I've always wanted to try making salt dough ornaments. I love their homemade appeal and the fact that they are virtually unbreakable is a real plus around here. And if they do get broken it's no biggie because they cost pennies to make. I have a small tree that I decorate for my daughter's room. Last year I put it on a cabinet to make sure she couldn't get to it and to make sure the ornaments wouldn't get broken. I decorated it with vintage pink ornaments that I found at a thrift store for a few dollars. I love the variation in the shades of pink.
However, this year she is much more interactive and I wanted her to be able to touch and see the tree without having to worry about fragile ornaments. So, I did a quick google search for salt dough ornaments and found a simple recipe here. I found lots of recipes actually, but they are all basically the same. The one thing I did read was that it's better to bake them at a lower temperature for a longer period of time. It helps them to dry out more evenly and you get less puffing. I ended up baking mine for 5 hours.
I rolled out the dough and cut the shapes out with these cookie cutters from IKEA, they are my new favorites. Then I just used a straw to make the hole for the ribbon.
Once they cooled, I added some glitter to make them a little more fun. I'm convinced that gold glitter makes most things better. You can also paint them or even color the dough before hand with food coloring or just leave them as is.
I used this spray to seal everything because it's what I had on hand and it seemed to work well. I did two coats.
I added some vintage gold garland, a random strand of beads, and some leftover lace for texture.
My favorite one is the moose. I think it's because he has antlers and I'm a little antler obsessed right now.
Have you ever made salt dough ornaments? I think it might be a new tradition around here. They are so easy to make. The hardest part is waiting for them to dry out. I think they are great for any tree not just for kids!
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