves as desired (we used a copper and gold metallic finish for the leaves pictured above).
• Paint a 1″x 4″x 12″ board your desired color (for the wooden base).
• When everything has dried, bend the bottom 3/4″ of the stem on each leaf 90 degrees to the back of the leaf. Use a screw or a hot glue gun to attach the leaf to the board in your desired location.
• Cut a 3/4″ strip of sheet metal that is long enough to go around the bottle you used for the diffuser. Wrap the thin strip around the bottle to form a loop, and then fasten the looped metal to the board in your desired location using a hot glue gun. Paint the loop as desired. Place your diffuser in this loop to help keep it in place.

To make this a winter decoration, try cutting snowflakes out of cardstock paper. Brush with a craft glue that dries clear, and sprinkle glitter over the snowflake. Allow to dry, and hang with string above or around the diffuser.