Maybe it’s because Thanksgiving was so late, or maybe it’s because this is our first holiday season in a cold environment, but we cannot wait for Christmas this year! I’ve been itching to do some crafts, and I figured the day after Thanksgiving was the perfect time since there was no way you’d find me heading to the mall.
Now, I consider myself a fairly crafty person. I love doing crafts, but I’ll admit I don’t love doing them with my kids. I have a low tolerance for glue and paint in all the wrong places. But I also know it’s good for them to get creative and for me to step out of my comfort zone, so this Black Friday, it was all about family crafting.
First up were the Melted Snowmen ornaments. I forget where I first saw these, but I filed it away in my mind a long time ago. You fill plastic (or glass, if you’re brave) ornaments with salt, add some peppercorn “coal,” and carrots and sticks made of polymer clay. Sculpting the clay parts was the most time-consuming step, but even that went pretty fast. A few minutes to bake and cool, then everything got added to the globes. (Hint: Use a funnel for the salt!) The whole project took less than an hour.
Next: salt dough ornaments. I turned to the interwebs for a good recipe, but everything I found was different, and people reported different levels of success. I lucked out on my choice, though. The dough worked beautifully, and the end result feel more like bisque or stone than baked dough. Here’s the recipe I used:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
3/4 cup warm water (plus more if it’s too dry–I needed just a bit more)
Mix together with a spoon then knead until smooth.
I rolled mine out to 3/8″ then we used various cookie cutters to make our designs. Remember to add holes for hanging!
Bake at 200 degrees for two hours. (I put mine on parchment paper, but the bottoms wound up still damp so I had to put them back in without. Next time I’ll skip the parchment.)
The colored ones were stamped with regular stamp-pad ink before they were baked. We planned on painting the other ones, but I think we might leave some blank because the stone-look is so cool.
(In case you’re wondering, I ordered the Minecraft and Starbucks cookie cutters from a seller on Etsy.)
The day wasn’t without mishaps. My 2-year-old spilled a whole bottle of peppercorns on the floor (those things can roll!) and I wound up vacuuming four times. But we had so much fun, I just might declare every Black Friday “Ornament Day.”
What are your favorite ornaments or holiday crafts to make with kids?
Cute! Come be creative at my house, please!
Oh boy, I have a houseful of movie-watching 8th grade girls at the house this weekend…so when my 7 year old dd gets bored, I’ll have something to do with her, hahaha.
Those salt dough ornaments turned out great! I’m babysitting Nour & Zain tonight until tomorrow late afternoon so I think I have found a little project for them! I’ll be buying some acrylic paint & lacquer tonight so they can’t paint them. Should be fun! Thanks for the idea!