Projects
Lavender Wands
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| Lavender Wands |
You will need:
fresh blossoming lavender stems
3 to 5 yards of 1/4" satin ribbon in soft pastel colors
thread to match
straight pins
toothpicks
Instructions:
1. Pick 13 to 19 stems, always use an uneven number. Pick the lavender in mid-to-late morning when the dew is off the flowers and the sun has not yet broiled the fragrance into the wind. The stems and flowers must be used immediately or they will break.
2. Tie the blossoms securely together with a thread or sturdy rubber band.
2. Tie the blossoms securely together with a thread or sturdy rubber band.
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| Lavender Wand Step 2 |
3. Hold the blossoms with your left hand with the stems upward.
4. Bend the stems down, one by one, very carefully, to form a parasol or umbrella.
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| Lavender Wand Step 4 |
5. Place the ribbon (the length depends on how many stems are used), satin side up, under your left thumb, and hold it securely on top of the blossoms.
6. Weave the ribbon in and out of the stems in a basket weave for two or three rows.
7. Bend the stems down over the flowers. Now the ribbon will look messy. Simply take a toothpick or crochet hook and tighten the ribbon until a neatly woven effect is achieved. Don't pull so tight that the stems stain the ribbon.
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| Lavender Wand Step 6 |
8. Continue weaving the ribbon in and out until the blossoms are covered.
9. When you have 4 or 5 inches of woven stems, wrap the ribbon around the stems and secure with a pin.
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| Lavender Wand Step 8 |
11. The stems will shrink while drying. Trim the ends even. Neaten appearance with toothpick as before. Wrap remaining ribbon around stems and secure with matching thread. A bow may be tied at either or both ends of the stems.
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| Finished Lavender Wand |
Ingredients:
2 1/2 inch metal cookie cutter heart
3" x 6" sheet of Styrofoam, 1/4 to 1/2 inches thick
Tacky glue
1 1/2 cups dried lavender flowers
Dried flowers and herbs including small dried rosebuds
2 greening pins (available at crafts stores and florists' suppliers)
1 yard 1/8 to 1/4 inch wide satin ribbon
Lavender essential oil
Instructions:
1. With the cookie cutter, cut a pair of hearts from the Styrofoam.
2. Completely coat the Styrofoam hearts with tacky glue.
3. Cover the glue with lavender buds.
4. Let dry.
5. Glue a tiny arrangement of dried flowers and rosebuds (symbolizing love) to the front of each heart.
6. With greening pins, fasten one end of the ribbon to the cleft of each heart.
7. Add a bit of lavender essential oil to the hearts.
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| Lavender Bags |
Ingredients:
24 inches of narrow, flat, white or ecru lace
7-inch circle of matching lace fabric
Needle and thread to match
4-inch circle of thin, plain white fabric
1/8 cup dried lavender flowers
15 inches of narrow satin or picot, blue or lavender ribbon
Instructions:
1. Stitch the flat lace around the edge of the lace circle, using a basting stitch. (Don't bother to turn under an edge.)
2. Place the plain fabric circle in the center of the lace, on the wrong side.
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| Just a Couple Spoonfuls Should Do |
4. Gather the edges and tie with ribbon right at the edge of the inner fabric circle.
5. Adjust the bow and pull the lace edges to form a tight bundle with a fan-shaped ruffle.
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| Lace Lavender Bag |
6. If you are making a lot of these, push the circles into the indentations in an egg carton when you are filling them.
7. Each sachet takes less than 10 minutes if you cut several circles together.
Lavender Bird Cage
Making the wreaths for this project is the most important part. How you ultimately decorate it is up to you!
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| Lavender Wreath Base |
Instructions:
1. Pick lavender when the blossoms first start to flower and plan to work on the project immediately, while the plant material is still fresh and pliable.
2. You will need to make two wreaths.
3. For each, pick three handfuls of lavender stems approximately 8 inches in length.
4. Lay the stems in a line, overlapping each by 1 inch.
5. Beginning at one end, tightly wrap nylon fishing cord around the lavender.
6. When you come to the end, form the piece into a circle by overlapping the beginning and the end by 2 inches.
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| Adding Bulk to the Wreath |
7. Continue wrapping the cord to fasten the ends securely together.
8. Make another wreath the same size (about 6 inches in diameter). They never turn out exactly the same and the wreaths are pliable, so you don't have to worry about making one smaller than the other in order to fit them together. You can make them in any size, depending on the amount of lavender you use.
9. Next, put one wreath inside the other, and wire them together at the top and bottom.
10. Attach loops of narrow satin picot ribbon at the bottom.
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| Finished Wreath--You Need to Make 2 of These |
10. Attach loops of narrow satin picot ribbon at the bottom.
11. Attach a bow and hanger fashioned from wider stain picot ribbon at the top.
12. Make a nest out of German statice and place it within the "cage".
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| Real Hummingbird Nest for Scale |
The fragrance is wonderful, especially when a breeze drifts through!
Photo Credits: Lavender Wands: Photo credit: jamsjoys via VisualHunt / CC BY-ND; Lavender Wand Step 2: Photo credit: nodigio via Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-ND; Lavender Wand Step 4: Photo credit: nodigio via Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-ND; Lavender Wand Step 6: Photo credit: nodigio via Visual hunt / CC BY-NC-ND; Lavender Wand Step 8: Photo credit: lilyrothrock via Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA; Finished Lavender Wand: Photo credit: nodigio via Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC-ND; Lavender Covered Hearts: Photo credit: tericee via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA; Lavender Bags: Photo credit: ripplestone garden via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-ND; Lavender in leaf shaped Dish: Photo credit: eppujensen via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA; Lace Lavender Sachet: Photo credit: Bellafaye Garden via Visual Hunt / CC BY; Lavender Wreath Construction: Photo Credits: Anna Patricia Designs from http://annapatriciadesigns.blogspot.com/2010/08/lavender-wreath.html; Real Hummingbird Nest: Photo credit: Alex Popovkin, Bahia, Brazil via Visualhunt.com / CC BY; Lavender and Towels: Photo credit: ZenKitty /Babushka via VisualHunt / CC BY-NC
Today's adventure is a fun one. I had to prune back a rosemary bush in my garden, so I decided to use the trimmed sprigs to make a fragrant and beautiful wreath, instead of just throwing them away.
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| Rosemary Ball After Pruning |
Today's adventure is a fun one. I had to prune back a rosemary bush in my garden, so I decided to use the trimmed sprigs to make a fragrant and beautiful wreath, instead of just throwing them away.
First, you need to collect a few simple items. A grocery bag full (or nearly full) of rosemary branches is a good place to start. These should be 6 to 8 inches long for the most part. You can use shorter
ones when you are filling in, though. You will also need some 22 gauge floral wire and a scissors to cut it. It is a good idea to use paddle wire so you can cut off the lengths of wire you need.
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| All You Need to Make the Wreath |
You need to be sure to use VERY fresh cut rosemary for this project to work. I cut it off and went directly inside to get to work on the wreath. If the rosemary has been sitting out or even in water for more than an hour, it will start to dry slightly and will lose its flexibility. This flexibility is absolutely necessary or you won't be able to bend the rosemary into the wreath shape.
First, start by binding a few strips of the rosemary together. Take three sticks of the rosemary and a piece of wire that is about 18 inches long. Wrap some of the wire around the bottom half inch of the rosemary to start your base. Make sure it is very tight, because the rosemary will shrink as it dries once it is in the wreath form. Take another three pieces and lay those on top of the other three, but about two inches from the tips of the first three. Bind these with the wire. Take three more pieces and do the same thing, two inches or so down from the tips of the second bunch.
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| First Few Sprigs Bound Together |
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| Next Sprig Laid on top of First Bunch |
Continue doing this, while at the same time bending the rosemary slightly each time you bind more on. How long to make the chain? It just depends on how much rosemary you have and how big a wreath you want. I usually end up with a wreath about 12 inches in diameter when I am finished. At this point, though, your wreath may look much smaller than that because it is so skinny and flimsy.
Once the wreath is the size you want, bind the final pieces together to the original ones you started with. You should now have your base form, even though it may not yet be a perfect circle. It will probably look a little "squashy" shaped right now. Don't worry, you will fix that in a minute. The wire should be completely visible at this stage and it should look just kind of floppy and like I said before, flimsy.
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| Finished Flimsy Wreath Base |
So the next step will be to bulk it all up. Start with at least three more pieces of the rosemary, and lay them over your original three pieces. Bind these onto your base with the wire. You don't need to bind these bunches quite as tightly as the first base circle, but it should still be pretty tight or it won't hold together. Do the same process as above, but this time you are just trying to basically make your base thicker and more substantial. When you have gone around the entire circle again, you should have a nice full base that is fairly solid and holds its circular shape.
Now comes the fun part. At this point, you still have a lot of visible wire and even though the wreath
holds its shape better, it is still not finished. From here on out, you will basically be stuffing stems of rosemary under the wire wraps to cover up several other places where the wire wraps around the base. Use long pieces and short pieces and stuff them in all around the base.
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| Ready for "Plumping Up"--Wreath is Round, but Wires Still Visible |
When you finish this process, your wreath should be in an actual round shape. The end fullness of the wreath is up to you, but ideally the sides should be about three inches or more across. The thicker the sides, the longer your wreath will last. Continue stuffing in more and more stems until your wreath is the size, thickness, and shape you want. You should be able to pull slightly on the wreath without it falling apart. It should also feel fairly heavy because of all the rosemary you have put in it. You should not be able to see any of the wire when you finish.
You can add a ribbon, or a bow, or if you want, stuff in some flowers around the wreath. You can wire their stems into the wire that is still visible on the back of the wreath. Or, as I prefer, just hang it up without any additional decoration. The natural wreath by itself is so beautiful, I just don't care to detract from that. However, as it dries, if I haven't tied the wire tight enough, I will add some embellishment then, even if it is just wrapping the wreath with some raffia, just to make it last a little longer. The scent doesn't stop, no matter what.
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| Finished Rosemary Wreath |
This is a very simple herbal project that is easy and quick to make. I have been making them for years and I just love to have them hanging around my kitchen as well as the rest of the house. You can also keep it fresh by putting it in a bag in the refrigerator for a day or two, so that you can give it to a friend, if you'd like. Rosemary represents purification, protection and mental powers so it is a wonderful gift to give to someone for their own home. Or just keep it to boost your own spirits, like I did!
When the wreath is all dried out--give it about a week or maybe two to dry, depending on the humidity in your area--you still have all the rosemary to use in cooking! Make sure it is dry before you take the wreath apart and strip the leaves from the branches, or it will mold in the jar. The wreath will start to drop its leaves once it is dry. This wreath yielded an absolutely FULL pint of dried rosemary leaves in a Mason Jar. Mark the jar with a label showing the name of the herb (Rosemary) and the date to ensure freshness in use. (Use within a year to ensure freshness.)
When the wreath is all dried out--give it about a week or maybe two to dry, depending on the humidity in your area--you still have all the rosemary to use in cooking! Make sure it is dry before you take the wreath apart and strip the leaves from the branches, or it will mold in the jar. The wreath will start to drop its leaves once it is dry. This wreath yielded an absolutely FULL pint of dried rosemary leaves in a Mason Jar. Mark the jar with a label showing the name of the herb (Rosemary) and the date to ensure freshness in use. (Use within a year to ensure freshness.)
Give this project a try and let me know how it turns out!
Peace and love always,
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| Finished Rosemary Wreath |
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