If you have a couple of hours on your hands, how about whipping up a few tiny balsam pillows? I toss mine in my daily carry-all and smell a little bit of forest all day.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
1 - fabric, scissors to cut it, ruler to measure it (or go wild and eyeball it)2 - balsam fir pine needles3 - some thread and a needle (sewing machine not totally required, but will get you a lot of pillows much faster)
1 fabric
Harvest scraps from your scrap pile or even order quilt scraps on etsy. 100% Cotton is nice and quilt weight will let the pine-y aroma flow! You'll want to make sure the weave isn't too loose, or else you might have needles escaping the pillow. If you have a fabric scrap pile, get creative with what's lying around.
2 balsam needles
Not everyone has access to fresh needles, but thankfully you can find them at Paine Products online, and also the Vermont Country Store (go ahead and grab a pair of the coziest socks while you're there). If you have fresh needles, use heavy duty scissors to chop into 1/2" pieces. You should be able to fill two 4" x 4" pillows with one pound of needles :) Using fresh needles will smell great, but keep in mind, they will shrink a bit as they dry- so jam those needles into every nook and cranny of your pillow.
3 sewing stuff
These pillows are pretty easy to customize but we're wanting something square, and on the smaller side so that we can gift a handful of pillows. Cut two squares of fabric to sew together, 5" x 5". Place together right side in and sew three sides together, leaving a couple inches open on your fourth side to pour the balsam needles in to. Put as many needles in there as you can if you want a plump pillow. Hand sew the opening shut on your full pillow and smile.
love, hillary