Homemade For the Holidays - Ornamental Ideas

Applesauce ornament from allrecipes.com

Our tree is a patchwork of homemade ornaments. Needless to say, it isn’t elegant or beautiful and there is not a theme or color scheme. There are several homemade ornaments contributed from my childhood (my husband would love to retire them, but I‘m not ready for that). Some were made by extended family members, some by my siblings. The few store bought items came from distant lands or were found as a deeply discounted collection - imagine olive-wood angels next to stuffed-fabric Santas.

Each December at our house we sit down and makes new trimmings for the tree. My memories of Christmas ornament making go back to the year I turned 6. We lived on a farm in Missouri and everything we did to celebrate the season was homemade. That was the year I learned to:

1. Respect a needle while stringing popcorn

2. Coordinate my hands and eyes to make a Christmas count down chain with glue and alternating colored strips of paper

3. Consider services I could give as gifts for each member of my family. This was the year I learned about “Good Fors.”

This Christmas, our ornaments were made from a simple recipe of spiced applesauce. Last year we made origami ornaments, the year before that it was Christmas shapes in tin with a hammer and nails. Further back we used play dough, felt, and craft foam for our festive decorating ideas. You can imagine.

Click here for a tutorial on tin ornaments.
Click to get wrapped up in a fast and festive oragami lesson.

Above are pics of projects we've done in years past. Click the link for the site reference on the photo and step-by-step instructions. Below are photos and instructions for the applesauce ornaments we made this year. My advice:

Choose one good idea and make a bunch. Save the other ideas for another year.

Our tradition is to make our ornaments and send them to our extended family as well as use them for our own decorations. Over the years we’ve ended up with a mixed bag of interesting test projects - these are the ones my husband would love to find a new home for, and treasured homemade memories - the kids refer to them as “ornaments with history.”

Applesauce Ornaments

2 cups applesauce

2 cups cinnamon

Mix applesauce and cinnamon together until it is thick enough to hold a form when cut into cookie cutter shapes. Flatten the mixture on a flat surface and cut into cookie cutter shapes. Make hole with a straw before drying.

Place cookie shapes on a cookie sheet to dry for a few days depending on the size and thickness of the cookies. I sped this process up by drying for 24 hours and baking at 200F for one hour. Bulk cinnamon comes in handy. Add cinnamon, rather than flour to your rolling surface. Dough is stiff but workable. This recipe made 36 ornaments. Use a straw for the hanger hole. Dry for a day, bake for an hour.

Bulk cinnamon comes in handy.

Add cinnamon, rather than flour to your rolling surface. Dough is stiff but workable.

This recipe made 36 ornaments. Use a straw for the hanger hole.

Dry for a day, bake for an hour.

What are your great homemade ornament ideas?