Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

Today, I'm excited to introduce Kathy, from Life on Lakeshore Drive.  Kathy is one of the sweetest bloggers I know.  She's always leaving me kind comments.  I'm thrilled to have her sharing a project on my site today.

Hi, everyone!  I am Kathy and I blog over at Life on Lakeshore Drive.   I am so honored to here today and participating in the 12 Days of Christmas with the talented guests.  I am a third-grade teacher by and a crafter by night.  I have 2 children in college, and I'm blessed with a patient husband.  If I'm not working on my latest project, you can find me on Pinterest!

Today I am sharing a fun cinnamon & applesauce recipe to make ornaments.  This is definitely not a new recipe, because I made some of these ornaments almost 20 years ago that I still use every year!  I have a few projects that I wanted to create using these ornaments.  This is a super easy and fun project to do with children, too!  The best part is they make your house smell divine.  There are so many recipes for these ornaments, but I followed the recipe from McCormick's.

These are the miniature ornaments that I made many years ago!  I store them in the jar, and they still smell wonderful.

You only need 2 ingredients:

• ¾ cup applesauce
• 1 (4.2 oz.) bottle of cinnamon.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.

Combine the applesauce and cinnamon in a bowl, and mix very well.

Once you have thoroughly combined the ingredients, form into a ball.   Go ahead and dig right in!  The easiest way to mix it well is with your hands!

Place on wax paper, and cover with wax paper.  Using the rolling pin, roll out to about ¼" thickness.  I like the look of the thicker ornaments best.

Cut out the desired shapes you want to use, and start over forming another ball and rolling.  Continue these steps until you have used all the dough.  Lay the ornaments on a cookie sheet, and make a hole in the top of each piece.  A coffee stirrer is the perfect size.  Poke the stirrer in the ornament, and give it several twists.  The stirrer picks up the dough and leaves a perfect hole.   Bake at 200 degrees for 2 -21/2 hours.

You can also let them air dry for 2 days.  I did have a few ornaments that wouldn't fit in the oven, and I didn't have time to bake another batch.  I will say that the cooked ornaments have a richer color than the ones left to dry naturally.

I made a double batch because I wanted to make a lot of the larger ornaments this time.

These ornaments can be used in so many ways!

The reason I made the larger ornaments this year was that I wanted to use them on a small Christmas tree in my kitchen.  I plan on adding the ornaments, the cookie cutters, and colorful ribbon.

The ornaments make adorable gift tags.  I used scrapbooking appliques to add initials, but you could also use paint pens or puffy fabric paint.

They make cute decorations in cloches or mini cupcake holders, or just tie them to the lid with pretty ribbon for a little extra Christmas cheer.

Other fun ways to use these ornaments:

• Make a wreath using the ornaments and cookie cutters
• Use them in a car or a drawer to make things smell good
• Glue them to a card and use them as nameplates for your Christmas dinner

I want to thank Heidi for the pleasure of sharing with you today. This is such a fun and easy project to do with children and make special Christmas memories that will last for many years to come. I would love for you to stop by my site for a visit.

Thanks, Kathy, for sharing your ornaments.  I made some of them when I was a kid, so they bring back great memories.  (I can still smell them!)