Picked up a couple of gel bead air fresheners at Dollar Tree the other day.  Great scents so decided to get more…then stopped to think:  Hey, I bought over 100 of those little packets of soil beads you soak in water for plants and cut flowers (was thinking hydroponics).  Had been on the clearance cart long enough to grow whiskers so I said I’d take them all if the price were right.  Here’s what I did (super fast and easy!):

I used over a tablespoon of fragrance oil in an 8 oz jar (I wanted it strongly scented) and added one drop of cheap dish soap (you don’t want the fancy stuff here ’cause you do not want suds).  Why add soap?  You will be adding water and oil, which won’t mix on their own, but one drop of soap starts the party!  I added about 7 ½ oz of distilled water and food color paste (but any food color would work – or none at all), then very gently stirred, being careful to mix well, but not make suds.  Then I dumped in the beads!  That’s all!  Of course, I seem to have underestimated how much water these puppies could absorb and ended up splitting the beads into a few containers.  And I keep adding more!  I wanna get something pumpkin pie scented tomorrow and make a Fall collection.  I have a huge number of Mason jars; they have decorative cut-out lids which might be something to check into, if you’re going for a more professional look.