orange craving

if you have been reading my blog for a while

you already know that right about this time of year I get a big orange caving

I dry slices in the oven

.... and then use them to make stuff (of course!)

how I dry my orange slices:

slice the oranges relatively thinly - about 1/4 inch thick I guess

lay out on wax paper on a cookie sheet

bake at 200 degrees (f)

check every hour - flipping the slices over is a good idea too

do this until dry (about 3 hours?)

... and save the end bits!

drop them into a saucepan with a cinnamon stick and some water

simmer and smell .... my, oh my, it's like heaven

and then comes the fun part

... making stuff!

like these ornaments

ornament DIY ingredients:

dried orange slice

hot glue pieces of lichen in the middle

hot glue a deconstructed pinecone on top of that 

(or some other kind of bead, button or bauble)

dip in melted beeswax 

(beeswax: a fantastic preservative - and it smells great too)

 .... here's a link to the wreath I made last year ....

drying hydrangeas

... now is a good time to get going on it!

{ blooms picked today and set to dry }

there are a couple of ways to dry them -

well, three actually

1. water drying

2. hanging them upside down

3. air drying (the easiest)

{ this is how they should look at picking time: leathery and thick }

guess which way of drying them is my favorite?

{ I picked these about 3 weeks ago }

the easiest way!

{ I love using the dried blooms in a wreath }

how to do it?

pick them, strip the leaves, plop them in a pot - no water added

 they will dry out in a week or so

{ they keep their color for about a year }

FYI:

all of my hydrangeas are of the Nikko Blue variety

(although our soil tends to give them a purplish color)

celebrating a birthday

my youngest is eleven now

and all I can say is, "where did the time go?"

and I've been thinking ...

will the next eleven years fly just as quickly?

so I embrace the child and savor the day

the party garlands I made by:

folding squares of paper cut from magazines and attaching them to string

threading small pony beads onto ribbon

threading larger glass beads also onto ribbon

and the inimitable crepe paper garland I love so much

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the wonderful birthday tablecloth is Restoration Hardware (circa 2001)

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and the sky is last night's sunset