Citrus season is upon us! You know what that means, don’t you? Elsie will be whipping up some tasty cocktails featuring the tart fruit, and I’ll be over here butchering oranges and lemons for holiday home decor. That’s right, I’m getting au naturel and turning food into Christmas ornaments. They smell great when you make them, and you can eat the leftovers. Sounds like my kind of craft!
Step One: Slice the fruit into 1/4″ slices and carefully remove the seeds. Use a wide blade knife to ensure uniform thickness of individual slices.
Step Two: Arrange the fruit slices onto a baking sheet and place in a warm oven set to about 150-170°F. Bake for 3-4 hours, flipping every hour until the fruit is dried, though not completely shriveled up. You want the slices to retain their color and not look brown around the edges.
I also tried a technique of air drying the citrus slices and was surprised at how quickly they dried out. It took about 4 days for them to get to a nice stiffness, though the orange slices curled up rather than staying flat as they did after baking them. (The lemon and lime slices didn’t curl.)
I love how the slices are a bit like little pieces of stained glass. The light shines through them creating a pretty orange glow. These citrus ornaments work great with a vase of evergreens, hung on a Christmas tree, or even strung up for a beautiful garland in front of a window. –Mandi
Credits // Author and Photography: Mandi Johnson. Photos edited with Stella from the Signature Collection.
57 Comments
These are so bright and warm, which I love as a contrast to all the cold and winter-themed ornaments you normally see. They look like little mini suns 🙂
Cat
http://oddlylovely.com
The crazy cat lady in me immediately fell in love with this. Not only is this beautiful but functional. Have a real tree in the home with a cat is dangerous because cats will eat the needles and hurt their insides, and pine is also a toxin to cats (DONT let them drink the water!). Citrus is a natural cat repellent! While it doesn’t work all the time, most cats don’t like the scent of citrus. Thank you for sharing this great project!
Love the way you have styled it on a tiny tree…so pretty…
xo
Hems
agoldentulip.blogspot.com
I make them every year for my tree! They make beautiful imitations of stained glass ornaments when the tree lights are on 🙂 Although I don’t bake mine. I let them dry on my radiators and fill the house with gorgeous scent. For the best christmas aroma you should try sticking some cloves in a fresh orange. You can get super creative with the patterns. They look and smell beautifully 🙂 see example: http://upload.polskawita.blue.pl/_files/documentsgalleries/13225714495134-62-pomander-cpr.jpg
Happy Christmas from Poland you guys!
They are so pretty! Can you re-use them year after year? Or should you make new ones each holiday season?
Love this idea! Definitely going to give it a try
So gorgeous, they look like dainty circles of stained glass! I love bringing dried fruits into home decor to feel a bit festive!
Emma xo http://thewallflowerwardrobe.blogspot.com/
They won’t stay pretty for longer than a month, usually, so you’ll want to toss them after the holidays. They’re so easy to make— and you really don’t need to bake them, either! If you plan ahead, you can lay them out to dry. -Mandi
What a lovely idea! It’d smell lovely!
GRWM: Everyday Make-up routine + IPAD MINI GIVEAWAY
I forgot about those adorable white star christmas tree thingys. (I’m sure you guys have a better title for them). So cute! Have to look those up on your blog and make this season.
earrings!!!
These are so pretty! Since we’re still building a good collection of ornaments, I could definitely fill in some spaces with these. They look elegant but simple and sweet at the same time. My toddler would love turning food into ‘ormaments!’
Ah I used to make these all the time as a kid! You’ve just brought back a whole raft of memories! Maybe that should be our decorating plan for this Christmas?
xxx
Chambray & Curls
Definitely decking the halls with this. Love it.
I love the smell of citrus at Christmas, it reminds me of tangerines in my Christmas stocking when I was small. I might have to make some.
Thank you
Jill
These are absolutely lovely! Mandi – one thing I always appreciate about your posts is that your projects are always affordable and/or you’re transparent about the budget. These are a great and affordable way for students to decorate a bit before going home for the holidays.
I just tried to dry oranges and apples a couple of weeks ago… And it didn’t go well at all!
This post would have come in handy then… I guess I’ll have to try again 🙂
Okay. LOVE these!!! Definitely going to do this. Great idea.
Seriously genius, and so simple! I love the way they look, and I bet they smell just as amazing!!
This is awesome! And it’d be so great to have the house smell citrus-y! How long would this keep though? I guess since it’s dried out it should last awhile… but it wouldn’t attract ants or anything? -Audrey | Brunch at Audrey’s
One Christmas tradition I haven’t tried. Looks fun. Love the styling on the branch in the last photo.
Such a cool idea. My mom and I would love to do something like this! http://sadityinthecity.com
I love natural Christmas ornaments. They’re also about the only ones my boyfriend will go for as he feels the store-bought ones miss the point. We’ll have to try this!
I’ve never seen anything like this before with citrus. Such a genius idea. I love it! Thank you for sharing! <3
This is an amazing idea, and so beautiful!! 🙂
XOXO,
Isabella
http://jarofturquoisesunshine.com
Mandi this is such a cute idea! I love the thought of using something that looks pretty AND smells good (and you can eat along the way, haha!) and citrus is always a great scent to have in the house!
xo
Kristina
http://www.eccentricowl.com
Oh my God! Great idea! Love it!
Lovely idea! I must try this out. Also if you add cloves into the oranges, It will create a lovely scent.
http://www.herdesignworld.com
Lovely idea! I must try this out. Also if you add cloves into the oranges, It will create a lovely scent.
http://www.herdesignworld.com
These dried citrus slices also look great in a fall wreath!
I made some of these in the oven with orange slices last year – the smell that filled the house was divine 🙂 going to try some other citrus fruits good idea 🙂 xx
http://joagepamplemousse.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/what-my-tree-wore.html
What a great idea, love it! And it looks so pretty
I love it, I am so going to try it this year. I love organic ornaments; I am a huge fan of pine cones (real ones that you gather yourself in the fall) in a Christmas tree.
What a great idea!! My orange tree has a ton on it right now and I’ve been trying to think of what to do with them b/c they are a tad too tart for my liking.
This is such a good idea! Thanks for sharing!
This is such a great idea! I think I would love to do it just for the awesome smell that would fill the apartment. It looks cute too!
Hi Audrey! They don’t really emit much of a fragrance, which was disappointing— I had hoped for that! Of course, they smell great when you make them, but once dried, you really have to get up to it with your nose to smell anything. Of course, like other commenters have mentioned, adding cloves would add a nice aroma! Oh, and about the ants— I unfortunately have some ant issues at my house, but these don’t attract them. Even when I laid out some to dry (rather than baking them), the ants left them alone and went after toddler crumbs instead. 🙂 -Mandi
thanks for sharing about the ants. i was concerned about that
these are SO cute!
xx nikki
http://www.dream-in-neon.com
These look beautiful and super easy to make too! I love the idea of stringing them up as a garland.
I’m determined to make these this year, they just look so traditional and festive! And to have the smell around the house will make everyone feel christmassy 🙂
Jenna || Jennafifi.co.uk
What a cute idea! I’ve never done this before, but it looks so easy! Perhaps I’ll give it a try 🙂
They are beautiful! Will they mold or go bad, though? That would be my only concern. I don’t have time to be checking my tree every day for mold.
Another great idea. What I love about your craft projects is that they are simple and do-able. They don’t need a huge list of ingredients or supplies. Thanks for making being creative that little bit easier!
I saw these somewhere else this week, I like the look of them. I may just make some and use them on a big sprig of rosemary or in a wreath x
This is such an amazing post! Thanks for sharing, I loved it! 🙂
As an added bonus, citrus is a natural bug repellant!
These will not mold if you have dried them according to the instructions. If they are not dried all the way, the may possibly mold eventually, though certainly not within a month. -Mandi
the hint of citrus scent in the room would be really refreshing, how long would they last?
awesome! does it make the room smell as good as you think it would?
http://www.waterlilyshop.com
@waterlilyshop
That looks so cool.
Great idea! I’m wondering how potently they smell…
I made orange slice ornaments for my Christmas tree two years ago. I had a completely edible tree: popcorn garland, cranberry garland, orange slices, candy canes, sugar cookies in the shape of snowflakes. I even topped it off with a giant snowflake sugar cookie at the top. It was time consuming to make everything, but decorating is half (ok, 3/4) the fun!
This is so cute! How long would they last for?
What about a good way to dry apples slices
This is such a great idea! Lovely 🙂
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