Homemade Potpourri with flowers

My sister recently got married and I had the blessing of being Maid of Honour for her special day <3 . My sister and all her bridesmaids had the most beautiful bouquets of flowers and I just couldnt bear to part from them, and after a few days in water I could see they were starting to wilt and dry up... so..naturally... I thought I would make some Potpourri :)

It is so easy to make it , just takes a little waiting time to dry out the flowers but the rest is minimal effort. Potpourri gives a great scent to any room if you leave it in a bowl or there are other options like packing in a small pouch and placing it in your gym bag, underwear draw, cupboard etc.

YOU WILL NEED:

- bunch of flowers (the fresher the better, I used roses but you can use another)

- few slices of lemon

- some essential oils which when mixed willcompliment eachoher and give a nice aroma (use max 2 -3 ) . I used Lavender and Rose

- still natural water or rose water

- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

- dehydrator or oven to dry flowers

- small spray bottle

SUPER EASY METHOD:

1) start first by trimming stems of your flowers. Take the heads of and peel at least the outer couple of layers of petals if you have a large bud like a rose as it will take very long to dry.

2) combine 1/4 cup of water (or rose water) with your 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 18 drops of your essential oils mixture into your small spray bottle.

3) Lay out your flowers, slices of lemon onto a flat surface and spray with the aroma mixture you have created in step 2. Leave the aroma to develop overnight or at least a few hours.

4) Once the aroma has developed, it is time to dry out the mixture. This varies depending on the size of your flower heads.. the larger they are the longer it takes to dry but should be around 7 - 12 hours. I dehydrated mine at 70'C with a dehydrator but you can also do it in the oven too, likely it will be on one of the lowest settings.

5) Check that the flowers are completely dry to stop rotting and also to keep the flies away .. Once they are place them into your favourite decorative bowl or perhaps in a small sachet and keep it in a underwear drawer or gym bag and enjoy the fresh scent of y our Potpourri :)