Yeah, sometimes the ol’ Alliteration Generator just completely goes on the fritz and starts spitting out the laziest, most common words it can find. Cranberry Craze? Sounds like a flavour of Mountain Dew. Crazed for Cranberry? Sounds a bit like a mental health concern. So basically there’s no unique, alliterative way of expressing my love of cranberry except to say I’m – sigh – crazy for it.
Except…am I? I mean, I like Bath & Body Works’ Frosted Cranberry scent as much as the next person during the holidays, but otherwise, it’s not really my jam. For that, I actually prefer lingonberry sauce or my mom’s spiced red currant jelly – excellent on all manner of roast beast. 😉 But cranberry scents? Eh, I guess, for the Fall and Winter months, if you insist. It’s not a scent I ever gravitate towards outside of the festive season, and even then, not so much.
Which is, I suppose, why I still possess this nearly two-year-old old bag of Cranberry Marmalade-scented Mini Melters from Rosegirls. Also because – hoo doggy!- she’s STRONG. Deeply spiced and a whole lot astringent, this cranberry is here to party. Spice-haters and those with sensitive sniffers need not apply (this includes me; this wax makes my nose itch and tickle quite fiercely.)
But I thought I could turn this scent into something a little more palatable through the judicious use of more Mini Melters, and so that’s precisely what I did, whipping up two yummy blends – one bakery, one fruity-sweet – that let this nice, but bit-too-much, seasonal scent really shine (also, why all the ice and snowflake imagery in this, the Fall Fun Series? Because late Fall in Canada actually means early Winter; we’ve already had a couple of didn’t-stick snowfalls and many, many mornings of frost.)
The addition of Rosegirls’ Vanilla Bean Noel and Marshmallow Smoothie scents proved to be the perfect bakery foil for Cranberry Marmalade’s dark spice notes, combining to create a creamy-dreamy, caramel-topped treat studded with tart, lightly spiced dried cranberries. I basically made a scone without the scone part! And it’s scrumptious; Vanilla Bean Noel is fast becoming a blending favourite.
As seasonal ciders and punches are my favourite things to see on a holiday party table, I thought it would be nice to create a spiced punch sort of scent. Except actual punch (or Koolaid) scents and I are no bueno; they provoke headaches and sneezing fits in both my husband and I. And so I both tempered AND sweetened-up the Cranberry Marmalade scent with a tiny touch of Cotton Candy Frosting, before adding a rather inspired dash of Apple Clove Butter. I feared the addition of the Apple Clove Butter might push this scent blend into total spice overload, but my worries turned out to be unfounded – Apple Clove Butter is subtly, subtly spiced, with none of the sharpness of Cranberry Marmalade and all of the smoothness of actual apple butter. It’s a lovely, juicy scent, and paired beautifully with the other two fragrances, creating something that really did smell like a gently wafting crock pot of some festively fruity concoction. Yum!
Finger Candy 
Lovely recipes! Looks like my idea for a FFS name change this weekend is supported on the Canadian Front. Those festive snowflakes are darling. I saw a newish neighbor recording the snow falling here on Friday and thought, what a noob!
I’m also sitting on the side of not-so-much on the cranberry scent train, with 1 or 2 exceptions, turns out I prefer my cranberries in nearly every way other than scent. Also, the cranberry color is my favorite of the reds and crimson family. Oh and I forget about cranberry scones, yum.
Recording the snow? Scintillating. The only time snowfall is cool is when it’s Christmas Eve, it’s those giant, big, fat fluffy flakes that come down and muffle all sound, and no one has to drive or travel anywhere, so they can just sit in safely and enjoy the snow show. Which is totally how Christmas works, of course – no travel.
These were the sad snowflake variety and they just disappeared into the mountains of leaves all over his yard anyway, but who am I to judge? I take pictures of wax! ;P
In good weather, I’ll occasionally see people staring up at me from the walkway that runs below and beside our building, trying to figure out what this person is doing taking pictures seemingly of the wall. I get it – I guess it’s pretty weird, trying to set up the product shot. Fun new skill set!