Homemade Ornaments

i actually tried the salt dough stuff this morning. It came out AWEFUL!!! it was too lumpy for me! I ended up throwing it all away (after my 14mo old ate about a handfull of it!) Anyway, i had some of the Crayola Model Magic clay stuff from some Father's Day presents i made this past year. I rolled it out and cut out come circles and pushed my sons hand into them. They came out so much better, and so much less messier! than the cookie dough stuff. I will let them dry over night and paint them tomorrow.

I made a salt dough the other night. The recipe I have is:

4 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups water

Mix and kneed until smooth. Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

I actually cut this recipe in half because I didn't feel like making that many ornaments. After baking for one hour, I took them out and let them cool. The were a little more done that I wanted, but were still close to perfect. Next time I will bake them for a few minutes less. I like your idea about using it for handprint ornaments. I am going to make another batch and make a few of those for family gifts. There are several recipes you can use. Have you tried the cinnamon/applesauce/glue dough? Apparently, it is supposed to smell good for up to a few years, then you can just add essential oil to revive the smell. Those don't require baking.

I think you just need to let it dry for a while more and it should be fine.
Just a word of advice on the cinammon ornaments though... if you store ornaments in your garage, be sure to seal them tightly! Apparetly mice like the applesauce and cinnamon!!! :)

I am going to try to make cinnamon ornaments this year. I hadn't thought of trying to do a hand print on one, so I might make the dough a little thicker and cook it a little longer and let it dry for a few days.

Here is the recipe I have.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup applesauce
1 bottle (4.12 ounces) McCormick Ground Cinnamon

Supplies needed:
cookie cutters
drinking straw
colorful ribbon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

2. Mix applesauce and cinnamon with hands in small bowl until a smooth ball of dough is formed. Using about 1/4 of the dough at a time, roll dough to 1/4-inch to 1/3-inch thickness between two sheets of plastic wrap. Peel off top sheet of plastic wrap; cut dough into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Make a hole in top of ornament with drinking straw. Place ornaments on baking sheet.

3. Bake for 2 1/2 hours. Cool ornaments on wire rack. (Or, to dry ornaments at room temperature, carefully place them on wore rack. Let stand 1 to 2 days or until thoroughly dry, turning occasionally.)

4. Insert ribbon through holes and tie to hang. May be decorated with opaque paint markers found in arts and crafts stores, if desired.

Tip: If a different size bottle of cinnamon is used, measure 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cinnamon.

hi there! i made salt dough ornaments for the first time this year too. but i had to cook mine a lot longer than the recipe stated. at about 2 hours, i turned them over to toast on the backside and left them in for another 90 minutes or so. they eventually all hardened nicely. good luck & merry christmas!

Not sure where you are located but I went to a Kiosk in front of Gymboree called Little Impressions in the Stonebriar mall in Frisco. The will do the impression of your little one for you and then in about a week you go back and pick it up. They will cure it, paint it and put your child's name on it for you. They have a variety of different things to chose from and the prices are reasonable enough that it's much easier than the hassle of doing it yourself!

http://www.yourlittleimpressions.com/home.html

I have done several salt dough ornaments and sometimes they will still be soft after baking and sometimes if you just let them sit out and dry further for a few days they will harden up. Also it always depends on the thickness of the ornament you make. If they are pretty thick you will need to cook them for a much longer time than you would a thinner ornament. Don't worry about over cooking them, if anything they will just brown alittle like making cookies and if you are going to paint them the browning doesn't matter. IF you are not wanting to paint them, you just might have to experiment until you find the right cooking time! I hope this helps!

C.,

I don't know if you are completely set on doing the dough ornament, but I have another idea. I'm going to make these for family this year. You buy those inexpensive clear balls. You photocopy the baby's hand on a copier using VELLUM paper. Then you cut it into a circle, roll it up and slide it into the clear ornament. Since it is on vellum you can see the image from both sides. I'm going to print pictures on mine, but a handprint would be adorable!! Just a thought. BTW Love your name :0)

C.

This does not exactly fit what you asked for, but this is what I did for my baby her first Christmas for gifts and they turned out really cute! I bought some of that craft foam in dark brown and tan. I traced her foot on a template and cut that out of the dark brown. I traced her hand on a template and cut that out of the tan. I used the foot as a reindeer face and the hand as the antlers. A little red pom-pom nose and some google eyes completed the look! I glued a tree hook on the back, but you could also use a magnet. Have a wonderful Christmas with your little boy!
A.

C.,

I used Crayola Model Magic. It's kinda like play dough but more foam like. It Dries in a matter of days depending on how thick it is. I still have my son's 1yr hand print on our christmas tree! He'll be 4 this February! If you roll the model magic out you can even use cookie cutters to make other ornaments to paint. Just an idea! Good luck and Merry Christmas!

C.