I wanted to share these tips from Renae Wortz at Mom Colored Glasses with natural decorations you can make at home. They are eco-friendly and fun party activities.
Trim a Natural and Fragrant Christmas Tree with these Easy DIY Ornaments
Cut-out Cinnamon “Cookie” Ornaments
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of salt
1/2 cup of ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of cinnamon oil (you can find this in the baking section of the grocery store)
1 cup of water
Christmas cookie cutters
Ribbon (for ornament hanger)
Miscellaneous craft supplies (optional)
First, mix all the dry ingredients together with a spoon.
Add the cinnamon oil and then the water, pouring in a little at a time. You want it to be similar to the consistency of cut-out sugar cookie dough – well-formed, not crumbly but not too tacky to the touch. You will want to taste the dough because it smells so good, but TRUST ME! While it is non-toxic, it does not taste very good! Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for 1-2 hours.
Due to an especially crafty urge, a smattering of the Christmas spirit and the fact that my two-year-old was taking a lengthy snooze, I decided to create a few more ornaments while waiting for the dough to firm-up in the fridge.
I recently came across this idea on (none other than) Martha Stewart’s website for making dried orange slice ornaments. Eureka! Natural and Yummy-Smelling! All you do is slice up a few oranges into 1/4-inch rounds and bake them in a 175 degree oven for 4 hours. I sliced up a few and popped them in the oven. That was easy!
While looking for a snack (since I still had time to kill) I came upon this bag of fresh cranberries waiting to be made into delicious cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving dinner. Hmmmmm, maybe I can make an ornament with them…
How about a cranberry wreath ornament! After searching for some wire in my messy craft supply closet, I cut a piece about 12 inches long and began threading cranberries onto the wire.
This was surprisingly easy! In less than two minutes I filled the piece of wire with cranberries leaving 1 1/2 inch tails at either end. I then formed a circle with the wire, twisted the wire tails together to secure and added a bow and hanger. Ta-da!
After an hour of crafting, kitchen-cleaning and snacking, I’m back to the cut-outs. Roll out the “cookie” dough with a rolling pin to about 1/4 inch thickness and then cut out Christmas shapes using the cookie cutters.
Now, poke a hole at the top of each “cookie” for adding a ribbon hanger. I used a cake decorating tip which worked great.
Bake the ornaments at 250 degrees for 1-2 hours, until they are firm to the touch. After cooling completely, slip a ribbon through the ornament and hang it on your Christmas tree!
I’m picturing a fresh spruce tree, covered with cinnamon stars, citrus slices, cranberry wreaths, popcorn garlands and maybe some vintage Christmas postcards made into ornaments….hmmmm, and how about a burlap tree skirt? The perfect all natural and wonderfully fragranced Christmas tree!
I had a fun afternoon making these fragrant ornaments (my house already smells wonderful!)….and will also feel good about how I decorate my Christmas tree this year. Here’s to a “greener” Christmas!
Read the whole article here: http://momcoloredglasses.com/healthy-living/green-lifestyle/trim-a-natural-and-fragrant-christmas-tree-with-these-easy-diy-ornaments/