First, I’d like to apologize for the long silence.
I was waiting for a guest blogger to fill in the space.
My husband wanted to do the Sunday Psalm series on benedictions and blessings throughout the scriptures. So I waited for his input.
He has been so busy that although he kept assuring me he would get it done- well….
So I just kind of went off in another direction and played with lavender this weekend. And I made wands and a pretty candle wreath of thyme and lavender.
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My kitchen smelled wonderful!
And I now have lavender woven into sweet scented wands.
Hmmm, I may need to play with lavender too…
I wish I had time to play with lavender. I’ve got a boat load in my yard that is very quietly going to seed.
Beautiful, Heidi! We’ve started putting lavender in the chicken’s laying box – apparently it helps prevent mites and parasites!
Tell me, what do you do with a lavender wand?
Some people call them lavender bottles- perhaps a better name , because they bottle up the scent and when rolled lightly between the palms, the fragrance of lavender is released. I put them in drawers or with linens to add a gentle scent – one year I hung them on the Christmas tee alongside the tiny herbal wreaths of thyme, sweet woodruff and dusty miller.
They are of Elizabethan origin – I like the history and romance of a less technological era before aroma therapy became a new age industry. 🙂
I’m still enjoying the one I won last year. Thank you!
Heidi, I’d love to try and make one! Do you have to let the lavender dry first? Any chance of begging a tutorial from you, pretty please? 🙂
Celia-
Here’s a link to a tutorial I made last year.
http://heidiannie.com/?p=152
Just make sure to weave the ribbon securely and you will have a lovely wand!
I forgot to answer your question!
Do NOT let the lavender dry- use the freshest and most pliable lavender you have because you don’t want the stem to break but bend.
I love the wands. I’ve been thinking I need to put some sachets or something fragrant in my closet, and these would be beautiful. I’m glad to see you posted the link to the tutorial in your comments, because the way you have woven the ribbon is just lovely! Now to find some fresh lavender.
Your kitchen must have smelt gorgeous. There is something about lavender that really is so very relaxing- a good sniff…and ahhh.
Those, to use the current vernacular, are ‘awesome” !! I have long stemmed lavender but I have never seen anything like this at a craft fair, not that I go to many, I have tweeted this post, as a blog acquaintance of mine has just been posting about her lavender…. My, they sure are something. I drink lavender, rose, limeblossom and betony tea sometimes, well I drank it for a whole year originally, my herbalist called it happy tea!
Thanks ladies- the kitchen did have a marvelous fragrance- and I’ve relocated the wands into my living room which is now the best smelling room in the house.
Joanna- did you make your own tea? I would love the recipe to go with the ingredients. I’ve made up some herbal teas (mostly with a lemon verbena base- I love lemon) but yours does, indeed sound like a happy tea!
They are beautiful. I have them hanging around my home.
The base was the limeblossom (lindenflower) and the other three were in smaller quantities, but I would hesitate to say make it yourself, I am not sure about the betony, the lavender, rose and limeflower are all pretty gentle florals. The betony for stress and migraines I think at the time.