Free to Be with Nishaan Sandhu: Herb Filled Holiday Ornaments! (DIY)

Merry Christmas everyone! After three wild weeks of my final days with my practice for the coming year, I have finally found time to share this holiday herbal ornament post!

Making Holiday Magic

Rose petals, Paprika,
Pine Cones, and Elder
Berry, Glass Ornaments.

I woke in Louisville at 6 am after a fantastic visit with my partners family. We sprang from bed, hopped a plane, landed in Baltimore by 9:30am, and cabbed to my sister's house for our first Sandhu Christmas together in years. Only my mother, Marty and I were in on the surprise!

A Much Welcomed Surprise

Both my sister and I teared up once she realized the carolers singing at the front door were actually Marty and I. It was some of the best holiday magic we've had in years. This whole season has been pretty enchanting...filled with holiday parties and crafts.

I have found over the years that as we get older, we have to make the holidays what we want them to be, otherwise, they just fly by!

Christmas Eve was the most special holiday while growing up with my mother and sister. I have memories are filled with wonderful foods, delicious smells, candles, Celtic music, family, ,and friends. My mother would always cook enough for an army...seriously. It was also filled with fun crafts...to me all these things are what made holidays so magical!

So, I wanted to share with you these herbal glass hearts and mini-pine cones I made into ornaments this year in case you felt so inspired to make them too! They are super simple, look magical as they hang from a lit up tree, and make wonderful gifts!

Glass Heart Inspired

While visiting a craft store last month, I ran into these sweet little glass heart ornaments.... They were just waiting to be stuffed with something special from nature...

At the time I thought it would be the perfect little mini terrarium, but, also decided on dried herbs for this year's tree.

I think i may make little single terrarium hearts another time...with some itty bitty tweezers!

So here is a chronological "how to" photo montage on how to make herbal heart shaped ornaments. :) I hope you enjoy!

What You Will Need:

1. Empty glass ornaments of any shape

2. Dried herbs for stuffing

3. Ornament hooks or pretty ribbon so you may hang them from your tree or window

4. Other nature objects, such as shells and pine cones.

Put Anything On A Hook (With Love)

Found mini Pine cones.

At home, I tend to love mix rustic things, and a feeling of enchanting woods with a mix of sparkly things and exotic, bold touches of color and a variety of textiles...ooh and gold things too. Anyhow, I digress. My point is, these ornaments can go in any direction!

Here are a few things I tried out, and a few I dumped out.. and tried again. I ended up going with mostly bold colored herbs, as they offered such beautiful contrast from the tree! Though, I do love lavender and moss...they tended to fade into the background of our tree in a white room.

Choosing Your Natural Objects...Use Anything!

I simply opened up my kitchen cabinet and tried out different things.

My favorites in the long run were the hearts I filled with Red Root, Moss, Paprika, and Cinnamon.

From left to right:

Turmeric, sea salt, moss,

Sea salt, moss, fennel and sugar coated fennel,

Rose petals, paprika, more rose petals,

Cinnamon, more turmeric and fennel mix

The few things I would suggest to pay attention to :

1. Weight-Don't use anything heavy enough to pull the ornament from the top. (Sea salt, stones, etc.)

2. Color-I poured and re-poured several different herbs before really deciding what colors I liked best. Though I love lavender, moss, sea salt, and fennel, they did not really "pop" from the tree in the same way that paprika, turmeric, rose petals, and cinnamon.

3. Dryness of material: I loved the way bright red magnolia seeds looked behind the glass...but, they were still a little moist and already fairly stinky! I ended up taking them out to avoid a stinky mess for next year. Also...I felt like the seeds were ready to be composted and put back to the earth, not stored in a glass jar.

4. Level of Fullness: Some herbs and plant material look best when they completely fill the heart, while others look great half full...play around, see what speaks to you! I have some ideas for making some with a mixture of herbs in patterns too, yay!

First, To Make.... Turmeric Hearts!

Turmeric is known to stain...so unless you like to live on the domestic edge like me, don't put them in a room with a white carpet...eh hem. They are heavier than the other herbs I chose, but, too vibrantly beautiful for me not to take the risk!