Make Dried Orange Slice Ornaments, step by step

We are back to share the second half of our tree-decorating adventure (sped up with a bit of festive music to get you into the spirit). We last left off with this video of us setting up our pre-lit artificial (faux? reusble?) tree only to discover that a strand of lights in the middle of the tree was out. But fixing it was as straightforward as listening for the buzzing bulb and replacing it with one of the extras they included along with our tree. Then it was time for the ornaments, and this year we chose to deviate from our usual white/glass/silver scheme (seen here). Perhaps it was a weird citrus-pregnancy-craving-inspired decision, but out of nowhere I was jonesing for bright oranges, lime greens and lemon yellows… and a new color scheme was born. So here we are hanging some store picked up ornaments mixed in with a bunch of Hands-on ones that we whipped up on the low-cost. Oh yeah, and there is a swift shot of baby belly at the end for everyone on bump watch:

And because we like to include a little video rundown for those at work who cannot simply push play, here is a shot of our tree all citrus-ified thanks to a ton of orange and lime green ornaments we picked up (on clearance at Michael’s) along with a bunch of Hands-on ornaments that we made to truly hammer home our enjoy of all things lemon and lime (after all, it was the theme for our backyard wedding). And adding pops of orange truly complemented the green tree for a especially festive and lively wrapped up product.

We mentioned that beyond the glittering store-picked up ornaments we jumped at the chance to hand make a few “natural” accents, so John came up with the idea of drying slices of oranges and lemons and turning them into ornaments. Enjoy it. He’s truly the brains of this operation in case you folks have not noticed.

Not only was it a lively and unexpected way to bring more of that festive citrus color to our tree, but it merely set us back a few bucks for two oranges and three lemons at the grocery store.

And luckily when we googled “dried citrus” we in fact found a few walkthroughs (woo hoo!) and were thrilled when we pulled one up that was beyond plain. Step 1: cut citrus into quarter-inch slices.

Step 2: bake in oven on cookie sheet (in fact a cookie rack if you have one, but we did not so we made do) for 2-3 hours at 225 to 250 degrees, checking frequently to be sure nothing’s burning. It helps to crack the oven door from time to time to release a bit of the built-up heat to encourage drying as opposed to singeing.

After a few hours (and a bunch of checking) we ended up with gorgeously dried orange slices that we could not wait to add to our tree…

… and marginally less vivid lemon slices (they cooked less evenly and the seeds were a lot less attractive, so we’d recommend oranges over lemons for those of you looking to do something plain and stress free). Of course there were still some fairly lemon slices that we used as well (the good ones in fact looked like stained glass when they dried) so they were not a total loss.

Then we simply popped them onto fairly silver ornament hooks snagged for a few bucks at Pottery Barn (they are a smidge cuter than those green wire ones from Target or CVS) for a delicious looking end product that is especially eye-catching when it is illuminated by the lights on our tree (so we learned to hang them a few inches in front of a white bulb for that sweet “glowing” effect). Go-to project ever. And we ended up with dozens of ornaments for simply a few bucks.

*Bonus: we have heard that citrus can be used to discourage curious cats from climbing your tree, so if you have a faux or natural tree at home that you’d like to protect from a cat attack, these dried citrus slices might be simply the thing.

We also turned three dozen faux lemons (we grabbed two large plastic tubs of them for $8 each at Ben Franklin) into “ornaments” by wiring them onto the end of a bunch of branches on our tree- simply to inject more hits of yellow and add to our quirky citrus theme.

It was as plain as sticking “v-shaped” green wire (we purchased a spool of it for 99 cents at the craft store) into each of the foamy faux lemons so we could wind it around each branch to secure it. It was also a pleasant complement to all the hanging ornaments since we now had a bunch that appeared to be “sitting” on the ends of the branches. Straightforward and nearly mouthwatering, no? Again, perhaps it is a pregnancy thing, but I could eat an whole lemon every day of the week.

We also picked up some fairly green pears from Target last year (during an after-Christmas sale) that were meant to be used as vase filler (see the little pear in the bottom right corner of the photo below?) so we simply tied a loop of glittering silver ribbon to each of the stems to create a way to hang them up on the tree. Sure they are technically not citrus but they work with the whole edible theme- and they are ideal for our playful green, orange and yellow color scheme.

So that is the tree-decorating rundown for ya complete with all of the homemade “ornaments” that we fashioned from things like vase filler, faux fruit and real fruit alike.

We enjoy the punchy colors (which in fact fit right into our living room thanks to the lemon-yellow rug) and the glad vibe that it brings into our whole home for the ho-ho-holidays. Oh and stay tuned for more seasonal decorating posts along with our go-to roundup of low-cost-o holiday gifts coming soon.

But sufficient about us- we wanna hear all about your holiday decor. Do you have a new color scheme that you are dying to break out this year? Or a tried and true “theme” on your tree that makes you smile every year? How about those whose theme is to have no theme at all? Anyone with a penchant for popcorn garland or edible candy cane ornaments? Do tell.

Psst- Looking for more holiday decorating and entertaining ideas? Check out this post, this post, this post, this post, this post, this post, this post, this post and this post to tide you over until we share even more in the coming weeks.

Update: You can check out all of our go-to holiday decor finds here – many of which are under $15!