DECORATIONS : Home Remedies: A Commercial Break

Trim-a-tree shops are chock-full of novelty ornaments, but tradition reigns for those made at home.

Cost and sentiment are two reasons why the same ornaments are used year after year. Yet, new directions in tree decor do develop. One that is relatively inexpensive is to borrow from nature and plug the pine boughs full of dried hydrangeas, pomegranates and baby’s breath.

A few years back, bread dough ornaments were all the rage, first made at home, then mass-produced. Many are still hanging around.

Debbie Stapley of Laguna Niguel, host of The Learning Channel’s “Crafts & Co.,” says Styrofoam balls and dough ornaments are among the old standbys.

But use adhesive from a glue gun instead of straight pins. Once sprayed with glue, roll them in glitter or roll them in cinnamon and stud them with whole cloves. Dried rosebuds, potpourri or fabric also can be adhered to the balls with glue.

Stapley says she and her children made butterfly ornaments for their 1994 Christmas tree. Butterfly wings were cut from brown wrapping paper and decorated with colored stick-on dots. The bodies were painted clothespins. They also wrapped packages in brown paper and added the paper butterflies instead of bows.

One of Stapley’s favorite recipes for ornaments from the kitchen uses applesauce and cinnamon, lots of applesauce and cinnamon:

* Drain a half-gallon of applesauce through cheesecloth for 24 hours. Squeeze out any remaining liquid.

* Add four cups of cinnamon and mix to the consistency of cookie dough.

* Roll out the dough to a quarter-inch thick and cut into shapes of choice with a cookie press.

* Bake on cookie sheets at 175 degrees F. for about six hours, or until dry to the touch.

* Cool and decorate with dimensional paint available in crafts stores.

Stapley says the recipe should yield about three dozen inedible ornaments, each about 2 1/2 inches across. She says the ornaments, with a very strong cinnamon aroma, should last for several years.