…  because it’s good for the soul. And for the proliferation of happy vibes. (After all, who would turn down a chance to frolic in happy?)

And so today, I create: a new blog entry to put an end to my 2-year blogging drought, and a new concoction to spread “happy” in the home. Specifically, my bed, which is my favorite place in our house (which also happens to be my kids’ favorite place to loll around in. Come to think of it, perhaps there’s a connection there, because it always makes me happy to know my kids still think it’s cool to hang around their parents. So you bet I’m milking it for all it’s worth).

So anyway, back to the bed. It gets a lot of workout, with kids lying on it all the time… with their books, with their gadgets, with their zzz’s. And there’s nothing more awesome than lying on a fresh, clean-smelling, cool bed.

So today, I took out my new “toy” that I’ve been going slightly nuts over (read: Young Living Essential Oils)… and made this!

In case you want to try your hand at making your own mattress and pillow refresher, here’s how to do it:

What You’ll Need:

• an empty glass bottle with a tin cap
• tools for piercing holes into the cap
• baking soda
• vinegar (for cleaning a recycled bottle)
• your choice of essential oils
• a bowl to mix it all in
• a fork to mix it with

I’ve been looking for a tin shaker can, but since I haven’t been successful searching for that in the right size—and also because I get a thrill out of recycling stuff that would otherwise just be thrown out—I found an old 8-oz bottle that looked like it could hold a cup of baking soda without trouble. Joy!

Now you’re going to want to get that bottle nice and clean as new, with no leftover smells from whatever food it contained, so this is the way to do that:

Recycling Old Bottles into New

1. Wash the bottle thoroughly. (My glass bottle was clean to begin with, but I wanted it extra clean. Yes, I can be finicky that way, heh).
2. Pour a tiny bit of vinegar into the bottle (about 2 tablespoons). Twist on the cap, shake for about 3 minutes, and then pour the vinegar out.
3. Then fill about a third of the bottle with baking soda. Add tap water to the brim, put the cap back on, and shake the bottle again for another 3 minutes (or thereabouts).
4. Pour the water with baking soda out, rinse thoroughly with water, and enjoy the clean new-bottle scent! Yay!

I needed to make holes in the metal cap, so I brought out my Making Memories kit (isn’t it so cool how those crafting supplies always come in handy?) and hammered in some holes on the metal lid.

Alrighty! With all that done, we’re now ready to make the mattress and pillow refresher (works on carpets and stuffies, too!).

Mixing Magic

Here’s what I used:

• 1 cup baking soda
• 10 drops Purification
• 5 drops Thieves
• 5 drops Lavender

Mix together thoroughly so that the oil is evenly absorbed into the baking soda.

(I know, the little yellow globs look kinda alien-like and maybe just a wee bit gross, but they could also look like cookie batter balls with a little imagination, so I went with the second option).

When the oils are thoroughly mixed, scoop the “oiled-up” powder into the bottle. (A cup of baking soda fit perfectly in my 8-oz bottle!).

Let the mixture sit for about half an hour, just to make sure that the oils have time to set nicely with the baking soda grains.

While you wait, work on creating a label for your newest creation!

I like to put the ingredients of what I make on my labels (just because my memory cells don’t always play nice when it comes to details like how many drops of which oil). I also like to put in the date when I created a concoction. There isn’t an expiration date for these things normally, but… it’s just a nice-to-know thing, you know?

For those who’d like to use my ready-made label for their own Mattress and Pillow Refresher concoction, you can click on the download link below to grab the label file. You can print it out on virtually any program that works with .jpeg files. The label measures 8 inches by 2.25 inches, and I’ve included two versions: one with the ingredients listed, and another without the ingredients listed (in case you want to make your own concoction).

Here’s what you get when you download:

And if you want to grab the labels for your own personal use (only), then go ahead and click on the download button right here:

How to use the mattress refresher:

It’s really easy!

• Sprinkle the powder over your mattress / pillow / carpet / stuffed toy.
• Allow the powder to settle for about 30 minutes. (And enjoy the delicious scent that spreads not only on your stuff but all throughout your room as well).
• Vacuum the mattress / pillow / carpet / stuffed toy to get all the powder out.
• And you’re done!

When I finished sprinkling the refresher powder liberally all over my mattresses, pillows, carpet and stuffies, my bottle was still practically full and my room smelled heavenly. (To give you an idea of how economical this concoction is, I used it on both a King and a Queen mattress, 16 pillows, 1 carpet, and 2 stuffies).  I had used only about a tenth of the powder… and it did the job really well!

Peter Thiel said, “Every time we create something new, we go from zero to one.”

Well, here’s to score one today! Yay!

Update: And yes, we all had a great sleep that night!