Each Christmas I try to make hand-made ornaments. This year I made salt dough ornaments, which are very inexpensive and relatively easy to make.
You'll need:
4 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 ½ cups hot water
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
fine gauge wire
small pliers
acrylic paint
paint brushes or sponges on sticks
clear top coat spray
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Cut fine gauge wire into inch-long pieces (around 30-40) and bend in half with a rounded tip at the center. Set aside.
Mix together the salt and flour. Gradually add the water and vegetable oil. Add additional flour or water as needed. Knead the dough by hand until it is smooth and pliable.
Roll dough with rolling pin on floured surface to ¼” thickness. Cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters and place on a cookie sheet. Insert the curved wires into the the top edge of the ornaments. Only ¼” should stick out.
Bake at 200 degrees until ornaments are no longer soft. This can take up to an hour.
Once cooled, you can paint the ornaments on each side. When the paint is dry, spray with clear spray paint. Decorate as desired. I used squeezable puffy paint for the gingerbread man ornaments and ribbon for the scottie dogs.
