I know, crazy right? Do people still USE incense? Heck yes, they do – Us included now.

It all started on a recent camping trip with two good friends of ours – When we got to the camp site and pitched our tents, the two of them whipped out a couple sticks of incense to help freshen the musty smell of their tent’s interior. Pretty soon, we were surrounded by the earthy, soothing scent of the incense and I remember talking about how we needed to jump on the bandwagon and get some of our own when we got home.

Fast forward a week or two more, and our friends gifted us two boxes – I guess my exclamations over getting reaquainted with the stuff at the camp site were loud enough to inspire a gift idea. I was SO excited. (Thanks, Ashley!!!)

While I enjoyed my fair share of incense throughout college, my matching holder has since been lost in the midst of countless moves from one apartment to the next. So, as per usual, I focused my mental energies on brainstorming ways to DIY something with supplies that we already had on hand. The answer actually came a lot faster than I had anticipated.

This gorgeous, hand-honed piece of wood came from my dad after requesting some tree trunk slices for DIY coasters (chatted about here). I L-O-V-E the exposed bark and the oiled tree rings, but wasn’t quite sure what we could use it for other than the intended coaster. But it was just one of those things where, as soon as I started pondering things I could use for an incense holder, this little slice of tree was my lightbulb moment. The right length, the right width, FREE and a material that I could drill through. Done and done.

All I had to do was ask John (very nicely, of course) to use his power drill to bore a tiny hole through the wood at an angle, that way our sticks of incense could lean over the wood and deposit its ashes on IT rather than our countertops. As you can see below, it was one of those wild times when my hair-brained idea actually worked.

It’s a little quirky and maybe even a little weird, but I totally love the look of it and the house smells sooooooo good when the incense is burning. I think it’s because it takes me back to the good old days of my carefree, responsibility-free teenage years (oddly enough, right around the time that John and I were high school buds and had NO idea what was in store for us in the future).

We can’t possibly be the only ones who still like incense right? What do you guys think? Sometimes I get the feeling that people either love the stuff or hate it. Whether or not you guys want to join Team Incense AND Team Traditional (thanks for everyone’s support on that, by the way!), we are definitely fans for life.

Have a great weekend!