Making your own holiday ornaments is not only fun, but frugal as well. You can dress them up as much or as little as you like to suit your own personal tastes and the best part is you never have to brave the dreaded ornament aisle at local big box and craft stores! Want to make your dollar stretch even more — try salt dough!
The only ingredients needed to make the dough above (which results in ornaments of any size or shape you can dream up) are literally salt, water and a little flour. That's it. You'll need access to an oven or toaster oven to bake them off and then you can paint them however you wish.
It's a great activity to add to a holiday party if you're hosting, simply make the shapes in advance and have friends adorn them before they leave (it beats playing Apples to Apples for the 500th time). A little paint or a little glitter and you're good to go! Check out step by step instructions on making your own over at Prudent Baby.
Image: Prudent Baby
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loves it!!! :)
I remember making South America out of salt dough in grade school. Tastiest craft ever.
i made some of these this year for a tree trimming party. i had luck with printing clip art out and cutting them out with a knife since i didnt have a lot of cookie cutter shapes.
some tips:
1) dont forget to add a hole BEFORE baking
2) use fine sandpaper to clean up the edges after baking, easier than getting them smooth before baking
3) bake on tin foil with a light spray of pam
4) i made gingerbread men and was able to pose them in really fun ways by covering different oven safe items in tinfoil for them to lean on, wrap around etc
I made these when I was little. We did different shapes and colored them with food coloring. Some of them really puffed up when baked. 20-25 years later, we still have them!
I made these for my first Christmas on my own. I was so pleased with them, I kept them for decades. It's a great Christmas craft project to do with kids.
I love doing this, and i have used them as gift tags or presents. Friends still have them from 8 years ago, NOT BAD!! ;)
I've made gingerbread men by replacing about half the flour with ground cloves & chinese 5 spice, so not only are they the right color but they smell amazing too. And puffing up can be an issue, especially if you have a gas oven that fluctuates temperature, so be sure to make some extras.
A warning for anyone with pets: you may think these are disgusting and obviously inedible (especially after you've painted/decorated them), but your dog will think they're delicious doggie treats hung on the tree just for him. So keep them out of reach!
made these this year for christmas and painted them with acrylic paint to make them shiny. they are easy, fun, and also brought back memories from my childhood!
http://www.thelateafternoon.com/deck-the-halls