We made these fun fall salt dough ornaments as a fall decoration. It’s a great craft for kids of all ages. I used to make ornaments with my mom at Christmas time. It is fun to have the fall twist. You can make these into a garland. hang them in the windows or hang them on a ornament tree.
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Ingredients Needed to Make Fall Salt Dough Ornaments
- Batch of Salt Dough
- Fall Pie Pastry Stampers
- Circle Cookie Cutters
- Fake Leaves
- Straw
- White Ribbon
- Red Acrylic Craft Paint
- Orange Acrylic Craft Paint
- Yellow Acrylic Craft Paint
- Brown Acrylic Craft Paint
- Water
- Sponge Brush
- Mod Podge
How to Make Fall Salt Dough Ornaments
Make a batch of salt dough and have kids roll it to 1/4 inch thick. Then, have them use a circle cookie cutter to cut out salt dough circles about 2 1/2 inches in diameter.
We tried two techniques. The first one I found at the Artist Woman. It involves taking silk flowers and pressing them down really well – trying to get the impression of the leaf outline and veins. I couldn’t tell how these were going to turn out, so I also came up with a plan B.
I happen to have these decorative pie cutters, so we lightly pressed down on these to give the different fall impressions on the round discs we had cut out.
I happen to have these decorative pie cutters, so we lightly pressed down on these to give the different fall impressions on the round discs we had cut out.
Using a straw, we punched a hole in the top of the ornaments.
Time to bake! Bake on 250 for 2 1/2 to 2 3/4 hours. Let them cool completely before baking.
We then painted the leaf, pumpkin or acorn section with red, orange and/or yellow acrylic craft paint. After the paint dried, we added another layer of watered down, brown acrylic paint. You just add a bit of water to a dark brown paint and mix it together. The watered down paint seeps into the cracks to bring out texture in the ornaments and gives a cool looking brown wash over the top.
You can add Mod Podge to the ornaments once they are dry to give a glazed effect.
You can string them together to make a beautiful display for your mantel or you can hang them individually.
These are gorgeous and oh so much fun! 😀
Love the idea of turning them into ornaments. They turned out fantastic! Thanks so much for the link back Jodi. I’ll have to look for those piecrust cutters as they did a great job.
I love to read your blog … There are so much interesting thing inside …
Love your salt dough ornaments!
I’m curious, though. Do you have any problems with the dough puffing up in the oven while you were baking the ornaments? I find I have this problem with some of my ornaments and wanted to see if you had a solution.
You know – it has been a while since I made these. I don’t remember it being a huge problem, but it may have puffed slightly. Sorry I’m not much more help.
I want to print, but didn’t want the extra stuff on the page to print. Why no print feature right from the page? I do lots of crafts with kids every week and don’t have time to copy paste print with a word document app. I know this kind of craft but want to use other crafter’s ideas with the kids. I like this craft, and will go through the hassle of copy, paste and print. I also don’t want to click icons of Pinterest, FB and the others.
Thanks for your feedback. I’m sorry it took me a bit to respond. I wanted to look into the options for providing this on my site. Thanks to your suggestion, it is now an option. If you look at the bottom of a post (near the Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and Google+ share options), there will be a print pdf option for easy printing. I hope that helps!
wheres the recipe? i would like to try it
There’s a link in the first paragraph, but sometimes I think it is really hard to see. Sorry about that! Here ya go: https://meaningfulmama.com/2012/11/salt-dough-recipe.html Let me know how it turns out. We just made the salt dough yesterday for another project, and my kids loved played with the extra after the project too.
Is there a trick to working with salt dough? Do you have to make it and use it rght away? I made mine and than wrapped it in plastic wrap and it became very sticky. I tried adding more flour, but that didn’t help either.
You know, I’m not sure. I’ve always just used mine write away. If mine had become sticky, I would have done the exact thing you did, so I don’t know what advice to give. In cakes I use corn starch to take out the stickiness. You could try that. Sorry you are having troubles. Let me know if the corn starch works.
I have been able to store my salt dough in the fridge in a plastic zipper bag and reuse the dough up to a week with no problems. I make sure to squeeze out any excess air before sealing the bag. I have read, though, that we should use our dough right away, but I have always been able to use it up to a week after making it.
Hope this helps :0)
This is a great idea! I was looking for a gift to give the parents in my daycare from their child. This is perfect!
I’m glad this is helpful to you. I bet they are going to love it. Let me know how it goes!