An up and down month but lots of dried flower makes

It’s been a really wet end to the month in Supposedly Sunny Sussex, to the extent that we suffered flooding in the workshop this week. Luckily we only suffered the loss of a few hundred pounds worth of stock and our landlord was very helpful – fingers crossed our insurers will be as friendly and efficient!

Mike (who is my husband and runs our accounts and customer services at Daisy Gifts Ltd) has been growing a moustache for Movember. Thankfully the rules state that he has to shave it off on the 30th!

But what about the dried flowers…

…Well it’s more dried fruits and spices at this time of year to be strictly accurate!

I love to snuggle up at home with all the Christmas craft magazines. I get loads of ideas, but am unlikely to ever have time to try them all. This year, things I have spotted that stand out are: Christmas wreaths decorated with ribbons only, rather than fresh or dried flowers or foliage; loads of natural decorations using cinnamon sticks, orange slices and pine cones; and the use of 24 paper cones like these handmade confetti cones to hold Advent gifts.

I love my open fires, and one article suggested throwing a few cinnamon sticks on the fire to give your house a Christmas fragrance. Haven’t tried that one yet!

I’ve been having fun making some pretty Christmas decorations like the cinnamon stick and dried orange garland in the upcoming post. Christmas decorations don’t have to be expensive and you can save a lot of money if you make them yourself, like my article about a small natural hanging decoration or cinnamon scented pine cones. I’ve also been going back through my archive and re-publishing Christmas makes from old newsletters and other sources, such as my popular Christmas potpourri recipe.

Second-hand dried flowers books

Something else I’ve been reading in front of the fire is “A Book of Pot-Pourri” by Gail Duff. It was written in 1985, and I picked it up along with some other second-hand dried flowers books in a nearby garden centre. I’ve been marking relevant pages with sticky notes, which seems to be a bit of a waste of time as every page is marked! I was particularly interested in the use of orris root powder in drying citrus fruits and their peel – for instance when making pomanders – this calls for further research I think!

Shopping links – buying dried flower crafts

Handmade Christmas potpourri   |   Cinnamon cones
Cinnamon sticks   |   Dried orange slices   |   Pine cones