I don’t know about you, but I cringe when I see the price tag on some of the cute personalized ornaments out there. They are cute and I love getting ornaments
that feature an interest of my child that year with their name on it…. but $13+ for each one when you have several children gets VERY expensive! So
I learned to make my own. Now I want you to know I am the LEAST crafty person on the planet. I am a good baker, birthday planner, and have lots of creative ideas – but actually making something crafty is not my thing. So if I can do this – YOU CAN DO IT TOO!
Simple Recipe:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup salt
- 1 cup water
Mix ingredients. I used Wilton food gel coloring and colored the actual dough (that way you don’t miss crevices painting it).
Shape into ornament.
This is simple enough for kids to make and versatile enough for adults to make beautiful ornaments too. My daughter Minnie who is 3 just cut out shapes with cookie cutters. Goofy, who is 6, made the bear (above), pizza slice (what tree would be complete without one =-) and the Christmas tree with ornaments. I made the Gingerbread girls and Family in front of tree ornaments.
Use a straw to make a hole for the ornament hook (don’t miss this step – you cannot do it once the ornament cooks). Cook ornament of 225 for 3-6 hours (depending on the thickness). It is such a low temperature it wont burn.
Personalize the ornaments once they cool. I added faces, names, years, etc. I used Acrylic Paint for the faces.Don’t use the washable Crayola stuff – it doesn’t hold up as well. I used a Permanent Fine Tip Sharpie Pen for the names.
Dip in Lacquer. You don’t have to, but you really want to. Besides sealing the ornaments so they don’t crack, it gives them a shiny finished look. All you do is put the ornament on a hook, dip in lacquer and put on wax sheet to dry. To give it a really polished look give it 2-3 coats with 24 hours between each coat to allow it to fully dry. Take a look at the picture below to see the difference in ornaments not coated in Lacquer and those that are. The coating really intensifies the colors too!!
And here is your finished product! I used this same recipe to make keepsake handprint ornaments of my kiddos for their 1st Christmas’ too. My kids give some of their ornaments to grandparents and the rest they get to hang on their tree in the play room that houses their ornaments. (They decorated it themselves & they can “re-decorate” it throughout the season). I do pull out any especially wonderful creations the kids make as keepsakes that I put on our family tree or in a box to give to them when they are older.
Linking up to:
that feature an interest of my child that year with their name on it…. but $13+ for each one when you have several children gets VERY expensive! So I learned to make my own. Now I want you to know I am the LEAST crafty person on the planet. I am a good baker, birthday planner, and have lots of creative ideas – but actually making something crafty is not my thing. So if I can do this – YOU CAN DO IT TOO!
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