Peacock feather earrings

These earrings were a hit for my daughters birthday. Now all her friends would like a pair, so this evening I will post the simple tutorial on how I made them.

Natures Craft Store

A nice walk in the woods with the kids!!

Here's what we found today, Everything we got was just laying on the ground..

We clipped off all the greenery from the branches, And set the branched aside to dry out. We will save those for tomorrows project.

We made bundles of the greenery and wrapped them with some pipe cleaners we had on hand

After the kids wrapped the bundles I wrapped some twine tightly around the top of the bundles to secure them better and put a dab of hot glue on the ends of the twine.

                                                

We added some ribbon , pine cones and cinnamon sticks for decoration. They smell beautiful, and add a nice touch to our holiday decor.

Aluminum can earrings

Didn't put together a tutorial, but wanted to share what I have been working on today:)

Rustic Twine Christmas Ornaments

Here are some very simple ornaments that add a bit of country and the smell of Christmas to your home. Best of all, I got almost all my supplies at the dollar store!!

Here's what you need:

1 ball of twine
Styrofoam balls
cinnamon sticks
whole cloves
plastic berries
glue gun/sticks

ribbon

First I poke one whole clove through the Styrofoam marking the top of the ball.

Place a circle of hot glue around the clove and begin gluing the twine.

Work your way around the ball gluing the twine making sure that all the Styrofoam is covered.

I then poke another clove in the bottom of the ball.

Cut a 3 inch piece of twine and a 3 inch piece of ribbon, glue them together in the center. hot glue onto your ball.

Using that handy glue gun I just decorate the outside of the twine ball with the cinnamon stick a few cloves, berries and ribbon.

So simple :) Unfortunately my little helpers couldn't do much to help with this craft due to the hot glue gun, but they had some great ideas on what I should decorate them with.

Scented Pine Cone Ornaments

Nothing like combining a nature walk with the kids into a day of crafts.

First thing we did was go collecting, we collected sticks and pine cones in the woods behind our house. I placed them all in a large plastic bag and added Cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. I wanted my pine cones to hold the smell so we left the bag for about a week shaking and mixing it everyday.

Things you need:

sticks

pine cones

glitter glue/ or white glue with glitter

hot glue gun

cinnamon sticks

whole cloves

cinnamon and nutmeg

birds (found mine at the dollar store)

ribbon/beads

Using the glue sprinkled with glitter, we decorated the tips of the pine cones and the sticks and left them to dry.

When they were dry, the decorating started.

I was lucky to find these little Christmas lights in the scrap booking section of the dollar store.

I glued them down the pine cones. Added the Cinnamon sticks/ little birds perched on top our pre scented sticks, ribbon for hanging with the hot glue gun.

Super easy, and the kids loved this craft from start to finish.

Dried Orange Ornaments

This year my focus is the smells of Christmas. These dry oranges smell so good and are another very easy craft for Christmas.

I wash my oranges first and dry them well.

The large oranges with a thinner skin work best.

Slice the oranges about 1/4 inch thick

place orange slices on paper towel then poke whole cloves around the edges.

I then cover the oranges with more paper towel and blot them to remove the excess juices.

Lay oranges on a cookie sheet and bake at 200 degrees for 4-6 hours

On this tray I also added 2 half oranges that I scraped out and put cloves around the top. I am thinking of using them as a nest for some of our left over pine cones and sticks from our nature walk.

Flip the oranges every hour or so so make sure they dry on both sides.

You can also decorate the oranges with glitter/paint/wire ect. I chose to leave mine natural with just a ribbon and some beads as I liked the look.

When placed in front of Christmas lights on the tree the light shines through showing all the veins of the orange and the smell of the orange and cloves fill the room.

I will post pictures of all my ornaments on my tree when we get it put up:)

Apple Cinnamon Ornaments

I love the smell of these ornaments and making them is so simple.



Ingredients
1 cup of cinnamon
1 cup cup of apple sauce
1/4 cup of white glue

Add all ingredients in a large bowl
Knead the dough then wrap in plastic wrap
I prefer to let the dough sit in the fridge for about an hour.



Sprinkle your work area with cinnamon
then roll out dough aprox 1/4 inch thick, make sure it isn't to thin.



I used cookie cutters for my shapes.
Once you have all your shapes cut out, take a straw or pen top and make a hole somewhere at the top of the ornament for hanging.
Place them on a cookie sheet and bake at 200 degrees for 2 hours, I flipped mine after an hour.

Once the ornaments are dry decorate them with glitter/stickers/jewels/paint ect
I did a wire wrap hook for mine, but ribbon would be just fine as well.

These ornaments will last for years and maintain their smell .

Here's a few finished ornaments:)