Perfect Pine Pouches

     I was at her house this weekend when my grandmother took down her Christmas tree. She still gets a real tree every year, and I have to admit it does smell wonderful. For us the smell isn't enough of a trade off for some of the other considerations when it comes to real trees. We prefer fake trees because there are no needles to sweep or vacuum up, our cats can't climb the plastic and metal "trunk", we don't have to kill a living organism, it is significantly less expensive than a new $35-$85 tree every year, and (though it's a stretch, sure) we are keeping, just maybe, a little more oxygen out there for all of us to breathe. But, yeah, I do love that smell.

    

     My simple solution is to steal her pine needles and make pine pouches. There are about a billion different names for the bags stuffed with pine needles and/or potpourri. I call mine: pine pouches because it's simple and there's no mistaking what they are. From her tree, I collected about half of a gallon size bag of needles.

    

      I already had a few pouches made, but they are simple enough to make if you don't. All you would need is two pieces of fabric of the same size and shape, sew them together, leave a stuffing spot, and hand sew up the hole when you're done. Don't panic if you don't know how to sew. For an even easier solution, stuff the pine needles into one of the random "solo socks" that you have kicking around and tie a knot in the top. It's a great re-pupose of a sock that would otherwise be thrown out or sit lonely forever, AND if you do find the sock's mate, you just empty out the needles.

     I like to put my pouches in our sock drawers and in my linen/towel closets. They keep the areas that would maybe get musty so clean and fresh smelling! I love it!! They also work great as car fresheners, just put it on the dash or in the console.

     These are so easy to make, if you go with the sock it will take all of 5 minuets. Re-purposing and recycling all the components makes it free or dang cheap!

Here's to fresh smelling socks, towels and cars.

Simple City Sam.