A Chic Take on Christmas Ornaments: Holiday DIY

Does anyone else love Pinterest as much as I do? I always find so much inspiration for DIYs, decorations, and even recipes around this time of year (follow me here for some cool finds – I add tons of new pins daily!). I always love putting my own twist on the different projects that I find, and decided to do these homemade dried orange and cinnamon stick ornaments for our tree this year. We’ll be home in LA for the holidays for the first time in years, so I wanted to do something special. I chose to decorate our tree in a natural, understated, yet stylish way. The orange and cinnamon stick ornaments add a rustic feel to the tree, while the beaded garland and classic copper ornaments added an old-school retro vibe that I love. I’m always so inspired by citrus decorations, and these dried oranges are so easy to do at home (see how I also made them into a wreath, here). If you need a last minute decoration, or even a cute hostess gift – try these!

Supplies:

4-5 Navel Oranges
Cinnamon Sticks
4-5 rolls of your favorite ribbon or twine

Step 1:
Preheat your oven to 250 F. Cover a baking tray with parchment paper and leave it to the side.

Step 2:
Cut the oranges into slices of similar thickness using a sharp knife. Sharp serrated knives work best because they don’t squash the orange, so it keeps its shape. They shouldn’t be so thin that they fall apart, but we are drying them out and don’t want it to take hours, so they shouldn’t be too thick either. Place them flat on the baking sheet, and place into the oven.

Step 3:
Bake for up to 3 hours, checking on them every 30 mins or so to ensure they aren’t burning. The ideal time to take them out is when the oranges are no longer squishy but hard. Once properly dried, take the tray out of the oven and leave to cool for at least 6 hours – overnight is best.

Step 4:
Cut your ribbon in to 10 inch pieces. While you’re waiting for the oranges to cool, start tying your cinnamon sticks in to bundles. Wrap the ribbon around 3-4 cinnamon sticks, pull tight, then tie another knot which will hang from the tree. Make sure you give yourself enough ribbon length to double knot the bundles, they can get a bit heavy and come undone if you don’t secure them tightly.

Step 5:
Once your oranges are completely cooled and dried, you can begin piercing 1/2 inch slits in them with a sharp knife. Thread your ribbon through the slits in the orange and tie at the top.

Voila! A chic twist on Christmas decor.

xx,