Dried Citrus and Holiday Decor
Affordable and Elegant Holiday Style
This little project ticks all the boxes! It is EASY, affordable, makes your home smell devine, and creates the most elegant color palette for holiday.
One of my favorite parts is that this DIY transcends the classic red and green look and is perfect to don your home through the entire winter!
Ok, so let’s get started. Depending on how many you’d like you can determine how much citrus to purchase. I use lemons and oranges. I find that anything larger than an orange, grapefruit for example, doesn’t look as pretty dried but do what works for you!
I used 4 lemons and 6 oranges. Be mindful when purchasing, that citrus shrinks in size when it is dehydrated.
Slice your citrus. If you wash it, make sure you dry it fully, you don’t want to have citrus slip and land in the ER with a knife cut before you even get started! You want to create very thin even slices. I use my mandoline slicer, one of my favorite kitchen gadgets, and it is a breeze. It also helps when dehydrating because everything is drying at a similar rate and you can avoid burning.
Next lay down some paper towels or a kitchen towel. Place the citrus in rows and then place another towel on top. Press down to absorb as much liquid from the citrus onto the towels. This helps speed up the dehydrating process so it doesn’t take all day.
Place a sheet of aluminum foil on your baking sheets and spray the foil very lightly with a non stick spray and lay your citrus on the foil. you do not want your slices to touch. Place them into a 200 degree oven. After 1.5 hours I flip the slices over and let them continue baking. Every oven is different so be sure to check every 20-30 minutes for the next hour or so until you see them turning the lightest golden color.
Now you can create so many things with dried citrus but I will share the two ways I used them this year.
Potpourri
Wreath decor
To make your own potpourri, all I have to do is take a quick spin around my yard to collect the sweetest mini pinecones. You can also certainly purchase these at a craft store. Place the contents into a Ziploc bag and drip Fir Needle, Clove and Cinnamon oils to your desired strength. Let the mixture sit, sealed overnight. In the morning place your cones in a display dish you like. I used my grandmother’s crystal candy dish. Add your citrus slices and a few cinnamon sticks and you’re set!
To create a wreath, take 3-4 slices of citrus and hot glue them together making little clusters. Once dried, glue a piece of floral wire to the cluster as pictured below
Once you have created all your wired clusters, twist them into your desired locations on your wreath. Tie with a satin ribbon and TA-DA!
Wishing you the happiest of holidays this year!!
