Hill Country Potpourri: Hand-made Gift for the Holidays

12/30/2022

Friends and family who have come to our home have inspired me with their creative hostess gifts. Some particularly memorable ones are a home baked loaf of bread wrapped in a vintage tea towel, a basket filled with ingredients for making Cajun style red beans and rice, and a box of wines from wineries visited by the giver. We gave a brunch recently and a friend brought the homemade cinnamon rolls, a family favorite at Christmas.

Last year for the holiday season we made orange cinnamon marmalade packaged in a Le Parfait container wrapped with a grosgrain ribbon and a wax seal. (I may write a post about this process later).

This year I wanted to make something with the potpourri I had made using a base of ingredients found in our garden, some of them native elements such as evergreen sumac and ash juniper (often called cedar here in the Texas Hill Country).

I began with some notes and sketches in my journal. This is a useful repository for those ideas that come to us when we are in the middle of something else. Sometimes an idea comes to me when I am out jogging in the morning or even in the middle of the night. I may not do everything I’ve journaled about, but keeping a journal of ideas is a good way to collect your thoughts on a particular topic and work through the details before you begin.

I have a number of Thymes Gold Leaf powder boxes saved from years ago before I returned to wearing body powder without talc. I keep the powder boxes in an armoire along with my fabric, vintage lace, ribbon, embroidery thread, and buttons.

I decided to paint the boxes to look golden-bronze, beginning with a coat of custom mixed paint in an olive brown color. This glass-topped table belonged to my parents. I saved it from a garage sale and they gave it to me. When my husband and I married it was our first dining table just as it was for my parents. Now it primarily serves as a table where we mix inks and prepare copper plates for printing on our press.

Underneath the table are stalks of purple blossoms of the salvia leucantha (Mexican bush sage) from the garden hanging from cedar sticks to dry. They were cut, clipped and tied with hemp string before the first frost this year. I am so happy I was able to save the blooms from the record-breaking cold. They will make a beautiful decorative finish on top of the potpourri.

Next, are strokes of gold paint.

When the boxes are dry, I fill them with hand-made potpourri, top with 2 cinammon sticks, cut and place some dried salvia leucantha blossoms next to the cinnamon, tuck in a couple of star anise, and close and tie the gift!

I place the finished boxes on the table in our entrance hall to create a festive look. You could do something like this and have a personal hand-made gift to take to an event and/or give to family and friends who visit your home during the holidays.