Holiday Craft: 2 DIY Ornaments

During naptime over the past couple weeks I have worked on two different types of DIY ornaments for our tree and to use as gifts.

First off were salt dough ornaments. I made these mainly as a keepsake ornament for Greta.  I did two hand-prints and two footprints, we are keeping a one of each and the two other are gifts for each set of grandparents for Christmas.  Before baking I stamped in the letters of her name using rubber stamps and then painted it in after they dried (there are tutorials that stamped using ink and it bakes in as well).  I also did some other shapes and painted them for gifts as well.

Here is the recipe and directions:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 cup flour

Directions:

1. Mix together the salt and water, then gradually add the flour and mix until combined

2. On a lightly floured surface, form the dough into a ball and knead for until a soft dough forms.

3. Roll out the dough to a ¼" thickness and cut out shapes with cookie cutters and then make imprints or stamp with rubber stamps.

4. Use a skewer to poke holes at the tops of the ornaments for string.

5. Place the ornaments baking sheet lined with parchment and bake at 200°F for 3 to 4 hours, then transfer to wire rack to continue drying overnight until firm.
6. Paint!

The next type were cinnamon & applesauce ornaments.  These make the house smell amazing while baking and the smell lingers as they hang on your tree, making it even more festive.  We don't have a real tree so we don't get the fresh tree smell to put us in the spirit - so these helped!  I made quite a few of these ornaments and I plan on using them as decorations when I wrap gifts for the family as well!

You can find the recipe and directions for these here.

Have you been working on Christmas crafts?  I can't wait until Greta is old enough to do these things with me! I can see making these two types of ornaments becoming a Christmas tradition!

Looking for some craft ideas? I'm linking up with Michaela & Cassie of Hi Sugarplum so click over for some other craft ideas!