Christmas decorations!

I wanted to go with a rustic, primitive, country look with my Christmas tree this year, so I got busy in the kitchen! :)
I am very happy with how it turned out!!

First I made dried orange slices....sooooo easy to make!
Then I made cinnamon ornaments! A little more messy than the oranges, but if you have kids, they would have a blast making these!

For the dried oranges, all you have to do is slice oranges (I will probably slice mine a little thinner next time, so that they will dry out faster), lay on a baking rack with a pan under it to catch any juice, bake in  a preheated oven at 250 for a couple hours (mine took 3 hours since they were sliced thicker). Just check on the every hour or so to make sure they are not getting brown. Let cool, & with a knife or something sharp, CAREFULLY!! poke a hole through the middle and pull the string through. And wahlaw! Your ready to decorate the tree!

OK on to the ornaments....

In a large bowl, mix together (by hand) equal amounts of cinnamon & applesauce.
I used 3 cups of each and it made around 4 doz. ornaments.
After mixture is mixed, dump out onto waxed paper. Now you can either use a rolling pin, or just smash out flat with your hand. For myself I found it easier to use my hand for this step. (like I said, kids would LOVE doing this!) When you get it to the thickness that you like, use a variety of cookie cutters to cut the shapes, then using a straw, poke a hole at the top of each shape, so you will have a hole to hang them by.
After shaping, poking, smashing, and whatever else you want to do...(lol)
Place on baking rack with pan underneath, and bake in a preheated oven at 250 for about 2 hours. Again like the oranges, it depends on how thick you make these to how long they take to dry out.
Let cool and they are ready to hang!
Now I left mine plain, for the rustic look, but if you would like, you can paint & decorate these.

Hope you enjoy these 2 'homemade' Christmas decor ideas!