This time of year has me itching to craft everything more than ever! I just love making all my Christmas presents and decorations! Every house, street, shop, and tree is twinkling at Christmastime, filling the air with such a magical feeling -- I just wish the Christmas season was longer!!! I know some of you are thinking I am crazy, considering they start selling Christmas trees and decorations before Halloween! ;) It just seems the month flies by and it is all over before we know it! So, let's try to make the most of it with a few Christmas crafts!
This next project is a perfect weekend craft...salt dough ornaments! These are super-simple to make and even more fun to paint, decorate, and hang on the Christmas tree. So grab your kids and dig in!
To make the dough you will need: 1 c. flour, 1/2 c. salt, and 1/2 c. water.
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| Ingredients: 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup water |
Combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix until a sticky dough forms. Flour your working surface and your pin and roll out the dough to 1/4" thick.
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| Roll it nice and even! |
Use your favorite cookie cutters and cut out the dough. Don't forget to poke holes in the top of the ornament or on each side of the shape if you will be stringing it like garland (a bamboo skewer works great for this). Make the holes large enough because you will not be able to ream them once the shape is baked -- I learned this the hard way as a few of my stars crumbled to smithereens in my hand!!
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| Use your favorite cutters to make the shapes |
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| Place onto cookie sheet |
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Place all the shapes on a cookie sheet and bake them for 4 to 6 hours. Some of my larger shapes needed the full 6 hours in order to get really hard and brittle. Otherwise the middle will still be soft and a little squishy and they won't last!
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| Pop in the oven at 200 degrees for 4 - 6 hours! |
Decorate the ornaments however you want! For mine I wanted to paint them with acrylic paint and sprinkle them with clear, chunky glitter like snow!
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| Painted with acrylic and sprinkled with clear glitter. |
String them up with colorful string or thin ribbon for garland. For ornaments tie a loop through the top and hang it right on your tree!
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| My stars and snowflakes strung into garland for the mantel. |
You don't have to stick to Christmas ornaments, either! Use various shapes and colors to decorate a special present, make red and pink sparkly hearts for Valentine's Day, string colorful garland for a birthday party...The possibilities are endless!
Happy crafting and Happy Holidays!
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