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!  

A Sunny Snowy Herb Garden and Why Snow is Important!

A Beautiful Day in the Herb Garden!

As I have mentioned lots of times the 'Burgh is a pretty gray place in the winter.  This is the second really blue sky day we have had since cold temperatures have set in.  I really love snow in the winter for the insulation factor it gives the herb garden.  For when we have cold winds which will come maybe as soon as tomorrow, the snow covers the plants and protects them from those winds.

We have put an additional special covering on the lemon verbena that is in the ground this year.  I hope that it insulates the plant enough that it will come back in the spring.  We shall see!  Going to be working on some decorative wreaths with old potpourri and spices.  The recipes if you can't wait are on the right hand side at the top of the column.  I just love Marge Clark and her Christmas book is one of my favorites.

Lots of Great Menus for Various Holiday Meals and Crafts!

So hope you are having a great day.  Stay warm if you are going to be in the northern half of the U.S. starting tomorrow!  It is going to be nippy the next few days!  Talk to you tomorrow!

And The Winner Is. . .!

The Old Cheese Making Basket Works Its Magic!

The winner has come forward and claimed her box!  Drum roll please!  The winner of the herbal mystery box for this year is:

                                                      PEGGY (RICCIO)

I added Peggy's last name because I had another PeggyR in the hunt.  Hope you are watching and listening for this announcement.  Please e-mail me as soon as you can with your name and address and I will try to contact you through your blog!  Congratulations!  I also want to say thank you to all who took a chance on my little giveaway.  Your kind remarks are what keep me going and learning about herbs for you and with you!

Has been snowing since late morning here.  So we have snow cover again and the deep freeze is about to hit.  Hope you have had a wonderful day.  I will talk to you tomorrow. 

Down to the Wire, Herbally Speaking!

Our Christmas Tree Decked with Gingerbread Cookies!

Well, plans have changed and we are here putting the winner's box together!  So again you will have until 5:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time today to comment on my original post on my blog and on Facebook to be entered.  One entry per person please.  Then sometime before 6:00 PM, E.S.T., I will announce the winner!  So please stay tuned!  Snow is on the way here.  Sort of glad we had a cancellation!  Talk to you later on!

In My Haste, Herbally Speaking!

A Beautiful Rose Thorns and All!

Really beautiful bee balm Pressed!

A Lovely Rose Bud and Other Roses in Bloom!

Sometimes my haste makes for beautiful items, florally speaking!  As I was undoing my paper towel tower the other day, I came across the beautiful red rose with thorns, a couple of very complete bee balms pressed nicely and various roses, especially the blush colored one and I don't think I grew it!  Oops, senior moment!  The Herbal Husband may be able to remind me where it came from.  It is really senior times here!  He doesn't remember either! Oh, boy, we in big trouble! Hee! Hee!  But we're having fun!  Reviewing photos from earlier this year for my annual calendar and the blush rose was from my talk on Shakespeare's herbs and flowers!  Whew!

So I thought shadow box, but then I would have to spray them and they probably won't last too long even sprayed.  Then I thought about making an old-fashioned scrapbook as they did in Victorian times.  I just had a light bulb moment down in my work space.  I have a bunch of lavender leaves that have dried.  I am going to put those in a glass apothecary jar and place the pressed flowers along the edges of the jar and the lavender leaves will hold the pressed flowers in suspension.

Will Probably Move This Out of Direct Light!

A View From the Top!

 Actually like it a lot!  Lost a few petals and leaves when arranging, but I really like the look.  I had it in a smaller container, but it was too jammed in.  Sort of looks like a dried terrarium from Victorian times!  Never know what I am going to discover in my haste!

Going to be in the deep freeze by the end of the week.  We have lost our snow already.  Only one more day to enter my herbal mystery giveaway.  I am thinking we are going to leave it a mystery except to say there is jam and jelly coming to the lucky winner!  So if you want to leave a comment, click here or go to the upper right hand column of my home page to enter.  Remember 5:00 PM, EST, Tuesday, December 13, 2016 is the deadline.

Continuing the Potpourri Conversation and Getting Crazy with the Boxes!

The Work Table A Little More Cleaned Up!

Annual Mexican Sage Flowers to Add to the Potpourri!

Cuttings from This Year's Gardens!

And the Craziness That is This Time of the Year!

As I think I have mentioned, I always have a tower of paper towels on the herbal work table through the season.  I just clip and pile and sometimes I forget what I have clipped.  I try to write on the paper towel  what is drying but I don't always get very far.  So what happens then is that I just combine all of the leaves and flowers into a container and make potpourri.  I mainly let what is in the box plant wise, dictate what essential oil or fixative I use to give it fragrance.  And you should really use both fixative AND essential oil for long lasting appeal.  A fixative is orris root, sandalwood, frankincense and myrrh and others.  I had forgotten that sweet woodruff dried gives a hint of vanilla in your potpourri and is considered a fixative.

One of my Facebook, master gardener friends and landscape designer extraordinaire, Martha asked for my favorite combinations of materials and scents.  I am sort of boring or maybe traditional is a better word when it comes to potpourri.  I love all of the lemon scented herbs and calendula petals with lemon oil.  I love lavender, thyme, rosemary and rose together with either rose or lavender oil.  I just found a bunch of dried lemon eucalyptus in my herbal stash that smells like Murphy's Oil Soap and depending what else I put into that mix, I might use rosemary oil.  I love pine needles, cones and holly leaves and berries with sweet orange, cinnamon, clove OR pine essential oils.  

These next three ideas are from one of my favorite little booklets called Potpourri Recipes and Crafts by Pat Humphries and Bertha Reppert.  It may still be available from The Rosemary House in Mechanicsburg, PA.

Lemon verbena, lemon balm, lemon grass, lemon thyme, calendula petals that have lemon smells and yellow colors in the petals,  use lemon essential oil.

When you have a lot of rose petals, rose geranium leaves, use a spoonful of cinnamon or clove and rose geranium essential oil.

Lots of different mint leaves, dried red geranium flowers (or holly with berries my addition) with pine essential oil.

For Christmas several years ago, I wrote this post for Mother Earth Living called Simple Holiday Crafts with Herbs and in it described a Woody Seed Mix from Malcolm Hillier's book, Christmas.  It incorporated leaves and twigs and seed heads from plants and even gave it a Christmas feel with cedarwood, pine or cinnamon essential oils.  I am such a stickler for a recipe and having every ingredient, but it really doesn't need to be that difficult.  Use what you have.  It may not look like the photo in a book, but if it is pleasing to look at, it will work.

I also think Martha that as a landscape designer, you should look into the book, Potpourri Making by Margaret Roberts which includes lists of herbs to grow for potpourri but adds lists of climbers, trees and shrubs too.  Something some of your clients may appreciate.

These additional books are a beginning book from Storey Publishing Bulletin A-130 called Making Potpourri by Madeleine H. Siegler and a book on the history of both dry and moist potpourris from Ann Tucker Fettner called Potpourri, Incense and Other Fragrant Concoctions may be helpful to those of you just starting out or want the history.  All of the books described have very good and easy recipes for both dry and moist potpourris. 

Yesterday we had to get organized to start sending our Christmas boxes to our friends.  And getting presents like bay leaves jarred and labeled.  Picking out your jam and jellies for the winning reader's box and selecting various jams and jellies to go all over the U.S.  It is an overwhelming task for The Herbal Husband in packing everything, but I get so much joy out of giving what I make that it is worth it. 

So at this writing, we do have a dusting of snow in the 'Burgh.  I changed my banner photo to reflect the snowy landscape.  We are to have temperatures rising later today and snow will change to rain.  I guess a crazy mix later on.  We are almost at the end of my annual herbal giveaway.  If you would like to participate and you live in the U.S., you must place a comment on this link for the original post by Tuesday, December 13, 2016 at 5:00 P.M., Eastern Standard Time.  There is also a link at the upper right hand portion of my home page to find the original link.  The Herbal Husband said what do you have to blog about now, since the garden is done.  Well, I said to him I would really like to finish my 2016 Trip to England.  Only have four posts out of sixteen done, so will be doing those in the coming days.  Hope you are having a great Sunday.  I need to get upstairs and help with packing boxes!  Talk to you tomorrow! 

This Might Be in the Herbal Mystery Giveaway Box!

Ooh, Looks Like a Bit of Herbal Vinegar for the Winner!

One of the easiest and most festive gifts this time of year or anytime of the year is herbal vinegar.  I used to make a ton of flavors and lots.  Now I only make what I think I can use promptly, herbally speaking.  I'll keep the flavor a secret.  Maybe you have already guessed.  I would use herbal vinegar for, of course, salad dressings, but also they are used in stews and marinades and to deglaze a pan when you are making a sauce.  Here is a link to how easy it is to make herbal vinegar.  Hey I wrote a pretty great post about making herbal vinegar if I do say so myself!  One of my favorite salad dressing books with history on where the dressings came from is by Jim Long.  The Best Dressed Salad is available on his website, Long Creek Herbs.  (This book is just a suggestion.  Not part of the giveaway box.)

One of My Favorite Herbal Authors, Jim Long!

So winter temperatures have hit us and when you aren't used to them, they can bite!  At least there is no snow at the moment.  Hope you are having a great day.  I have a list a mile long to work on.  Soo don't forget if you are a U.S. reader and you are interested in the giveaway, please leave a comment here or on the right side of my homepage.  I will talk to you tomorrow!

An Aromatic Day, Herbally Speaking!

Wow That's A Lot of Bay Leaves!

Well, as I said yesterday, the herbal elves have been busy getting Christmas presents ready for you and friends.  An impressive clipping of bay leaves that had to be placed in jars and labeled by moi!  Thought I was done, wrong!  The Herbal Husband produced another bag today!  What about these?  So after I finish this post it will be back to work on the bay leaf jars!  Here is a link to a post I did when Bay Leaf was the Herb of the Year in 2009!

Old Man Winter has flipped the switch here and it is FREEZING!  No real snow just flurries!  Hope you are having a great day.  I have discovered that we will be out on Tuesday, December 13, 2016 until later in the day.  So we will pick the name late in the day and it will be posted after 6:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time!  Talk to you tomorrow.

Just Enjoying Blue Sky and the Herb Garden!

Just Bask in That Blue Sky!

The Herb Garden is Really Beautiful with Sun!

It must be the holiday season, the kitchen faucet has a drip of epic proportions and The Herbal Husband is determined to fix it!  A man on a mission.  It has always been an adventure with him!  I will do my best to blog every day, but if I miss one, don't worry, I will try to make it up later on in the month.  As I sit here writing, it has already started to cloud up!

So enjoy the one day in Pittsburgh that has a blue sky!  Maybe we will have one more, but not many more until we get into early next year.  We are slowly creeping towards winter.  It will be cold and snow showers the next few days.  Nothing like the upper Midwest, but still a jolt to the senses!

The herbal elves have been busy getting your box ready.  I will be posting a photo of all the parts before it is sent next week.  I think if you are the winner, you will be pleased with the choices.  You must only comment on the giveaway post to be entered.  I will put a link at the top of my homepage on the right hand side for your convenience.  Remember only one entry will be counted to give everyone a fair chance.  Hope you are having a sunny day wherever you may be!  Will talk to you tomorrow!