Salt Dough Ornaments

Are you all getting ready for Christmas?

Our house is decorated and stockings are hung, but that's about it. Good thing Cade is spending extra time with the grandparents this weekend so I can help Santa out a little :)

To share a little Christmas cheer, we decided to give Cade's presents to them a little early. We went out like little elves and hand delivered his gifts Wednesday night.

Each box contained a handprint and footprint ornament that were hand-painted, as well as a few prints from his 9-month session.

The ornaments turned out perfect (thanks to my awesome painting skills, I know). Cody actually said "Those look good, I thought they were going to look like a kindergarten art project." 

Anyway, I totally Pinterest-ed the idea. There are lots of cute Christmas crafts for kids, but Cade is a little small to do a lot with paint other than eat it. And since both grandmothers LOVE ornaments, we thought it would be perfect.

I actually had to try twice to make these happen. The first day I tried Cade would absolutely NOT cooperate. He kept squishing his fingers and toes into the dough where I couldn't get a good imprint. I had almost given up and decided last week I would give it a try. He must have known I was desperate because he did perfect!

Cade had the easy job, because then the ornaments had to be baked (be prepared, it takes forever), cooled, and painted. I baked one evening, painted hands the next, and the feet after that.

If you're interested in making them, they're super easy just time-consuming.

You'll need:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup salt

1/2 cup water

(this is easy to double, which you'll need to do if you plan on making more than about 4 ornaments)

Roll out dough on wax paper, but leave about 1/2 inch thick to get a good impression.

Cut around impression with knife and place on baking pan.

(Don't forget to make a hole for hanging at this point, you won't be able to do it later)

Bake at 200 degrees for 3-3.5 hours.

I used acrylic paint to finish these. I bought red, black, white, and orange. You can mix white with a drop of red to make Santa's pink face, and the black and orange will make brown for your Snowman arms.

These are perfect gifts for family or just something sweet to have for yourself!