A handmade Christmas part three: Cinnamon sticks

Nothing says Christmas quite like the sweet smell of spices. This is a decoration that will look lovely on your tree, and make your house smell delectable too.

The first thing you need is cinnamon sticks. I very much doubt even the most avid crafter will go out and harvest the inner bark of cinnamomum trees to make their own sticks, so you don’t need to feel bad about buying them. I would stay away from buying the normal sticks that you find in supermarkets though, they can be bought much more cheaply through floristry supply shops. They are more hollow than the ones used for cooking, but still look and smell just as good.

Firstly you need to bundle the cinnamon sticks, I arranged mine into little piles of three. Bind the sticks together using hot glue gun, if you don’t have one ordinary craft glue will do, the bundles will just need to be left to dry for longer. Once the glue is dry use a piece of coloured ribbon to tie around the sticks. Raffia or sting would work just as well it’s purely a matter of personal taste. I used red ribbon for all of my decorations. 

Once the cinnamon sticks are tied together you can add an extra loop of ribbon can be attached to the existing bow, or fixed onto the bundle using glue, to make a hanger. 

Bundles of cinnamon sticks hung on a tree look and smell really lovely, but they can be used for all sorts of other Christmas crafts too. Try using the assorted bundles to make table decorations, or add to a plain Christmas wreath for a personal touch. 

A handmade Christmas part two: All natural baubles

My next lot of decorations can be bought from just about anywhere in the run up to Christmas, but it’s always more fun to make your own.

For my all natural baubles I decided to use pine cones. I absolutely love pine cones, and think they make a great addition to just about any Christmassy craft. If you’re not as fanatic about pine cones as I am, whole nuts work just as well. Walnuts in particular look lovely hanging from a tree.

First of all I collected a mountain of pine cones (If you’re not lucky enough to have pine trees near your house, they can be purchased quite cheap from floristry wholesalers).

If you collect the cones yourself leave them in a warm place for a few days to dry out and fully open up. Once the cones are dry they are ready to be painted.

Metallic paints work really well with the earthy wooden colours of pine cones, choose a colour that matches your theme, I used a combination of gold, silver, and iridescent glitter spray paint (poster paint works just as well, but will take a little more time). If you are using spray paint be sure to do it in a well ventilated area, and leave the paint to dry over night.

Once the paint is dry, tie string, or ribbon into a loop, and secure it to the top of the pine cone using a hot glue gun. Alternatively, metal decoration hangers can be purchased from most craft shops, these can be simply pressed into the top of the pine cones.

When the glue is dry the decorations are ready for hanging.

As alternatives decorations I used the same process to hang acorns

and London plane tree fruit.

The great thing about crafting with natural items such as this, is that they need so little work to end up looking lovely. I’m going to fill a clear glass vase with my left over cones to make table decorations for when the family are over.