Orange you Glad!

After weeks of school, utter exhaustion, vacations, and life getting in the way...Emilee and I are finally getting to hang out and have a Pinterest/Pinstrosity day! We're pretty excited about this and we have some fun projects in the works that we'll show you in a few days.

 

 

With summer rolling in I've been trying to find summery and cheap ways to liven up the décor and to add some fun summer pizzazz to the house. I love having the windows open, the breeze blowing in, and all the summer smells sifting around. I have been trying to think of things I could leave on the windowsill to pretty things up and maybe add some nice summer scent. I hadn't gone as far as looking on Pinterest yet...wasn't that motivated yet, but one nice thing about this blog is that sometimes ideas come to us in forms of submissions. Sarah-Jane sent us a Pinstrosity she had on her windowsill and, this may seem odd since it didn't work so well for her...but I think I'm going to try it.

 

The Original Pin:

 

Sarah-Jane says, "The idea is to peel an orange in one continuous piece and then use the peel to make cute orange-scented decorative flowers or roses by rolling them up and letting them dry out."

"Attached are my versions. In the first picture you might notice the 'orange roses' are on a plate full of crumbs, that's not where I was keeping them after I made them (they were on my windowsill) but I put them there when I realised what was happening..."

"First of all I was quite pleased with the result and even as the peel dried a bit, the edges became more crinkled and petal-like. However, I started to notice an ant crawling around on my window sill. Now, I'm a very clean person and never leave food lying around. I had a closer look at the orange-roses doing their job prettifying my window sill, and noticed something else starting to bloom in the middle of the orange-rose peel..."

 

The Pinstrosity

 

Mold!

 

 

 

Sarah-Jane definitely didn't like the direction these took. "I don't really know what other conditions I could have put them in so that they would dry out without going mouldy but this was definitely becoming a health hazard, especially if ants were being attracted to my room. The orange-roses were destined for only one place - the compost heap!"

 

I'm so sad that these didn't turn out! I love how the original ones look in the Pin. Here are my thoughts on this. If you're leaving these out in the open to dry out, your climate will make a huge difference. My sister just moved from Mississippi and she said that if her little boy spilled water (or drooled) on his shirt and they just threw it in the hamper, the next morning it would be stained with mold. Humid climates will not allow an orange peel to dry out completely. Out here in the Southwest, I think these would work great. In fact I know they would because I've left orange peels out on the counter (I wish I could say I was as clean as Sarah-Jane) and they've dried out almost within hours. You may be able to dry these out in the oven (lowest temp possible!)...but that's just a guess...never tried it before. If you do live in a humid climate, you'll need to dry these out before setting them out, or they will most likely mold.

 

I think I need to get me some oranges and try this out, because I love how those look! Thanks Sarah-Jane for sending this in. I'm sorry yours didn't work out...but I'm glad to have the idea now!

 

I hope you all have a great Saturday! We're off to rummage sales to find the perfect touches for our projects. Have a most wonderful Memorial Day weekend!