Christmas Eve Craft Tutorial: Salt Dough Ornaments

Cutting out stars

With the holidays upon us, and my two year old up to his neck in the Christmas spirit, I thought it would be a fun idea to get him into the Christmas crafting spirit as well! After much careful thought, we decided to make up some salt dough and personalize some ornaments made by Benjamin to add to our Christmas presents! He had a blast making and decorating them (and getting a little messy in the process!) and I know that the grandparents are going to adore them!

Making holes

Here's what you will need:
-2 cups of flour
-1 cup of salt
-1 cup of water (approximately... I needed a little more)
-Mixing bowl
-Wax paper
-Cookie cutters
-A pencil, pen, crochet needle... Something to poke holes with!
-Baking sheet
-Paint (we used the acrylics that we had lying around the house!)
-Ribbon or twine

1: Combine your flour, salt, and water in a mixing bowl and mix together until you get a dough consistency. I needed a little more water than 1 cup.
2: Put your dough on your wax paper with a dusting of flour and work it out until it no longer sticks to your hands!

Painting, toddler style!

3: Use your cookie cutters to cut out shapes and use your pen or pencil to make a hole. I used a crochet needle to make my holes and it worked great. Bake in the oven at 300 degrees for 15 minutes, then flip your ornaments and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Let them cool before decorating.
4: Time to decorate!! We were super simple and just used acrylics and finger tips, but you can get really creative with glitter, markers, more paints, or ribbons and buttons to glue on!
5: Add a ribbon for hanging and you have the perfect ornament, stocking stuffer, gift tag, or homemade gift for a grandparent!

Merry Christmas, everyone, and I hope you have a safe and happy holiday!