I am so, well, uncrunchy and uncrafty sometimes.....LOL. I **want** to make some lovely smelling things for our tree.....inside...and some for the trees outside, for the birds. I would also love to make some holiday gifts, etc. Help? I have heard/seen people mention things like dried oranges....tell me more? How? Cinnamon ornaments....??? How????? Help this so needing help Mama????? Details please.....this is the queen of boiling water and not much else over here.
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Hmmm, a few days ago there was a big ol' craft post that I started. There were some good ideas in there, like recycled paper ornaments and pine cone bird feeders. Search my last few posts and it should come up for you!
We just made some garland today, to hang out in the apple tree beside the window. We strung a mix of raisins, stale cereal and popcorn. So far, we've had a few little birds stop by!
For ornaments, we made really cute little *rustic* star ornaments. We gathered thin sticks and bent them into star shapes and secured with a bit of wire. (A stripped twist tie would work) We used the wire to make a loop, and covered it with a ribbon.
I'd like to know more about the oranges, too! Sounds neat!
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Oranges with a whole bunch of cloves stuck in them. We used to make these, but have annoyinly forgotten how to make them. If I have a moment of clarity (haha!) I'll post again.
In the past I have made garlands from dried orange slices, cranberries and cinnamon sticks. It looks awesome and smells pretty good, too. I haven't done it yet this year, but it's on my list.
What I do with the oranges, is slice them fairly thin (1/4" inch?) and lay them flat on a cookie sheet in a low-temp oven for a few hours. Or you can just leave them out on a counter on a cookie sheet for a few days. You just need to dehydrate them, and either way will accomplish the same goal (the oven is quicker).
I string quilting thread, dental floss, or any other strong threadlike stuff through the centers of the cranberries, cinnamon sticks and dried orange slices. I usually string this up in windows.
String popcorn garlands for the tree. Get the plain kind of popcorn.
Make pomanders with lemons or oranges. Buy whole cloves in bulk wherever you can buy them cheap, and stick them into the lemons or oranges very close together, so the cloves basically cover all of the lemon/orange rind. It helps me to use an icepick to poke the holes in the rind before sticking in the cloves. Tie thin ribbon into a tiny decorative bow or something, pin it on, and you have a nice hostess gift or something to make your own bathroom smell good. Pomanders keep for years because the cloves preserve the lemon/orange until it dries out.
We make paper snowflakes.
Smear peanut butter onto pinecones and then roll them in birdseed. Hang them outside your windows so that you can see all of the wintertime animals enjoying them.
I'll add more ideas as I think of them. Great thread!
you can also cut an orange in half, make a basket out of it with raffia or ribbon (poking a hole on opposite sides and stringing the raffia through it). Then fill it up with pb, birdseed and dried fruit. Hang it outside and watch the birdies come. Enjoy!
here is the recipe:
2 cups Flour
1 cup Salt
2 TBSP veg. oil
Paint for decorating and a straw
Mix together the flour, salt and oil. Slowly add 3/4 to 1 cup of water and stir till you get a clay like consistancy. (I used my kitchen aid with the dough hook)
Roll out the dough and make shapes with cookie cutters, free form or do a hand print. We did hand prints for the grandparents. Lay out on a cokie sheet. Poke a hole with straw, so you will be able to hang it. Bake for about an hour on 250. Let them cool, then paint. Last year we added glitter.
We make dried orange and lemon slices for the tree. Slice them and put them in the oven on low(usually takes a few hrs) or dehydrater until dry This year we are going to make dried apples too. When you slice in apple into circles it looks like a star in the center.
Cinnamon applesauce ornaments. Use equal amounts of applesauce and cinnamon and you can add other spices if you like. Roll out and cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Poke a hole in the top so they can be strung on a tree and dry in oven or air dry for a few days.
Before we disovered dd's allergy to wheat we baked gingerbread cookies to hang on the tree as well.
Beeswax candles
paper stars and paper snow flakes
Some new ideas for this year are taking cans, fill the with water and freeze. Make a design on paper to wrap around the can and once water is frozen use a hammer and nail to punch in design. Melt ice and place a candle inside.
hmm i know there is more but i can't remember right now. Great thread.
I have made the Orange clove thingies and dusted it with cinnamon and it was **really** good smelling! We used to do this every year as a child and I just love it. I have heard about making the applesauce cinnamon ornaments before and might give it a try this year. I bet that smells yummy! You can always fill a simple cloth sack with cinnamon sticks, cloves, dried oranges (a sheer fabric with a simple ribbon would be lovely)
We dive into the recycling bin and make snowflakes galore. You can take a nice twine and attach the snowflakes for a garland. We are spacing them so that we can use wooden clothes pins to fasten any cards we get. (save them to re-use recycle the next year of course )
In the crafty forum those little bendy people that Danielle told how to make are fun and pretty easy to do. I am making a gazillion of them for people!
I will have to look around for that other thread and get some more ideas. I love this stuff!
I am making birdseed ornaments for my bird loving friends. I am mixing birdseed with corn syrup (I don't have the exact recipe with me now) and cutting out shapes with metal cookie cutters. So far I have trees and a wreath shape. I am going to tie twine to them and they will hang outside on the trees. I will take pics if you are interested.
~Wendy
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I know it's not a decoration or something smelly....but we make our own wrapping paper from brown grocery bags. Just take them apart, iron them flat, and then stamp or paint designs on them. I also use glitter glue pens to outline. Dd loves it.
We also use pinecones and sweetgum balls (which are really pretty naturally or spray painted gold) for tree decorations, on packages and also on the mantel.
You can make Christmas 'bells' out of little terracotta pots. You can make a set to put on the door instead of a wreath or string them on a garland for across the mantel.
Tin can luminaries have been mentioned already and they're really cool.
Peanut butter pinecones, strung popcorn, etc. for the birds and squirrels.
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Make pomanders with lemons or oranges. Buy whole cloves in bulk wherever you can buy them cheap, and stick them into the lemons or oranges very close together, so the cloves basically cover all of the lemon/orange rind. It helps me to use an icepick to poke the holes in the rind before sticking in the cloves. Tie thin ribbon into a tiny decorative bow or something, pin it on, and you have a nice hostess gift or something to make your own bathroom smell good. Pomanders keep for years because the cloves preserve the lemon/orange until it dries out.
Tara, I am up *hours* past my bedtime making these!!! While my fingers are starting to get a little sore, they smell *SO* very yummy!!
Thanks so much for sharing all of these wonderful ideas!!
Today we made the *cutest* little snowmen ornaments out of the salt dough! We had a lone mitten laying around, so I cut of the fingertips for hats.. I'll post a pic in a bit.
Oh, and they had a Buy one Get One Free sale at the store today on empire apples and oranges, so I'd love more ideas on stuff I could make with those!
I did the cinnamon dough recipe a couple of days ago. The recipe I had was:
1/2 C white glue
1 C applesauce
1 1/2 C ground cinnamon
You mix it all together, wrap in saran wrap for about 30 minutes, and roll between 2 pieces of waxed paper (because you don't add flour it'll stick to your rolling pin). I used the little tiny cookie cutters, and made a few bigger stars and moons. They took several days to dry, with me turning them over several times a day, but YUMMY. I'm using raffia for hangers, and the little ones are going on the tree. The big ones are for gift tags, with those paint pens to write on them. I'm very pleased with them, and the dough was very nice to work with.
I bought some clearance holiday color fabrics from the fabric store (remnants are awesome for this) and braided strips. We used that as garland for our tree. Our tree this year is completely hand made or natural ornaments, with the exception of the candy canes, lol. Haven't gotten brave enough to make those yet, lol.
Another idea I found was to gather small sticks, raffia or dried grasses, etc, and make a sort of loose basket with the sticks and some floral wire, stuff with dryer lint and close it up. Hang them in the trees for the birds to find. The birds get the dryer lint from the holes in the "basket" to line their nests in the spring. They use the raffia for nest building as well.
We're considering a heated bird bath, since we have a leftover aquarium heater. The kids love watching the birds bathe out the sliding glass doors.
The scented pomanders are divine. I'm considering one as a tree topper this year. I might use father winter though. Seems a good place for him to reside for a little while.
Meeshi-those snowmen are too cute...I love this thread...you guys have great ideas. My mom never ever did crafts with us-so I don't have any from childhood-but they will definitely be part of my immediate famil's traditions from now on!
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Crunchy ornaments and holiday crafts? Help me!!!!
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