Hostess Gifts made easy!!

 Welcome!!

                A simple, easy project ,
      A  homemade  gift that everyone could use.

Christmas Potpourri........

ingredients you will need:

dried orange slices
dried apple slices
cinnamon sticks
star of anise
small pine cones
 dried lemon peel
whole cloves

I dry my own orange slices......
so easy to do........
slice them thin and then lay them on parchment
paper on a cookie sheet..........
at low temp in the oven 200 degrees .........
for about 2 hours.

Do the same with the apple slices.........

Once your fruit has dried..........
gather the rest of the ingredients....

I went out and picked my pinecones then washed them thoroughly.........
Let them dry in a warm oven ...... same as your orange slices............

Placed all my ingredients into a plastic bag...
give it a good shake then leave it  for about a week 
so the aroma or scents could take on the pinecones.

While this was curring...... I went about making
Cinnamon Dough shapes.......

These are used as tags or can go on the tree....

The ingredients you will need:
1 cup of applesauce....
1 3/4 cup of cinnamon.......
cookie sheet .....
parchment paper....

In a bowl add these ingredients.....
mix till the applesauce becomes dough....
roll out onto a flat surface and then 

Knead together .......   

Roll out a bit of dough to 1/4 " thickness and 
then use your cookie cutters to make the shapes.

I used stars, hearts and Christmas trees.

Use a straw to make a hole in the dough that
can be used to hang your ornament.

Lay out your shapes on parchment paper /cookie sheet and dry in a warm oven at 200 degrees  
turning them once, for 2 hours............

Once they have cooled you can add your 
hanger.......
I used twine........
I also used a chalk pen and added some sayings...

Now it's time to assemble your bags.

I use clear cello and cut them into squares....

then take a little bit of your potpourri
in the centre of the square..............
pull up the sides and tie tightly with raffia....
finish it off with a tag.........

Have fun with it.............

      Here are mine already to give out ........

          

           As always thanks for stopping by  
                         Linda