How to Make Scented Christmas Garland

Scented Christmas garland makes a wonderful Christmas decoration for gracing a fireplace mantle or wall shelves. String the scented Christmas garland to add a festive look during the holidays and fill the room with a yummy cinnamon aroma. You can design your scented Christmas garland with different shapes to suit the holiday season. You can make snowmen, stars, Santa's, Christmas trees, gingerbread men etc. You can decorate them with designs, using colored felt or add shimmer to your scented Christmas garland with glitter and colored gems.

Materials:

muslin fabric
felt (several colors)
chalk
pencil
poster board
fabric glue
cinnamon (1 tablespoon per ornament)
cinnamon oil (1/8 teaspoon per ornament)
straight pins
pinking shears
glitter or colored gems (optional)
satin ribbon

Directions:

Begin by mixing the cinnamon and the cinnamon oil together in a small container. Set the mixture aside. Now you are going to make the spice packets for your scented Christmas garland. Begin by cutting the muslin fabric into 2 - 2" circles, or small enough to fit into your ornament, yet large enough to hold a tablespoon of the cinnamon mixture. Place the 2 circles of muslin together and sew around the edge, leaving an opening large enough to insert the tablespoon of cinnamon inside. Turn the circle inside out and fill it with 1 tablespoon of the cinnamon mixture. Sew the opening, closed. Continue this step, to create all of the spice packets needed to fill the ornaments that will make up your scented Christmas garland.

The next step is to design the shapes that will be the ornaments for your scented Christmas garland. On the poster board, draw a design for each Christmas ornament (to create a template), this can be done free hand or you can use cookie cutters. If you use cookie cutters to make your shapes, be sure they are a good size and trace them from the outside of the cookie cutter so the ornaments aren't too small. Now fold a piece of felt in half and place the template on top. Using the chalk, outline the template. Now remove the template and cut out the shape of the Christmas ornament along the chalk line, making sure to cut through both layers of felt.

Now lift the top layer of felt and insert a spice packet. Replace the top piece of felt and line up the edges. Pin the ornament together and sew a 1/4" seam around the edges. Cut around the edge of the Christmas ornament with the pinking shears to give it a decorative finished edge. Repeat this step, for all of the Christmas ornaments.

Now you can decorate your Christmas ornaments using different colors of felt, glitter or gems.

There are 2 different options you can use, to assemble your scented Christmas garland. Just choose the option you prefer.

Option #1

Gather the Christmas ornaments you just made together. Take an ornament and make a hole on each side. Insert a piece of satin ribbon approximately 12" long through the front side of the hole, to the back. Pull the ribbon across the backside of the ornament and insert it into the hole and out the front side of the ornament. Set it aside and complete this step for each ornament. Once all of the ornaments have a strip of ribbon running through them, begin tying the ornaments together with the ribbon creating a bow in between each ornament. On each end of the scented Christmas garland tie the ribbon into a small loop for hanging.

Option #2

You can use a long strand of jute for your garland or use fabric scraps to create a braided garland. Then make a hole in the top of each Christmas ornament and insert a strip of ribbon long enough to tie the ornaments to the jute or fabric braid, making sure to position them an equal distance apart, along the garland.

You have finished crafting your yummy scented Christmas garland!

Hints: If you do not own a sewing machine, you can make the ornaments for your scented Christmas garland using a hot glue gun if you prefer.