Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Spice Tree

We went up in the mountains to get our Christmas tree this year. Okay, we got three trees -(hey, they were only 5 bucks each!) We have one in the living room, one outside with lights on it and I couldn't resist a little one for the kitchen. My friend Clarice at Storybook Woods always has a wonderful tree in her kitchen and I always love it so thought I would give it a try this year. I fell in love with the wispy, droopy hemlocks I saw up in the mountains and really wanted one. On the long drive home I decided I'd do a tree with just spices on it and I went through the bulk spice section of our grocery store in my head, trying to decide what to make out of whole spices. So this is what happened...
I loved the color and idea of a pink peppercorn garland but found it tedious and near impossible to string those things so I resorted to smearing raffia with hot glue and pressing the mixed peppercorns on as best I could. I drilled holes in whole nutmegs and strung them up with cardamom pods and juniper berries. I couldn't resist painting star anise gold and hanging them here and there along with whole chiles (Hint: When stringing whole chiles with needle and thread, please don't absentmindedly stick the needle in your mouth. Let's just say it's a bad idea.)
Did a small garland of cinnamon sticks, juniper berries and cardamom pods too. Then decided I was spending too much time on this and had to get back to other projects -like baking! (Note the Christmas braids cooling under the spice tree..) I didn't even get into the whole cloves and allspice I purchased. I also had dreams of an angel with bay leaf wings that never materialized. Maybe next year. This was fun and I love my little sweet smelling tree. I'm sure there are a million variations of this sort one could come up with. It was fun to work with natural materials and within the confines of a theme....I highly recommend this project. (ps-the tree is resting in an old enameled pot that's filled with gravel and water)

4 comments:

Lena said...

Your tree is perfectly lovely. I love the simplicity
. It must smell so very nice too. Those loaves of bread! My goodness, how beautiful! Your entire home must smell heavenly wtih the combination of the two. Your tree and the bread have combined into my favorite Christmas post this year. Thank you.

Mary said...

Angie, I absolutely loved this tree. What a wonderful idea!

Your whole house is absolutely beautiful. So homey and Christmasy.

Angie said...

Thank you all for the lovely comments. I love Christmas time! (Well, let's be honest...I love Christmas time when I'm done shopping and my house is clean!)

Merry Christmas!
Love,
Angie

Gumbo Lily said...

I love the idea of a spice tree. I'm kind of an "all natural" person who likes real things -- evergreens, cones, berries and the like. You went to a lot of work, but I'm sure it was worthwhile.

Sweet!
Jody