Cinnamon Gift Tags and Ornaments

Now that Christmas is just a few weeks away, I can officially start getting ready for the holiday! I spent the weekend tackling little projects that I've been looking forward to, including these Cinnamon Gift Tags and Ornaments. I'm sure you've seen these before - they're like cinnamon cookies that you don't eat, but they last forever and smell delicious!

1. Admittedly, I hadn't made these cinnamon ornaments/tags before, so after some Internet research I found a recipe that seemed ideal: cinnamon (of course), ground cloves, ground nutmeg, applesauce (really?!) and glue (I don't have white glue lying around, I I substituted with some modge podge). If you want the exact recipe, I've included it below!
2. According to the recipe, I measured all the ingredients and poured them into an old bowl. I was a little nervous that the project woudn't clean up well, so I used old utensils, etc.... but I was pleased to learn that everything cleaned up without an issue- what a relief!
3. After a bit of mixing (I found it was easier to just use my hands), the dough came together.
4. So I sprinkled some cinnamon on my counter top, and prepared to roll out the dough with a rolling pin.

Once the dough was an even thickness, I cut out my ornament and tags using a cookie cutter. I wanted some of my holiday gifts/decorations this year to represent my Swedish heritage, so I used a Dala Horse cookie cutter.

And in order to make the holes for my ornaments/tags, I used a plain, ol' drinking straw to punch holes in the dough.

In no time at all, I had cut all the dough and put it on cookie sheets lined with foil. Then I placed the pans in a warm oven for several hours to dry out.

Once they were dry (and my apartment smelled amazing), I couldn't wait to see how my tags/ornaments had turned out. 

I grabbed some ribbon to hang the ornaments...
 

And threaded some ribbon through the tags to decorate some holiday packages. 

This was a really fun and easy project that I hope will become an annual tradition! And since all of the ingredients were so inexpensive, I can certainly afford to make a few more batches... maybe even this year!

Non-Edible Cinnamon Ornament/Tag Recipe
-1 cup cinnamon
-1 tablespoon ground cloves
-1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
-3/4 cup applesauce
-2 tablespoons glue (or in my case, modge podge)

CINNAMON GIFT TAGS AND ORNAMENTS SUPPLY LIST
Non-Edible Cinnamon dough (see above for recipe)
Rolling pin
Cookie cutter
Cookie sheet
Oven (optional)
Scissors
Ribbon