We started a new family Christmas tradition tonight!  We made ornaments as a family!  Simple, Salt Dough Ornaments.

It was fun that Avery got to participate in this craft (Even if all she did was remain calm while I pressed her hand into a few circles of dough) Dave helped by holding Avery as I pushed her tiny mitts into a few circles of dough. I did the rest.

These ornaments are SIMPLE to make and only require three ingredients.  There is also minimal mess, which means minimal clean up!  Yay!

All you need is Salt, Flour and water!  Oh, and a rolling-pin and cookie cutters!

2 Cups Flour

1 Cup Salt

1 Cup Water (or if you’re using the same measuring cup as me “The amount of water in a cumulus cloud the size of a bus”)

Combine the salt and flour in a large mixing bowl.

Add water, and knead dough until fully combined and smooth.

Roll out your dough to about 1/4″ thickness

Cut out shapes!

Don’t forget to make a hole for ribbon, so you can hang them on your tree! (I used a straw to do this)

Place on un-greased baking sheet and bake at 250* for 4 hours (or until hardened)  I baked mine for 2 hours, then flipped them over and baked for another 2 hours to make sure both sides were hardened fully.

Then go crazy and decorate those suckers!!  You can use paint, glitter, decoupage, I even found a stamp and pressed that into the dough prior to baking!  I plan on spraying on a coat of lacquer to ensure they last forever and to give them a bit of a shine.

We made some ornaments with Avery’s hand and foot prints! Then I painted them red and green after they were done baking.

How cute are those tiny fingers and toes?!

I made a few to look like sugar cookies!

GLITTER!

If you’ve never made these before, TRY IT!  They were a lot of fun to make and you can decorate them any way you want!  The hand print ornaments make great holiday gifts for the grandparents, and it will be fun to look back each year at how much Avery’s little hands have grown.