Homemade Christmas Ornaments
Hello, friends! It snowed recently where we are living, which would put anyone in that perfectly cozy, holiday mood. I knew as soon as I rolled out of bed and saw the big, chunky flakes falling from the sky that it was a day for play, baking, and making! A few of my favorite things. We pulled out some simple ingredients from our pantry and began to create some homemade ornaments for our tree.
It's taken a while to nail down exactly how we want our home to feel during Christmas. We are definitely not extravagant, nor do we completely ignore decor all together. Our family really enjoys simplicity right now, items from nature like a winter squash or a pine cone tucked in a small space, a sprig of pine clipped from our tree and placed in a mason jar. We just want little flourishes to remind us of the season we are in. However, our poor tree is looking pretty bare with just a few homemade decorations that we've made over the past couple of years!! We started making ornaments a few years ago out of felt and, though we love it, can only manage to make two or three each every December!
The art of making salt dough ornaments is extremely easy and not time consuming - two things that I really like! These are also super easy for toddlers and smaller children to get involved with and bigger kids to do all on their own! You can be super creative with paint and glitter or just leave them to their natural color, it's really up to you. Here is how to make some super cute salt dough ornaments with your kiddos this year:
INGREDIENTS + SUPPLIES
2 Cups Fine Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup Salt
1 Cup Water
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
1 Tsp. Ground Cloves
Holiday Cookie Cutters
Q-Tip
Twine
Craft Paint (optional)
Preheat your oven to 250.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, cinnamon, and ground cloves. Slowly incorporate the water, kneading the mixture together with your hands until a soft dough forms. It should be thick like cookie dough. If it is too sticky, add more flour. If it is too crumbly, add more water.
On a floured work surface, roll the dough out with a pin. With your cookie cutters, begin to cut out shapes in the dough. With a Q-Tip, remove the fluffy cotton end and use the stick to poke a hole in the top of each ornament. This will be used to hang the ornament after they are done baking. Please poke the hole before you bake them! If you wait until after, you will crack the ornament.
Place these on a non-stick baking sheet and place in the oven for 3 hours until completely hardened.
When they come out of the oven, let them cool completely or until cool enough to handle. This is the part where you can get creative! I decided to keep them natural colored as it fits our decor vibe best. If you want, you could paint, glitter, or make an icing out of graft glue and white paint! The options are endless. If I could do mine differently, I would probably paint them white. Thread a piece of twine through the hole and hang on your tree! They will smell delightful and bring about the memories you made making them with your littles. Have fun! (:
xoxo Kayla