Potpourri and Spice Mini Wreaths Recipes and Photos!

Really You Have What It Takes To Do These Wreaths!

Bought This Lavender Potpourri for Less than $3 at T.J.Maxx!

I Have Been Using This Glue Forever!

Don't Forget A Spatula or Something to Get The Wreaths Out!

Just Hit the Heck Out of the Cinnamon Sticks and Nutmeg!

One Bag of Potpourri Makes Three Wreaths in Two Recipes and Two Recipes of Spices Makes Four Wreaths!

This Wreath is Ready to Jump Out of the Mold, But Don't Forget to Release the Middle Part!

So Just Like Goldilocks, We Have a Big, Medium and Small Choice!

The Spice Wreaths Are Still Pretty Wet!

So if you remember back to Wednesday's post, I showed you my very favorite Christmas book by Marge Clark.

In case you missed here it is again.  I am in the habit this time of year of trying to come up with something new and different that has an herbal theme and Marge (RIP) Clark has never disappointed me whether in recipes for cooking or crafting.  I wrote about it for Herb Companion now Mother Earth Living five years ago!  Here is the link again.  It is called My Favorite Christmas Thyme Book and Spice Wreaths: Part 2 

Just check out the link to make sure I didn't forget to tell you something important!  So here is what I did.

1.  I used the $2.99 bags of potpourri that I found in T.J. Maxx that had been laying around.  The prettier the potpourri the better.

2.  Marge talks about using a donut cutter which I didn't have, but I thought my mom's jello molds that she used in her bridge club days would do.  I think they work perfectly!  Again she talked about 2-1/2" to 3" for the molds and mine were 3-1/2".

3.  I lined my surface with wax paper.  It seemed to work best for me.

4.  THIS STEP IS MANDATORY FOR BOTH KINDS OF WREATHS:  You must use a cooking spray or butter or margarine to oil the molds.  That will ensure once the wreath is done and after six hours or an overnight of drying, you can unmold it easily.

5.  Then take a cottage cheese carton (I use two 24 oz. cartons, one for each kind.)  Mix a tablespoon of water and white glue together.  As you can see I use Elmer's.  You can use whatever kind of glue you like.  The white glue does dry clear in the end so don't worry if it is white when you unmold them.

6.  Add a cup of potpourri or spices (I will give you my mixture of spices that I used later.) to the glue/water mix and mix with a plastic iced tea spoon.  I like that because it gets down into the mixture and mixes it up and it is easy to clean.

7.  Then pack your molds with the potpourri or spice mixture pressing down as you go around the mold and if there is glue left in the bottom of the carton, pour it around the top of the mixture in the mold.

8.  Let them stand for six hours at a minimum and preferably overnight.

9.  Next day, take a butter knife or baby spatula and carefully go around both inside and outside of the mold to release it and turn it out on the wax paper to dry for a couple more days, turning them every so often and then use essential oil for the potpourri wreaths because the glue will take away some of its scent.  The potpourri ones I made have lavender and rose.  So I will either use lavender or rose scent to enhance them.  And of course ribbon.  I will show you the finished products as soon as they are dry!

FOR THE SPICE MIXTURE:  I used 1/4 cup each of whole cloves and allspice and 3 cinnamon sticks and 3 nutmegs put in a freezer bag and hit with a hammer until they are smashed to your satisfaction, along with an additional teaspoon of cinnamon.  It gives you about one cup of spices that you mix with the glue/water mix that goes into two molds or more if you use a smaller mold.

So I will show you the finished products when done later this week.  I have wired ribbon that I use on the potpourri wreaths and I usually use a gold ribbon for the spice ones.  So Christmas is a week away!  Just ridiculous how time is flying by!  Our weather went from the teens yesterday morning or maybe it was the 20's and an ice storm (about 1/4" on my car) to 60 degrees last night at 11 PM!  And today we are going back into the deep freeze briefly.  After completely melting away, the ice is a thin coat on my car!  That's winter in the 'Burgh!  Hope you are having a fun time whatever you are doing.  Talk to you tomorrow!