Potpourri is a popular way to add décor and a lovely fragrance to your home. While it’s very easy to find in grocery stores, preparing and mixing your own potpourri is easy and also adds a unique touch to your home that store bought brands can’t match. Follow these simple steps to make easy homemade potpourri for yourself or as a great gift.
- Find the Botanicals
Botanicals are the main component of potpourri. This can be made out of a variety of things, all depending on your personal taste. Some favorites, however, are rose petals, orange peels, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and nutmeg. Although these do carry their own strong aroma, the scents do die out rather quickly. Adding essential oils to boost their fragrance is an inexpensive option to keep the scents lasting longer.
Find Essential Oils on my Young Living site
Of course, the best part about making your own potpourri is that you can add and adjust the botanicals to your preferences. And, you can change these as often as you like! Many people will change the style of their potpourri every season, using botanicals that are available. For example, you can try pine cone potpourri accented with dried berries during the winter season.
- Dry the Botanicals
Once you’ve decided what things you want to use in your potpourri, the next step is to dry the botanicals out. You can do this by laying them out somewhere for a few days or by placing them in the oven at a very low temperature, preferably 100 degrees. If doing an oven drying, which really is the recommended method, be sure to keep a close eye on it. Leaving the door cracked will help excess heat escape, which will lower the chances of the botanicals igniting.
- Pick the Fixative
A fixative is the part of your potpourri that will hold the scent of the essential oil you’ll be using later. Fixatives come in its whole, chopped, or powdered form. Allowing your essential oils to soak into these fixatives will give your potpourri a lasting, stronger fragrance. There are several different types of fixatives you can use, but the most common ones are wood shavings, nutmeg, Orris Root, dried lavender, and cinnamon sticks. However, anything that’s porous can work.
- Prepare the Fixative
Now you get to decide on what kind of essential oil you’ll be using to give your potpourri a scent. Some of the most popular oils for potpourri are cinnamon, orange, ginger, and rose petal. However, as mentioned above, the best part about making your own potpourri is the flexibility it gives you. So, try something new! Once you’ve decided, you should soak your fixative in the oil until it’s been absorbed.
- Blend It and Set It
flower potpourri
When you’ve got your botanicals dried, and your fixative soaked, you’ll want to blend them all together. How much of each botanical you use is up to you. Just make it look the way you want, so it truly is unique. When it’s all mixed, you should keep the mix in a closed bag for a few hours to several days. This will allow the scent to get into the rest of the botanicals and to mellow out into the fragrance it will maintain for the rest of its use.
Now all you have to do is display your beautiful, customized potpourri or present it to a loved one as a thoughtful gift.
