12.05.2011

DIY Christmas Ornaments: Salt Dough

Click here for an easy to follow how-to video.

Well, as you can see, my week of DIY ornaments took a little break.  It wasn't my intention, but life has been a little busy.  I have taken on a big project - I'm in the middle of making the costumes for my mom's Christmas program at her church.  I've made 3 spiders, 3 flowers, and I'm in the process of making a duck, a skunk, a bull, a donkey, a camel, and a cow (and there are more I'm not remembering right now). So, I'm going to attempt to stay on top of it all this week. 'Tis he season for being slightly crazy, right?



So, this will take you back to elementary school.  I'm sure you all made these in the 3rd grade, and your mother hung the ugly blobby things on your tree, and you were so proud.  Well I think this might be an update.  These simple ornaments are made with the classic salt dough recipe, but stamped for a cleaner design.


Salt Dough
1 cup salt
2 cups flour
1cup water

Mix all ingredients in a mixer until a smooth dough forms.  To dry the dough, bake in a 250F oven for at least 3 hours.

I rolled out the dough to 1/4" thick, stamped my M's (for McConnel) and birds and then cut out the circle.  It was easier to stamp first so that the image would be centered.  I rolled out the dough on the parchment paper so I wouldn't have to move the ornaments.  Oh and I just used a regular plastic drinking straw for the hole at the top.  Once they were dry, I threaded twine through the holes.  These look cute on the tree and attached to gifts.  I also used them as napkin rings for Thanksgiving.  I of course made a batch for my kids and they spent hours making all kinds of treasures for the tree as well.

What has you overwhelmed and hectic this season?

BE A FRIEND!  Leave a comment, follow Oleander and Palm by email, Pinterest, Facebook, or Twitter.

84 comments:

  1. LOVE IT Jerri! Think will make some after school today!

    ReplyDelete
  2. What do you stamp them with? Is it just a rubber stamp with black ink?

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great idea, thanks for sharing. Emma.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I just used a regular rubber stamp (got these ones from a dollar bin at Michaels a while back) and a blank ink pad. Nothing special or fancy. Sorry I didn't specify that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The end of school year has been pretty busy for us with parties, award nights, church activities, tantruming almost two year old etc. But your ideas here make me realise I need to slow down and do something fun with the kids now they're on holidays. I think we'll start with some DIY ornaments and some Christmas Oreo pops!
    Make sure you spoil our mutual friend while she's with you. :) I'm sure you will.
    Catch you later,
    Penny.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Do you think a food processor would work to make the dough? My mixer moved on to better mixing (it died last month)!

    ReplyDelete
  7. did you stamp them before to cook them or after? Thanks! :D

    ReplyDelete
  8. Can you paint them after you bake them, or will it look funny? If so, what kind of paint would you recommend?

    I love stuff like this!

    ReplyDelete
  9. To answer some questions: Yes, I did stamp them before I dried them in the oven. And yes, you can definitely paint salt dough. I would just paint them with acrylic craft paints. Have fun.!

    ReplyDelete
  10. So you roll the dough out stamp, and do you cut into circles all before baking in the oven?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was wondering the same thing, thanks for asking.

      Delete
  11. Once they are dried in the oven, there is no going back. Do all the cutting and stamping before putting them in the oven to dry. Sorry that was not clear :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. So cute! Love them.

    I'd love for you to share: http://tutusandteaparties.blogspot.com/2012/02/pinteresting-party-week-28.html

    ReplyDelete
  13. Found this on Pinterest! What a fun and easy idea!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thank you for sharing, these are great! I do have another question though. How do you get the cool design/color?

    ReplyDelete
  15. I stamped these with regular stamps and stamp ink.

    ReplyDelete
  16. These were really cute. Thans for sharing. Have a nice afternoon from a grey, rainy and sowing Oslo

    ReplyDelete
  17. I only have a hand mixer, could i use that?

    ReplyDelete
  18. No prob. You could even just mix by hand with a wooden spoon. It will just take a little longer.

    ReplyDelete
  19. These are just darling. Very "country", they give me that warm "back home" kind of feeling. I've seen other salt dough tutorials, but they always say to air dry, thanks for the tip about baking at 250 for 3 hrs. :)
    - Molly

    ReplyDelete
  20. very nice idea! love it.

    how long will the dough last, by the way? :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Can you use wheat flour for this craft?

    ReplyDelete
  22. @jacqueline I don't see why not. It will change the color and texture. But, give it a try :)

    ReplyDelete
  23. I recall with some of these recipes that the ornaments come out very heavy. I'm hoping for light to mid-weight. How does this recipe compare? :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Love these and for thanksgiving too, brilliant :)

    ReplyDelete
  25. How did you get the pattern on the stamp? it's such a cute idea, and I would love to try this :3 <3

    ReplyDelete
  26. Brilliant! I pinned to steal your idea later:) THanks

    ReplyDelete
  27. how did you get the bird and m to have the polka dots? is that some sort of fabric?

    ReplyDelete
  28. Thank you for this cute idea! I ordered a custom stamp and made ornaments as favors for my wedding. I love them!

    ReplyDelete
  29. @Tonya that's such a great idea. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Do these last a while? I'm thinking of painting my son's fingerprint on it for gifts this year.

    ReplyDelete
  31. @Jessica Beason That sounds like a good idea. I'm not sure if a fingerprint would show up. Let me know if it does. A hand print would be cute, but definitely bigger.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Can you use food color like red and white to make candy canes?

    ReplyDelete
  33. I just made these and love the way they turned out excepted some of them puffed up.. Can you tell me what I may have done wrong??

    ReplyDelete
  34. so easy. I found this via pinterest. thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Love this idea1 This would be a great gift for my students.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Love this idea! Great idea to make for gifts for my students.

    ReplyDelete
  37. I had my first attempt at making salt dough ornamnts a couple of days ago. however they did not turn out a lovely pale colour like yours but a light brown, almost looked like cookies, do you know why this might have happened?

    ReplyDelete
  38. Maybe bleached vs. unbleached flour? Or maybe just the drying time and temp. Everyone's oven is different. Try 200F for about 2 hours and then check them. That's what I can think of. Sorry they didn't work out. Try again, don't give up :)

    ReplyDelete
  39. Did this today and added cinnamon. Didn't make much of a difference but hey it was fun! Kids are going to paint them after they cool off! Great idea!

    ReplyDelete
  40. @judy How much cinnamon did you add? I remember making these as a girl, and we did use cinnamon for scent and colour - I'm guessing we just used a lot more than you did. (But I can't remember the amounts!)

    ReplyDelete
  41. Does it have to be flat designs? Could you make an actual snowman or something?

    ReplyDelete
  42. I'm thinking about putting my cats paw in the dough and making a little memento ornament of him. :)

    ReplyDelete
  43. How many ornaments does this make? Bonnie K

    ReplyDelete
  44. How many ornaments does this make?

    ReplyDelete
  45. I substituted 1 cup of flour for 1 cup of cinnamon & dried in my dehydrator for 3 hours. The house smells wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  46. Made these this week! Thanks for a great idea. :)

    http://www.toddlindsey.com/2012/11/diy-salt-dough-stamped-ornaments.html

    ReplyDelete
  47. I am planning on making ornaments with my kids this weekend. :) We plan on adding glitter to our dough, and maybe a little peppermint oil.

    ReplyDelete
  48. at what temp at for how long do you back them?

    ReplyDelete
  49. I followed your recipe using 1 cup salt, 2 cups flour, and 1 cup water, mixing it in my stand mixer, and my dough was extremely runny. Any ideas?

    ReplyDelete
  50. Super cute!!! How did you get the poke a dots on the bird?

    ReplyDelete
  51. @Kim, that's just what the stamp looks like.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Love the idea, will the ornaments still b good next year or do they go bad?

    ReplyDelete
  53. They should be good for years to come as long as you dry them out well.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Just wanted you to know that we successfully made a batch of ornaments today...and had fun doing it! As a homeschool mom, I should be all into this kind of stuff. But I'm a bit of a control freak and I have issues with the mess that these projects inevitably create. I was determined to make some fun Christmas memories this year (and some homemade Christmas gifts), so I'm pleased to report that we made some really cute ornaments AND we had fun (even me!) We will decorate and paint them tomorrow. Thanks for the inspiration!!

    ReplyDelete
  55. I can't believe I only now found the video. Lol frig. Well I made them tonight... Not as easy as i had imagined, but that's not to say they were hard to make either. Maybe ill list what I did/should have done differently to help anyone who may need it.
    1) my parchment paper was a nightmare. It did not roll off the dough like in the video. The dough would NOT come off of it.
    2) I found that if I stamped the cookie cutter ( I made snowflake shapes) and left them alone for 15-20 minutes they dried ever so slightly ( got just a little stiff) and then I could peel them off and place them elsewhere.
    3) I rolled out a huge amount of dough, and it was just too wet. The snowflakes would not separate from the dough. I popped them in the oven for 5 minutes to speed up drying time.... Terrible idea. They got "cracky

    ReplyDelete
  56. Sorry. There's more. The stamping process took some time, I used blue ink and red ink, unfortunately the stamps i used were far too elaborate. Some came out clear and look super cool, most of them look like a hot mess. I'm not going to bake them. I'm going to let them dry for a couple days... I still have no idea how ill get them off the parchment paper. I ran out of time and instead of meticulously peeling them away from the paper I left them as is and am hoping for the best.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Either way... I'm going to do this again. I'm determined to nail this project because it is so personal, so pretty, so thoughtful and cost effective. And I am so happy to have found your blog. Thanks so much for your time and effort relaying the info. And sorry for writing a novel. Merry Christmas errbody.

    ReplyDelete
  58. wow....super amazing

    ReplyDelete
  59. hey this is so freakishly amazingly spectacular that i am making them hah!
    Guess what everyone they came out perfect!!!

    ReplyDelete
  60. Just made these and after setting temp on oven correctly they burned after 15mins in oven..any ideas why

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did you put them on parchment paper in the oven? My first attempt at them ended with super puffy little pucks. oopsy

      Delete
  61. I loved this idea so much that I tried it. They turned out super cute and I wrote a little post about them too! http://thellblog.com/2013/11/14/hand-stamped-ornaments/

    I gave you full credit for the idea and linked the post, here to yours!

    xo- Melanie

    ReplyDelete
  62. I am so excited to make these and cover my Christmas tree with them!

    ReplyDelete
  63. I'm excited to make these! But how many does it make, exactly?

    ReplyDelete
  64. This is a great idea. Can you dye the dough a pink or green? for a baby shower.. would love to use this for party gift tags.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a great idea. The color may darken a bit as the dough dries, so keep that in mind if you are looking for a pastel tone.

      Delete
  65. Can.u spray a clear coat on them?

    ReplyDelete
  66. I wonder if you could put kool aid in the mix to add smell and color? We are going to try some this weekend! Fingers crossed!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, it's worth a try. The ingredients are so inexpensive, that you should definitely give it a go.

      Delete
  67. Hi Jeran

    How big is the diameter on the ornaments approx.?

    Have a nice X-mas

    Kind regards from Denmark :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Probably about 2 inches across. Hope that helps, Merry Christmas!

      Delete
  68. I have made salt dough ornaments many times over the years. I usually add more salt...helps make the dough less sticky and I use a mix of salt and flour on my work surface. I dry in the oven 30 min @ 200...take them out, let them cool, flip over and back in for another 30 minutes. Repeat. I have also let them air dry and flipping them every day til dry. Takes days though. I have quite a few hanging on my tree from back in 1988 when I first made these with my kids. Only losses were due to drops and carelessness. Super easy...this year we are doing pears, squares, elephants and circles. Going to embellish with decoupage shapes of paper....music sheets, colored tissue and of course acrylic craft paints and stains. If you want your paint color to stand out, paint them white first. I always spray seal them with varnish both sides.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was wondering how long they would last!! Thanks for all the additional info too!! :)

      Delete
  69. I found your post on Pinterest and we're making these are part of our wedding favors! Thank you for such a sweet, cute idea!! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  70. hi Jeran, just wondering if you use a sealant on the finished product. If not, how long do these salt dough ornaments last? Do they crack easily?

    ReplyDelete
  71. Salt dough Cat http://diy-100ideas.com/salt-dough-cat/

    ReplyDelete
  72. Does the type of flour matter? All purpose vs self rising?

    ReplyDelete


  73. I gave your article a 5 star rating from what I've read on your blog so far - I love it and I'd be delighted i love watching dramas. there is this webiste called onlypakistan whcih produce quality contect like you,
    This Free YouTube Download is one of the most popular and well known YouTube video downloader applications on the internet today genutube is one of the best youtube video downloader


    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...