Crafting with herbs

julias · Joined: 20 Oct 2008 Posts: 2 Location: TN

Hello fellow herb lovers! My love is growing and crafting with herbs here in Tennessee. I certainly don't profess to be an expert, but I love working with herbs and wanted to share some craft ideas that I have enjoyed throughout the year. I hope that you will get as much enjoyment out of it as I do.

These days many of us are looking for inexpensive gift giving ideas. These crafts are inexpensive and fun for the whole family. I know of many people who grow herbs for fun and then don't really know what to do with them. I thought I would share with you a few ideas from my upcoming book on growing and crafting with herbs.

I have been growing, harvesting, and crafting with herbs for over 20 years in the Mid-South. The herbs I use are easy to grow and lots of fun to harvest and dry. What better way to smell minty fresh!

Some of my favorite herbs are mountain mint, yarrow, basil, tansy, feverfew, sage, wormwood, lemon verbena, santolina, and rosemary. The method I use to dry these herbs is simply to hang them upside down in a dry, airy place away from sunlight.

For faster drying, you may use regular ovens on the lowest setting, cooking until corn flake dry, or microwaves. If you are using microwaves, place a small bundle between two paper towels and microwave for just a few minutes at a time. Herbs dried this way can go from not dry to burnt very quickly. Drying herbs like this is fast and fun and it makes your house smell great!

Here is one of my favorite crafts for using lots of dried herbs.
It's a moth chaser sachet that you can use in drawers or closets to keep moths away or to make musty closets smell better.. It really does work because the smell of the herbs prohibits the moths from smelling the wool in the fabric. If the mama moths can't smell the wool, they won't leave the larva there because that's what their little ones eat when they hatch.

Stewart's Moth Chaser Sachets

1. 1 cup cedar shavings
2. 1/2 cup of each of pennyroyal, lavender, santolina or southernwood, peppermint, lemon verbena, thyme, rosemary, and orris root (some are allergic to orris root, use dried orange peels instead)
3. 1/8 cup whole cloves, lemon peel, and black peppercorns.
4. 6 drops each cedar, lemon and lavender oils.

Place in handkerchiefs tied with a bow or use six-inch squares, stitching to form a 3 by 6 inch bag, Turn and fill with potpourri and tie to close.

Note: You don't really have to use all the ingredients or even all the oils all at once in the same potpourri. But be sure to have at least two of the primary ingredients and one of the three major oils listed. Another alternative to using oils is to use extra cedar shavings. This isn't an exact science..just experiment and have fun. Come up with you own combinations of herbs. Anything goes when crafting with herbs!

Enjoy!
Julia

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My husband and I love to garden together. We love to host tours for garden clubs and home schoolers. I am especially interested in crafting with herbs and everlasting flowers. Visit our web site http://www.flowers-plants-gardening-advice.com/