Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments

I know it is not even Thanksgiving yet, but a lot of folks are getting started on Christmas decorating. This craft is fairly simple and just takes some patience and a little creativity. 

Here's how to get started: 

Ingredients

• 2 cups of All Purpose Flour
• 1 cup of Salt
• 3/4 a cup of water(add a little more if your dough isn't sticking together, but don't add too much or it will be too sticky)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Mix all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl
3. Knead the dough until it forms a ball (use gloves if your like me and have dry cracked hands from this weather! Salt+dry skin=ouch!)
4. Roll out your dough and use cookie cutters or get really creative and freestyle your own shapes!
5. Use a straw to poke a hole at the top so that you can hang them 
6. Bake for 15 minutes on each side. This should get them nice and hard, but if not bake them a little longer.
7. Once you take them out of the oven, I recommend poking your straw through the holes again to make sure they are clear enough for a string or ribbon to go through. 
8. You can decorate them once they've cooled but i suggest letting them completely dry overnight and decorate the next day.

I let my little ones go to work on quite a few of them, and they loved it! It was all fun and games until I realized they had ruined their clothes and got paint all over the table. I should have put an old shirt on them for this, oh well..live and learn right? Besides, it was a simple clean-up, so no harm done!

I decided get a little more creative with mine, because some of these are going to be gifts for grandparents and friends. I got out my mod podge, scrapbook paper, buttons, washi tape and whatever else i could find in my craft drawers that i thought would look nifty. Also, instead of using cookie cutters for all of mine, i freehanded my own little designs. I knew i wanted an owl for my best friends and a fox for myself, so i did my best with my little cheese knife :D

And since i'm just a little obsessed with buttons, here's a close-up of my button tree.

I already had everything for this on hand except for the cookie cutters, which i got a Walmart for pretty cheap. So there ya go, an easy, inexpensive family friendly craft! Enjoy!!