DIY dried orange slices – Cozy Christmas Decor – Cozy Living

Hello friends! Welcome to December’s cozy living post! Seeing as it’s December I thought I’d share one of my favourite go-to projects today, it’s something I do each year for our Christmas decor. Sliced oranges add such a sweet natural touch to this time of year, the dried orange slices almost look like stained glass when hung in the windows or in front of Christmas lights. I think they look very old-fashioned and simply love the entire process.

Cozy Living

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DIY dried orange slices – Cozy Christmas Decor

I LOVE using dried oranges in my vignettes! I do this project every year, it’s an autopilot kind of activity, do you know what I mean by that? By the time I get to posting any photos (of the final decor) I get all of the questions, how do you dry your oranges? Doh! I never think to do a tutorial. This year, I remembered, YAY! This is how I do it. 

How-to

You will need oranges, a cutting board and a very sharp knife. I now use a food dehydrator, but I’ve also dried my oranges in the oven and that works beautifully too.

The oven method, place sliced oranges on a sheet of parchment on top of your baking sheet. Preheat oven to your lowest setting and place your orange filled baking sheet in the middle of your oven. This process takes a LONG time… it’s an all day drying process regardless of where you dry them. 

This little stem button (not sure if that is the technical name) should be on its side when you start cutting.

On its side like this.

Your first cut will be a “waste”, try to JUST cut into the juicy orange. The goal is to be able to see light through your slices when completely dried. 

I see the light, HA HA HA! The light you can see through the orange will increase as the orange dries.

Start slicing… I cut my slices at a 1/4″ thick – I find that this thickness has the best results once all dried. 

Sometimes there will be miss cuts… do not worry about it. I use them all! 

Layer all of your slices in your dehydrator. I plug this baby in and I leave it go for at least 16 hrs. If you want to cut your slices thiner, you’ll dry your oranges for less time or longer if thicker. 

More Cozy Christmas Decor

I really LOVE handing an orange garland in this large window, the way the light comes through these beauties is Christmas magic! 

This is how our bow-window looked last year.

This is how the window is looking this year. 

I LOVE how this little orange wreath turned out, just so charming and old-fashioned! 

And my favourite flea market find this past summer… Fresh frozen foods, I saw Christmas as soon as I spied it, I’m so glad I snagged it. I love the casual Christmas perfection of this! 

This little wreath is made from orange slices of Christmas pasts… I love the darker colour contrasted against the lighter orange slices. 

I think Orange slices and amber are an actual match made in heaven! 

Some orange slices have even made their way into our mantel decor this year. I’m a bit in love with how this looks! I will be sharing more of our mantel soon on Instagram, stay tuned! 

Thank you all so much for stopping in! xoxo What say you, do you like using oranges in your Christmas decor? 

The Cozy Living Team

YAY, I can’t wait to see what my friends are up to for December! 

Finding Silver Pennies / Vinyet Etc. / Making It in the Mountains

Duke Manor Farm / It All Started with Paint / Town and Country Living

Sincerely Marie Designs / Hymns and Verses / Creative Cain Cabin