How to Make Salt Dough Ornaments For Christmas This Year
**This post may have affiliate links, this means I may receive commissions if you choose to purchase through links I provide (at no extra cost to you). For more details, please see my Disclaimer**
Some of my favorite Christmas decor items are the ones that I’ve made myself and one of my favorite things to make for the holidays are tree ornaments. Salt dough is a great way to create an entire army of Christmas tree ornaments without draining your bank account. All you really need is some flour, salt, water and maybe a festive stencil or two. You might even have those key ingredients sitting in your pantry!
You can also transform your salt dough by adding food coloring or essential oils to the dough for a festive look or jazz things up after the dough dries out by painting them.
Ready to start crafting? Let’s go!
What You Will Need:
- Salt
- Flour
- Cold Water
- Cookie Cutters or Stencils (I got this nice set from Amazon)
You can also free hand your ornaments, though I’d recommend having pictures to refer to while you shape the dough.
You can also add food coloring or an essential oil to the dough to add scent or color.
The Salt Dough Recipe
This is a simple recipe, involving three ingredients. I recommend mixing them up in a large sized bowl.
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup of table salt
- 1 cup of cold water
Mix together the dry ingredients and slowly incorporate the water until the mixture forms a pliable dough (it’ll feel and behave like play doh). After it’s mixed, let it rest for about 20 minutes by covering the bowl with plastic wrap or the dough itself.
Shaping Your Ornaments
Having some Christmas themed cookie cutters can really shorten the time you need to shape everything.
Start by rolling your dough out with a rolling pin onto a flour surface. Aim for around ¼ inch thickness, if you go thicker just remember you’ll have to adjust your drying time.
Cut out as many ornaments as your dough will allow, save around ¼ if you plan to add 3D elements to them, like the harness for the deer or the little carrot nose on the snowman.
Once everything is ready, you can either let everything air dry for a few days or bake in a oven at 250F for around an hour.
Painting & Finishing
Once your ornaments have cooled, roughly 15 minutes, you can start painting. Regular acrylic craft paint works beautifully on these ornaments.
Once your paint is dry, I recommend sealing the ornaments with mod podge to protect them over time. These ornaments will keep very nicely so long as you don’t get them wet.
To hang these ornaments on the tree, you can use ornament hooks or my personal favorite is to string them on some festive ribbon!
Final Thoughts On Salt Dough Ornaments
Some of my best childhood memories were of creating things with salt dough. I love how easy it is to transform 3 simple ingredients into gorgeous handmade ornaments for your tree or to create an adorable stocking stuffer to hand out to friends and family over the holiday season.
Don’t forget to share this post on your favorite social media platform or pin it to Pinterest!
Until next time, stay crafty everyone!!
Other Fun Christmas Posts to Check Out
7 Deliciously Simple Christmas Cocktails to Get Your Holiday Season Going
How to Make Absolutely Adorable DIY Gnome Ornaments In Time For Christmas
9 Absolutely Festive Clay Christmas Ornaments To Make This Year
Festive Tips for Christmas Decorations You’ll Actually Love
DIY Christmas Ornaments – 6 Simple & Festive Ideas You’ll Love
