Abigail Lea: Salt Dough Ornaments

I remember making salt dough figures and shapes when I was a little one in pre-school and even some in elementary school. It was a fun craft. I remember the way it felt in my hands and even the way it tasted. :) But what all of the Moms in pre-school loved and remembered was the little hand print shapes in the dough, knowing their kids would grow and if it didn't break a hand print was stuck in time and a treasured keep sake. I am now on the opposite end of this craft and one who wants to freeze these little hand prints in time and keep them on my Christmas tree... sighs.

I live for moments, crafts and adventures that take me right back to sweet memories I had as a child but what a true blessing it is to be an adult and have an opportunity to experience it all over again from a different view point and with new eyes. I love sharing moments like this with SM & E.

Excited to pass this craft on and make some keep sakes for our 2013 Christmas tree we had to do this! In a small window of time my kids and I were able prepare the salt dough and make our shapes. We then left the shapes out to dry for several hours and then baked them for about 3 hours at a low temperature. We then painted, decorated and hung them on our tree! I hope you can pass this along to your kids this holiday!

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 cup salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup warm water

Eve adding in the salt


This does get messy :)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Mix salt and flour in a large bowl.
2. Stir in the warm water and mix well until it forms a doughy consistency.
3. With your hands form a ball with your dough and kneed it for at least 5 minutes. As you need the dough it will get smoother.
4. Shape and press your dough onto a flat surface and either cut shapes out with a cookie cutter or shape them as you wish. We decided to shape our own circle and put a handprint in the dough and cut around the hand.
5. To add a hole in the dough use a straw to remove a small circle from the dough.


I used a knife and cut around the hand print after the impression was made.

You can paint your ornaments or shapes with acrylic paints and seal them with a varnish or polyurethane spray. The kids loved being a part of all of the salt dough ornaments steps the making, the baking and the painting.