Basic Potpourri Recipe

Choosing the Botanicals and Fragrance:

1. Decide on a color scheme. The colors can be very natural and earthy looking, or they can be very brilliant. Your potpourri mixture can be made with as few or as many colors as desired. If you have a fragrance in mind, you may want to pick colors that seem to go with the fragrance. For example, when people think of "vanilla," they immediately think of whites and natural colors, not bright orange or purple. As another example, "Holiday Spice" reminds people of warm reds, oranges, greens and browns, but perhaps but not navy blue.
2. Once you?ve chosen your colors, you want to decide which color or colors will be most predominant. Pick a botanical or a few botanicals in that color. It helps to pick a variety of sizes or textures to add visual interest to the display. For instance, if you want the base color to be white, you can choose white globe amaranths and white angel wings. Each is different in size, shape and texture.
3. Next, start choosing botanicals and spices and dried fruits from your other color groups. Remember to pick various shapes and sizes. For instance, if you are choosing browns, you will want to choose from a variety of cones, cinnamon sticks, nuts and pods. You may wish to add a highlight color to your mix such as gold, white, black or any other contrasting color. Choose a botanical that is bold and large like pomegranates, orange slices or gold amra nuts. You will only need a few pieces of this item.
4. Choose an appropriate fragrance. When making potpourri, we recommend the use of our Candle Fragrance Oils instead of the use of our Cosmetic Grade Fragrance Oils.

Putting It Together:

1. Place your base-colored botanicals in a large mixing container or bucket. If you are using more than one botanical for the predominant color, combine them one at a time, cup by cup, until you are pleased with the overall texture. Make a note of how many cups of each botanical you used so you can adjust the proportions as you go and be able to reproduce the mix again later.
2. Start adding the botanicals from your other color groups one at a time. Make sure to record how many cups of each botanical you used. Do not add the highlight botanical pieces yet because you will want to add these after you have packaged your potpourri so that they stand out. If it seems like your base color is overwhelmed by your other colors, go back and add more of the base color botanicals to bring it back into balance. Once you like the proportions of your botanicals, you are ready to add your fragrance.
3. The easiest easy way to add scent to the botanicals is to use a spray bottle and mix the botanicals as you spray them with essential or fragrance oil.
4. Allow the oil to soak in. Mix well without crushing the botanicals, and make sure that there are no pools of oil anywhere. Leave out delicate botanicals until after fragrancing your potpourri, or they will get crushed. Add them in carefully before packaging.
5. Now you are ready to package your potpourri. Cello bags are an attractive yet inexpensive way to package potpourri. A wide ribbon in one of your colors can be used to tie off the bag. Other packaging ideas include clear acetate boxes, glass apothecary jars or anything else that will show off the potpourri. Cardboard boxes with clear acetate covers are also nice and can be found through most packaging suppliers. Ribbons or natural raffia ties are a nice touch. Before sealing the package, add the highlight pieces one by one so they stand out where they can be seen against the packaging.