The Gift Of A Red Rose...

Last weekend, I received a Christmas arrangement from my mother. It was an unexpected surprise and I have had the joy of having it sit on the counter separating my kitchen from the eating area, which also happens to be above my kitchen sink. The red rose has beautifully been unfolding throughout the week, and now a week later it is even more brilliantly gorgeous than when I first received it. Exquisite red roses have always been a favorite of mine.

I discovered an idea for this simple rosebud pomander in a Christmas gift book I was given a few years ago. I just made this pomander for my daughter, as a small house warming gift. She has red as an accent color in her new home. This was so easy to make, and lovely to give. For the instructions, you will need one 3-inch Styrofoam ball, essential oil of rose, white glue(although the rosebuds that I used had wires on them, so I could press them into the Styrofoam ball), and 6 ounces of dried miniature rosebuds(or small bunches of roses from the wedding section of your local craft store). The red rosebuds that I used were left over from my daughter's wedding some years ago. Instructions; Cover the top half of the foam ball with glue(it works to set the ball on an opened empty egg carton) Completely cover the top half of ball with rosebuds. Let dry and repeat with lower half of the ball. Sprinkle essential oil of rose over the ball and spray with hairspray to fix. For variation, you can use miniature pinecones sprinkled with drops of essential oil of pine. I used a narrow ribbon, looped in and attached it with a straight pin to the top. Glued a faux holly leaf and some tiny white pearls. To complete the look, I sprayed a light coating of glitter spray all over the pomander. This idea came from the gift book entitled "A Keepsake Christmas" by Alice Gray and Susan Wales