DRIED FRUIT DECORATIONS

You can make beautiful ornaments for the festive period using dried fruit. We’d suggest using citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons and even limes. To make these DIY decorations you’ll need:

• Citrus fruits 
• Cutting board
• Sharp knife 
• String
• Baking tray 
• Parchment paper

Start by preheating your oven to around 65-80C. Next, cut your fruit into ¼” slices and carefully remove the seeds. Arrange the fruit on a lined baking tray ensuring that they are not overlapping. Leave to bake for roughly 3-4 hours, flipping every hour or so. You’ll know your fruit is ready when it is firm to the touch, but not brown around the edges. Once cooled, thread some string through the top of the fruit and tie to secure. These dried fruit decorations not only make great gifts, they also smell amazing too.

CINNAMON STICK DECORATIONS

There are so many different cinnamon stick decoration ideas, so we’ve picked our 2 favourites.

Cinnamon Stick Trees

What you’ll need: 

• Long cinnamon sticks 
• Ribbon 
• Scissors 
• Strong glue/glue gun

Start by cutting several different lengths of ribbon and tying them around your cinnamon sticks, starting from the longest ribbon at the bottom, all the way up to the shortest at the top. Next, cut another length of ribbon to create a loop to hang your decoration from. Then stick it to the top of your cinnamon stick using glue. Now you can hang your amazing smelling decorations wherever you’d like.

Cinnamon Stick Candles

Do you have a few half empty candles lying around?

What you’ll need:

• Clean candle jar
• Candle wicks OR you can also use twine
• Cinnamon sticks 
• Saucepan

With Traditional Candle Wicks:

For this DIY candle, start by adding roughly 2 inches of water to your saucepan and bring to a simmer. Carefully lower your leftover candles into the water and allow to melt. If you are using a traditional candle wick, stick it to the bottom of your clean candle jar. Now that the wax has melted, leave it to cool for a few minutes and then pour into the clean candle jar. Now you can add your cinnamon sticks and any other decorations that you would like. E.g dried citrus fruit, star anise or even cloves. When the candle burns you’ll be able to smell not only the wax itself, but also the cinnamon.

With Twine Wicks:

Tie one end of the twine around a stick or toothpick that is long enough to sit on top of your candle jar. Then simply follow the same steps as above, and add your twine once the wax is already in the jar. The toothpick should stop the twine from falling into the jar.

COOKIE DECORATIONS

Use your favourite cookie recipe (we recommend this Grapefruit Zest Gingerbread Cookie recipe) and use cutters to make them into your desired shape. Before baking, use a straw to create a small hole at the top of your cookies. Follow the recipe for baking instructions. Once cooled, you can decorate however you’d like and thread some ribbon through the hole at the top. Finish by tying a knot in the ribbon. The cookie decorations would make great gift ideas, or keep them all for yourself!

PINE CONE DECORATIONS

There are so many creative ways to use pine cones as decorations. Our favourite way is to turn them into hangable ornaments.

What you’ll need: 

• Pine cones
• Ribbon 
• Strong glue/glue gun 
• Biodegradable glitter 
• Acrylic paint

You can decorate your pine cones however you’d like. There’s an example at the top of this blog post if you’d like some inspiration. Once decorated, simply create a loop of ribbon and glue it to the top of your pine cone. These pine cones can be used as homemade Christmas decorations or just as festive home decor.

COFFEE FILTER GARLAND

Are you a filter coffee lover, but are unsure what to do with those used coffee filters? This is the perfect way to repurpose those filters that would otherwise end up in the bin. 

To start, ensure that your coffee filters are completely dry and any leftover coffee is brushed off. Next cut your string to the length that you would like the garland to be. Snip a small hole into the middle of the coffee filters and thread onto the string. To jazz up this garland even more, use your hands to scrunch the coffee filters. This will fluff them up a bit and make the garland look nice and full. Hang your garland above entryways or over the fireplace.