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Mom On Timeout

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Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments

Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments
In July I promised you some fun Christmas Crafts using salt dough and I’m finally bringing them to you. I actually made my first round in early November. They turned out beautifully and after I finished baking them I let the pan cool in the oven. A couple hours later I started dinner, preheated the oven, and proceeded to burn two batches of beautiful ornaments!  So sad!
So we made some more, and then ended up making a fourth batch so we could make these hand print ornaments. The kids love painting them (even the burned ones) so it wasn’t a complete loss. I’ll give you a brief rundown of how to do it and if you have any questions you can refer to my original salt dough tutorial here.

Make your dough using 1 c flour, 1/2 c salt, and about 1/2 c of warm water. (I usually double this.)  Combine the flour and salt and then slowlly add in enough water to form the dough. If you are wanting to make hand prints out of your salt dough – you will add more water because you need a looser dough. You want to be able to easily press your hand into the dough so make sure it is nice and soft. (You can also add food color to the dough if you want it all the same color.)  Knead the dough for 10 minutes and then let rest for another 40 minutes.

Roll out the dough until it’s 1/4 inch thick. My third batch this year I actually split the dough and rolled it out on two cutting boards so each of my boys could do what they wanted with “their” dough. Cut out the shapes using cookie cutters or even a knife will do. For the hand prints I used the top to a pitcher – it just happened to be the right size and worked great!



If are making ornaments be sure to poke a hole where you will be hanging the ornament from. Make sure it goes all the way through and that any extra dough is removed. Place the ornaments on a parchment-lined baking tray and bake for 4-6 hours (or until hard) at 200 degrees. You can also air dry but plan on several extra days for that.

Once the ornaments are hard and dry it’s time to decorate! Paints, glue, glitter, ribbon – you name it! I just let the kids go crazy and do whatever they want (plus I had lots of extras!)  Let the paint and glue dry.

I used a polyurethane spray on the ornaments to seal them so that they will keep beautifully but this step is optional. Hang up your fabulous creations with a pretty ribbon and enjoy! I just love this project because it’s super affordable and you can make it using whatever you have on hand. There’s no need to run out and buy a whole bunch of supplies. Here are some of our creations…

I particularly love the stockings with our initials on them. The cuffs of the stockings have glitter on them and it just turned out so cute! The hand prints are so special too. My little boys are growing up so fast and looking at their little tiny hands on future Christmases will be very sentimental. Really the possibilities are endless with salt-dough. I hope you and your family will create some treasured ornaments this holiday season!
Salt dough ornaments
 
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Comments

  1. Lyndee says

    How do you get your glitter to stick on the handprints? Do you spray/brush? This is the cutest idea ever…def going to be a new Christmas eve tradition for us!
    Adorable blog 😉

    Reply

    • Trish - Mom On Timeout says

      I dilute glue with a little water so the kids can “paint” it on. Sprinkle the glitter on top and let dry. I also like to spray a coat of polyurethane on top so I don’t have any glitter flaking off. Thank you for stopping by Lyndee! Merry Christmas!

      Reply

  2. Kelly says

    Just made the dough- it was so extremely sticky that I couldnt knead it at all. Ended up adding almost a whole extra cup of flour, and its still really sticky. What gives?

    Reply

  3. Lindsay says

    These are too adorable so I decided to try them with my little one, but I keep having an issue with them puffing up while baking. 🙁 Any clue what I could be doing wrong?

    Reply

  7. Katiria says

    You’re my new favorite site! I love these so much I’m going to try them this weekend. I looked around your site and I love your style. So glad I found you!

    Reply

    • Trish - Mom On Timeout says

      I diluted glue with a little bit of water and gave the kids paint brushes to “paint” on the glue. Add your glitter and let dry. I also sprayed a coat of polyurethane so I wouldn’t have glitter falling off 🙂

      Reply

  9. Dee says

    We make these every year and it is a great tradition. Our tree is filled with homemade ornaments. I also label them so my boys don’t try to eat them because they think they are cookies. LOL
    Dee, The CSI Project

    Reply

  13. Jen says

    Love this idea! Especially the stocking initial chain! Although mine will be more of like a tinsel on our tree as we have 6 kids. 🙂 I am definitely going to make these with my kids this weekend and let them give them as Christmas presents. I am going to make them as well for my customers! Thank you so much for the ideas!

    Reply

  17. Katrina says

    Hi what a lovely idea this is I’m going to try it today! Just one quick question will this go mouldy? I’m new to this homemaking I usually cheat and buy everything but my boys are at the age where they want to be more creative and environmentally friendly 🙂 xxx

    Reply

  19. The Sunshine Crew says

    Have lost track how many neat ideas I have pinned from your blog onto my Pinterest boards today.
    Would you like to be featured my Sunrise Learning Lab blog – under the section Pinterest Mama?
    Would feature you in January.
    Have a nice holiday weekend!
    Colleen

    Reply

  20. Carrie says

    Oh no about the ones you burned! So sad. Love the ones that did work out, though.

    Thanks for linking to Refresh Your Nest Friday, hope you join us again tomorrow!

    Reply

  21. Stephanie L. says

    Thank you for such great instructions! I followed them word for word because I was making these for the first time for an activity for my MOMS Club (i.e. they HAD to turn out because I had a whole group planning on decorating them the next morning) and the children all had fun decorating them. They are as fun as sugar cookies to decorate with no corresponding sugar high for the children!

    Reply

  24. Tammy says

    What happens if you don’t knead it and let it rest? I was in such a hurry to try this out that I didn’t read all the directions! I hope it turns out o.k.

    Reply

  32. Anonymous says

    How long do they have to hold their hand still to do the handprint ornament? Could you provide more detailed instruction? Thank you :~}

    Reply

  36. adventuresindinner says

    Oh my goodness! We literally made some of these last night 🙂 I’ll be using your painting tips this evening.

    Thank-you so much for joining up to our Pin’Inspiration Thursday Party. Your creativity is very much appreciated.

    Happy follower, would love if you popped by and grabbed a button 🙂

    Reply

  37. WhyCuzICan says

    Looks like you had a great time, even if you still used some burnt ornaments– sweet story!

    Visiting from Crafty, Scrappy, Happy linky party,
    Smiles and thanks for sharing,
    ~Suzanne in NW IL

    Reply

  44. Kindra-At Home With K says

    I love saltdough ornaments. Fun to make with the kiddos that’s for sure! I especially love your handprint ornaments. Such a great idea!

    I have a weekly linky party called Terrific Under Ten Tuesdays. It’s for projects made for $10 or less. I would love to have you link up!

    Oh, I’m your newest follower!

    Reply

  45. Lindsey @makeandtakes says

    This looks like a lot of fun to do with the kids. I love those handprint ornaments–what a fun way to remember tiny little hands. 🙂

    Would love for you to submit this post (and any others) to the Make and Takes spotlight page–http://www.makeandtakes.com/spotlight

    Reply

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