Salt Dough Ornaments, a 1980's Throwback to Childhood

Simple Salt Dough Ornaments

 Come on, you KNOW you totally did these as kids, right?! I have very fond memories doing these with my middle sister at my Noni and Nono's house growing up. Sigh...those were the days ;) And I'll even go as far to admit that I used to lick the ornaments too....oh yeah, I was that kid. Mmmm salt...mmmm dough...mmmm salt dough! Bahahahaa!

 Every year I like to purchase a keepsake ornament for our tree. This year I wanted to create our own instead of spending the extra cash. Salt dough ornaments are a fun and wonderful way to create memories and traditions around the holiday season with your little ones. The recipe is very simple, and what's best is I guarantee you have all ingredients in your pantry! If you want to add color to your dough, make sure to add the food coloring to your water. I used about 20 drops of red dye to my water for our red dough since we were making candy canes. For your basic white dough recipe, you'll need the following:

1 c salt

 1 c flour

1/2 c water

*Preheat oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit

 Mix all ingredients together. The dough will be super sticky! My boys had a great time getting their little chubby hands in there to help. With lightly floured hands, take the dough and form into a ball. Then little by little break apart pieces and roll into a long snake. If you are doing a candy cane like we did, you'll want a red and white 'snake.'

The boys needed a little bit of help with the next step. Take both red and white 'snakes' (I seriously need a better name for that...I friggin' hate snakes!) and press the top of the red dough to your white dough. Then, as if you are braiding, twist the two together so it starts to intertwine. See below...

 In order to make the candy cane complete, just take the top and curve it over to make the hook. I placed our salt dough candy canes on parchment paper on top of a cookie sheet. Of course you could also use a Silpat nonstick baking mat as well. Place candy canes in the preheated oven at 200 degree F for 2 hours.

 I initialed each candy cane on the parchment paper so I could later write the boys' names on the back with a sharpie pen and the year. When we do this again, I'm going to put ornament hooks in the top so they will be easy to hang on our tree ;-) But this time around, I'll just hang them with some pretty ribbon or twine. The following day, I applied a layer of Mod Podge to give them a little sheen. Mod Podge is basically a waterbased sealer, glue, and finish all wrapped into one cute little bottle. I use it for 75% of my crafts.

  And there you have it my friends! An easy, at-home recipe that you can do with your kiddos. I love the homemade ornaments we've made so far. It's going to be one of my most treasured memories and traditions to date! I would love to hear what type of salt dough ornament you and your family come up with! Feel free to comment in the section below ;-)

Creatively Yours,

The NorCal Contessa