Cinnamon spice box

Hands-on time: Less than an hour.
Skill: Easy and kid-friendly.
Cost estimate: $10 each (frame costs can vary).

Materials & Tools

• Shadow-box frame, 5-inch by 6-inch by 1 1/2-inch deep
• Pencil and ruler
• Two Cinnamon sticks
• Gardening clippers
• Glue gun and glue sticks
• Assorted dried flowers (clover buds, bamboo roses, rosebuds, clover spices)
• Pumpkin seeds and eucalyptus leaves (available at craft and dollar stores)
• Gold mesh wire ribbon (half an inch wide)
• Scissors

Cinnamon spice boxes make great decorative accents for the holidays as well as unique teacher's or hostess gifts. They are also easy to make at little cost. This project creates a dried floral collage in three rows inside the shadow-box frame.

At your work area, take the shadow-box frame apart. Using only the backing board part for now, set aside the rest of the frame. This project is basically creating a dried floral collage in three rows. Using the pencil and ruler divide and mark the board into three equal horizontal parts.

Begin by cutting the cinnamon sticks with gardening clippers to fit across the board horizontally. Apply hot glue to the back of the two sticks and then secure them into place on the backboard along the lines that divide it into three parts. Glue the rosebuds into place to fill the first row. Glue the bamboo roses into place to fill the middle row. For the third row, glue on the clover buds and large pumpkin seeds.

Eucalyptus leaves are secured around the top and bottom borders of the back board. Finally, glue and apply some clover spices as accents throughout the montage.

Cut the gold ribbon, create a simple bow, puff the wires for fullness and then glue onto the exterior border of the frame. Add a small eucalyptus accent branch. Put the backing board back into the frame and secure using glue if desired.

Variations

• You can substitute any of the dried flowers in this project with just about anything else, like lavender, pressed flowers, tiny pinecones, small dried fruits, orange peels, assorted leaves or a mélange of seeds.