A Quick and Easy Homemade Gift: an Herb and Citrus Swag

A homemade gift comes straight from the heart. It says you took the time to make something, and in today’s busy world, that really says you care.

This piece comes together so fast that you’ll be left with lots of time to enjoy the holidays with friends and family. If you have a cook in your life, this herb and citrus swag would be an awesome gift.

I glued the stems of the herbs under the braided ring. Don’t worry about eating the glue – the stem with the glue can be left on when you cut the herbal goodness off.

The ingredients you’ll need are few:

• 1 – 18″ Grapevine Swag. I got this 1 at Hobby Lobby.
• Herbs, I used Rosemary & Greek Oregano from my garden.
• Dried citrus, I used Tangerines from my neighbor’s tree.

I don’t have a dehydrator but drying fruit is easy to do. I sliced the tangerines fairly thinly and sprinkled about half of them with organic sugar to create a little shine and touch of sweetness. I baked them in my toaster oven at 180 degrees F for about 3 hours. I turned them over at the halfway mark. You can also easily dry lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruit this way.

The covered wire I used to attach the tangerines is fine gauge so as not to tear the thin fruit slices.

A tangerine slice is lovely to put in your tea or hot cocoa. I drink hot water with lemon and ginger so the sweet citrus slice really adds a nice flavor. Plus, they really add a lot of color (& keep that color) to this very natural looking swag.

I put the slices on in a meandering pattern which I think is a bit more interesting to the eye. This piece can be used on a table, or hang vertically or horizontally.

Of course, this herbal swag looks best when made the day you’re giving it. It comes together in 15 minutes and cost me a total of $4.30 to make, because I got the edibles for free. It would make a wonderful hostess gift and the grapevine swag can be used for another project after the goodies have been enjoyed.

Happy Yummy Holidays!

Nell