DIY Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments

I have a great holiday DIY for you! This is perfect for kids and adults alike! My family has a tradition of putting up a kid's craft table for the holidays and I was trying to come up with new crafts for this year. I thought it would be fun to make hand prints for my niece, nephew and my siblings. I started researching home recipes to avoid paying $20 for a kit at the craft store. I found this recipe that is so simple and I'm pretty sure I've made a topographical map out of the same materials at one point.

I also wanted to do a test run before I tried it with a live human baby. I thought my dogs would make the perfect Guinea pigs, and now I have some adorable Christmas ornaments!

To begin, I found these round plastic lids. They're about 2.5 inches in diameter, but you can use cookie cutters too (they're probably easier anyways). After I finished these I thought about using my Christmas tree cookie cutter instead of these circle lids, but maybe next time.

I then laid a layer of plastic wrap over the lids so I could easily get the dough out.

The recipe for the dough is as follows:

1 cup salt

1 cup flour

3/4 cup of water

Slowly mix in the water, and make sure your dough isn't too sticky. If your dough is too sticky, add a bit more flour. Knead the dough until smooth, I skipped that step. Do as I say, not as I do.

I then took a spoonful of dough and pressed it evenly into my lid mold. Don't make your ornaments too thick because they will become very heavy.

I then wrangled up each of my pups and pressed their back paw into each mold.
I also used a straw to make a hole so I could hang them after they dry.

I skipped a step, whoops.. In order to get them out of my lid mold, I simply flipped them over onto a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Then, I pulled the plastic wrap off and flipped them right side up again.

Place your ornaments in the oven at 100-200 degrees Fahrenheit, for 2-3 hours. The goal is not to bake them, but to slowly dry them out. You can leave them out to dry on their own, but it could take a few days.

Once the ornament are completely dry, I grabbed a couple bottles of my acrylic paint to make them more festive. Beasley's turned out really well, while Booker looks like he's a raccoon. (Guess it's time to trim his nails)

When the paint dried, I hung them on our little Christmas tree! Now my fur babies are represented on our family tree :)

 Meet my kids....

Beasley is the larger Chihuahua, or at least he used to be a Chihuahua. He is 5 years old and 20 lbs!
Booker is the baby, he was the runt of the litter and he is almost 2. No, they are not related, I somehow managed to find two matching dogs. They are both rescues, but we've had them since they were born basically. They don't know how tough life could have been :D

They are completely and utterly spoiled! They each have their own unique personality and I swear they can communicate with me. Random fact, Booker loves bananas and Beasley loves broccoli.

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