Kitchen Finds Ornament Tutorial

We have reached the final day of the Christmas ornament takeover week. It’s been so fun making all of these one of a kind ornaments. If you haven’t seen the ornaments I’ve been making this week, you can catch up by clicking on one of the links below.

Stamped Wood Ornaments

Marbled Clay Ornaments

Bohemian Arrow Ornaments

Mossy Pinecone Ornaments

I’ve mentioned in a couple of posts now that I thoroughly enjoy creating things out of materials that I already have on hand. So why wouldn’t I make a ornament using things that are found in my very own kitchen. Chances are you’ve got quite a few things in your kitchen or pantry that can be turned into ornaments no problem!

Seeing as I love citrus fruits and cinnamon, I figured it was very appropriate to turn both of these things into awesome ornaments for my Christmas tree!

Supplies:

  • Oranges & Lemons
  • Cinnamon Sticks
  • Twine

Dry 'em:

Since the citrus fruits are what’s going to take the most time during this tutorial, we’ll start with those! 

Cut your lemons and oranges into small centimeter thick slices. You can cut them a little thinner if you would like but try not to make them any thicker! The thicker they are, the longer they will take to dehydrate. 

Once your citrus is sliced, place them on the baking rack in your oven. You are going to want to bake these for about 2 hours at 220 degrees F.

You'll know they're done when they have little to no shine and look very, very dry!

Hang 'em:

Using your twine or festive ribbon tie a little knot around your orange and lemon slices. You may want to poke a small hole in the top of the fruit using the tip of a knife to make the process easier.

Hang the cinnamon:

Since we want our cinnamon sticks to stay in a little bundle, you may need a little hot glue for this next step. If you can't get your sticks to stay together long enough to tie them, place a small dot of hot glue on each cinnamon stick.

Place your sticks on a looped piece of twine or ribbon. Pull the loose ends through the little loop and tighten it. Double knot where your twine meets your cinnamon sticks. You can add a little more glue to the end of the knot for added security!

Design alternatives:

Like many of my other tutorials, the possibilities are endless with this one. Just look around to see what you already have on hand in your kitchen. Cut up that grapefruit or apple that you don't plan on eating. Maybe hang some whole cloves or star of anise on your tree. 

I hope you all really enjoyed some of the tutorials I have been sharing with you this week. They're all relatively easy and cost very little money (if any). Send me a quick email letting me know if you decide to try any of the ornament tutorials out! You can find my email address in the ABOUT tab at the top of the page.

Happy Holidays!

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Mossy Pinecone Ornament Tutorial

It is day four of the Christmas ornament takeover week. Is it just me or did this go by extremely quick? If you have yet to see my previous posts during this takeover week, you can find them by clicking below.

Stamped Wood Ornaments

Marbled Clay Ornaments

Bohemian Arrow Ornaments

Since yesterday's post involved a little more work than my previous two ornaments, I decided to take it very easy today. This post has minimal steps and minimal supply. 

I'm a huge fan of natural ornaments that look as if they actually belong on the Christmas tree. Although most Christmas trees are spruce trees, we're going to pretend mine is a pine tree. And what grows on pine trees? Pine cones! My fav! 

I have a large variety of pine cones throughout my home. Don't ask me why. I guess I just have a thing for them. 

So today's ornament tutorial is going to be so simple and is going to lead you though creating the most natural looking ornament I have made yet. 

Supplies:

  • Small pinecones
  • Faux moss (get from Michael's here)
  • Hot glue gun

Tie the knot:

Get a twine or ribbon if your choice, grab both ends and tie a knot (or double knot) at one end. Place a small drop of hot glue on your pinecone and attach the twine loop to the cone.

You definitely want to do this step before you apply the moss. If you try and do this after you’ll end up with a big ol’ knot glued to the tip top of your moss pile.

Attach the moss:

Your moss will come in relatively large chunks (if you bought a similar style moss to the one I have). Grab a large chunk and separate it into smaller bits. 

Apply a small dot of hot glue and apply your moss. Do this section by section so your moss doesn’t look chunky. Make sure to cover your knot completely. 

The amount of moss you apply is really up to you. I didn’t want mine too thick so I applied just enough to cover the top of the cone and the twine knot.

Add embellishments:

On one of my dollar store hauls I found these little holiday, glittery berry…things. I’m not really sure what they are but I liked them and thought they would finish off this ornament perfectly. 

They came on this big branch of them so I cut a little bundle off and used my hot glue to stick them to the corner of my mossy pinecone. Cute!

Hang your cones:

Didn't I tell you that this was going to be a very minimalistic ornament? But to be honest, these might be my favorite ones I have made so far. 

Something about how simple and delicate they are really gets to me. They look as if they really belong on my tree and I love that. 

If you don't have the little berries I have, try gluing small dried flowers to the side of your moss. That would also look adorable but still very natural. 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial as much as I enjoyed creating it. Make sure to check back in tomorrow for the final day of my Christmas ornament takeover week!

You can also subscribe below to make sure you never miss any of my recent posts. 

Bohemian Arrow Ornament Tutorial

Day 3 of this week’s Christmas ornament takeover is upon us! I’m so happy to have you here and hope that you have enjoyed the other two tutorials that I have posted! If you haven’t seen the last two tutorials, you can catch up by clicking below.

Handmade Stamp Birch Ornaments

Marbled Clay Ornaments

I've been seeing all kinds of cute bohemian style ornaments this season. Even the simplest of designs can get very, very pricey! So I put my thinking cap on to create this adorable, Anthropologie inspired ornament. 

Today I’ll be showing you how to make these little bohemian arrow ornaments. They’re so freakin’ cute and are incredibly easy to make

Here's what you'll need:

  • Twigs
  • Hot glue gun
  • Clay
  • Beads
  • Feathers
  • X-acto knife (Find at Michael's here or Amazon here)

Cut the clay:

Using your x-acto knife, cut small arrow like shapes out of your clay. They should be about half of a centimeter thick and half of an inch wide. 

I chose gold clay so it would blend well with the neutral, earthy tones of my arrows. 

Form the clay:

You're going to want to bake your clay so that it hardens. Before you do this, though, make sure to stick your twigs into the clay to make an indent.

This little hole is where you will hot glue your twigs in after your clay is baked. 

The clay that you choose should come with baking instructions on the package. Since these clay bits are so small, I only had to bake them for about 10 minutes at 230 degrees fahrenheit. 

Accessorize your twigs:

Grab your beads and stick them on the ends of your twigs. If you plan to use beads like I did, make sure you pay attention to how big the holes of the beads are. 

You don't want to buy beads with this project in mind and get home to see that they're way too small to fit on your twigs! 

If you prefer not to add beads or can't find the right size, you can try wrapping small bits of clay around your twig. This will add the extra spunk that finishes off this ornament so nicely. 

If you do add some clay, I would highly recommend getting some air dry clay instead of the oven bake type that I have been using. That way you don't have to put your twigs into the oven. 

Add some flare:

What's an arrow without a feather delicately finishing off the end? I think this feather gives the piece the perfect finishing touch.

After you have placed your beads on the end, attach your feather by dabbing a small amount of hot glue to the end of the twig. Place your feather onto the glue dot and cover it with the bead so you can't see the glue.

Since you're sliding the bead over the feather, the hot glue you just applied should attach to the inside of the bead allowing the bead to also stay in place.

Look how cute:

These turned out so cute I could hardly stand it. I can't wait to put these on my Christmas tree!

Making cute ornaments that you see in stores like Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg. All of these supplies are things that I already had on hand.

 If you really want to save some money, spend a day in a park or a creek and see all of the awesome accessories nature has for you to add to your arrow ornaments. 

Well, that is all for day 3 of the Christmas ornament takeover week. I hope you will join me tomorrow to see what I'm making next!

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