Cinnamon {Scented} Memories.

 

“Nose, nose, nose! And who have thee that jolly red nose? 
Cinnamon and ginger, nutmegs and cloves
And that, gave me my jolly red nose …” 

 

 

So I found this amazing recipe the other day while listening to Focus on the Family … 

 

Cinnamon scented Christmas ornaments.  I just KNEW the Ls and I had to try it.

And bonus … your house smells FANTASTIC afterwards. (Oh, and so does your vacuum if you use it help clean up your floor afterwards!)

 

Some of you may wonder why I do crafts so often with my girls. It’s a great way to connect with them when the day is just filled up with work, cleaning, laundry, cooking dinner, editing, proofing, uploading … oh, the list could go on and on … but when it’s Craft Time for the Ls, I stop everything. We shut down the laptop, we leave the duties behind, we pull out the glitter and glue, blast the music (in this case, Christmas music!), and have a beautiful time together.

I love it. And these are the moments I am going to cry over and miss when my girls are older and don’t want to do crafts with mommy anymore … sigh … 

 

And so I am going to share the recipe with you guys because you just have to try it out with your kiddies this Christmas and enjoy those beautiful moments together ….

 

Not only is super fun, and smells delicious – but it’s a really inexpensive craft … 

 

Here’s the recipe:

  • 1 cup cinnamon (Hello?! THIS is why your house – and your kids- smell so great afterwards!)
  • 1 Tbsp. cloves (I omitted this because I didn’t have any)
  • 1 Tsp. nutmeg
  • 3/4 cup applesauce
  • 2 Tbsp. white glue
  • cookie cutters
  • drinking straw
  • ribbon

 

Knead the ingredients together until it forms a dough. Collect your kids favorite cookie cutters. Sprinkle some cinnamon on the table and roll out the dough. And have some fun from there! You can make anything! And you can decorate it any way you want. We used sparkles, but you could paint, add eyes and create creatures – anything!
Make sure you poke a hole in the top to hang a string through so you can hang these lovely ornaments on your tree. 🙂 

When everything is all cut out, bake in the over at 200 degrees for a few hours (I baked them for just over an hour). Add a string and you’re done!

 

Lucia loved this craft …

 

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Note: these ornaments are NOT edible … LYLA! 

 

 

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That’s better. Roll it out …

 

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 … and create your shapes …

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 … add some sparkles (purchased at the Dollar Store) …

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… and your own personal flair …

 

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Um, Lucia got a bit distracted and took on a colouring task mid craft time. I just have to add, I’m so surprised with her dexterity! My goodness … she’s 22 months and can hold a pen like her five year old big sister. And she LOVES to draw and colour. 

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Maybe it’s right on target for her age to be holding a pen so well and maybe I’m just a silly ol’ proud momma.

Either way, it’s so cute when her face turns serious and she begins to write her ‘novel.’

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Okay, back to the cookies ….

 

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Don’t forget to poke holes in the top for the string … and then you can air dry them or bake them in the oven until they are hard. 
And you’re done! Easy and beautiful and full of homemade love and memories! 

 

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I’ve read online that these ornaments keep their scent for a long time …I look forward to pulling out the Christams box next year and smelling these cinnamon ornaments all over again …

 

… bringing back amazing memories of our little Craft Times together. xo

November 18, 2009 - 9:37 pm

Jenn I made these a few years ago, and it’s true…they do keep on smelling wonderful season after season!

November 18, 2009 - 1:35 pm

Anne Hi Gillian,

I used the Cinnamon recipe today with my little Montessori Class, they had soooo much fun and our classroom looks and smells beautiful….. thanks for sharing!

November 16, 2009 - 8:37 pm

Sarah It’s extremely impressive that Lucia is holding a pen properly at 22 months! You should be a proud momma!! I’m going to try that craft at our house tomorrow! Looks like fun!

November 16, 2009 - 9:42 am

Petra Lea Oh wow! These pictures look incredible. It reminds me of when I used to make scented orange decorations for our Christmas tree. I’d slow bake thick orange slices with studded cloves around them, then pat on drops of pure orange oil when they’d cooled & hang them from organza ribbon from our tree branches. Please post pictures of your Christmas tree when done! Do you know how (as a visitor to your blog since May) disappointed I was to scroll back to your earliest blogs & not find anything from last December?!

November 16, 2009 - 8:18 am

Audrey D. I am going to do this with my BC granddaughters when I go next week. Thanks!

November 16, 2009 - 7:48 am

Catherine If only I could be more like you….
Thank you for the recipe, I’ll have to try it, but I think I’ll wait until Greg can help out. I don’t think I could manage three kids and glitter and glue, since the twins like to eat glue :O

November 16, 2009 - 1:56 am

Mom Oh wow! Is Lucia growing up way too fast!!! I love that you are doing all these crafts with the L’s! Can’t wait to see them, when we get home! xo

November 15, 2009 - 11:43 pm

Kari you betcha I’m gonna try those ornaments!! to the store tmw for 1 cup of cinnamon.. i’m so excited to try it!