salt dough ornament

ns1

I know at least one person mentioned doing this. I tried yesterday and it was a fail. So, a few questions.

1. What recipe did you use?
2. For LO how did you successfully press their hand in the dough? (DS kept grabbing the dough when I lifted his hand up.)
3. How did you keep it from sticking to the baking pan?
4. How thin did you roll it out?

Sorry for all the questions, but clearly I should not go near pinterest.

kendy20

I'm going to try one this week, if it goes well I'll post what I did ;-)

usernewname

I couldn't make it look good. So I went and paid to have it done.

LunaBug924

I was just thinking about trying this today. Now I might wait and hope that some craft guru from the board wilm share her wisdom....

ns1

Where did you pay to have it done @usernewname??!  I seriously might do that!

I'm trying to make one from each kid to my parents for Christmas and one of each kid for us, and so far I have thrown out all I made.  I didn't even get to the painting part (DH will have to do that if I ever get there because I'm clearly not artistic).  

I'm glad I started this early because it might take me until Christmas to figure it out!

kendy20

So decided to try it today. Not perfect but a lot better than I expected. I used 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt and 1 cup water. Added about two tsp more water since it felt a little dry. Baked them for 2 hours at 250 degrees. Said to do it for three-four but I was being impatient. Also didn't have parchment paper to bake dough on top of, so used foil. The back of the foil stuck and ripped the backs a little bit. If baked longer and cooled longer it probably wouldn't have ripped it.

I held DD and just stood her on top of the dough for her feet then to get her hands, I held her in a "super man" type thing so she looked like she was flying and then got her level with the dough, just quickly pushed her hand down. Not sure if I'm going to paint yet or not.

But that's how mine turned out ;-)

lfleming84

Hi Ladies. I did this with DS for grandparents day when he was 4 months and I just made one for us for 6 months. Not an ornament, but a disc.

The recipe I used was 1 cup salt, 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup water (add more if needed). I cut the recipe in half this time to make one disc. It should come together so you can knead it and roll it without pieces falling off. I rolled it out to about 1/2 inch thick so there is enough to push his hand/foot into. After it was done I let it air dry for about a day but then also baked it for 3 hours at 200 F on parchment paper to keep it from sticking. (I had rolled it out on the paper too). I still want to paint his prints (last time I used food coloring and it was perfect).

Let me know if you have other questions. Mine is pretty heavy, so a small one with just one hand would be a better ornament.

usernewname

ns1 said:

Where did you pay to have it done @usernewname??!  I seriously might do that!

I'm trying to make one from each kid to my parents for Christmas and one of each kid for us, and so far I have thrown out all I made.  I didn't even get to the painting part (DH will have to do that if I ever get there because I'm clearly not artistic).  

I'm glad I started this early because it might take me until Christmas to figure it out!

I paid like 25 an ornament for the grandparents and great grandparent. Worth it rather that fighting DS and the dough lol.

I'm in Canada so not sure if the same place would be in your area ... However I have no idea where you are :P

ns1

@kendy20‌ @Babybarlow2014‌ @lfleming84‌ those all look awesome! I'm so jealous! I also love the food coloring idea. Did everyone else let then air dry before baking? Or just lfemimg84?

@usernewname I'm not in Canada...bummer.

kendy20

@ns1‌ I just baked them right after. Here's the finished ornaments painted and all

flockofmoosen3

Those look great! We are going to do this too. Hopefully it turns out just as beautiful as all of yours!

Lild09

I got a set from winners (think tj maxx, Marshall's) that you don't need to add water and was given one that you do. They both already have ribbon to hang them. Plan on doing this sometime this week and painting his name and year on them

Helmink0804

So cute! I bought a marshmallow dough handprint kit from Hallmark last year at 75% and made some as birthday presents for my Brooke's Godmom, her Friday sitter, and Grandma. Ours air dried- the ones that are posted here came out so cute!

Arinias

I did this with DS and the pets. I used 2 cups flour, 1 cup salt and water until I got a good texture. I wish I'd halved this because I had way too much dough. The recipe said to bake at 150 for an hour but it ended up being more like 3, I upped the temp at one point to 250 and still needed a few days for DS' to dry. So I wouldn't say I was super successful. I just shaped them by hand, some of these pics look so cute and ours are not that good. But it took me like 5 tries to get a good handprint and I didn't want to redo it. So I just went with what we got. These are just for our tree anyway. I did canvas art hand and feet prints for the family which came out a lot prettier.

Arinias

Helps to include my picture. ..

dp1320

@kendy20‌ what did you use to do those numbers?

@Arinias‌ did you use paint for the letters/numbers? Do you think a colored sharpy would work on the dough?

I'm glad this was posted because I'm the least crafty person ever but really want to do this!

kendy20

@DH09072012‌ I have a TON of cookie cutters, all kinds of shapes, animals and numbers lol. So I used cookie cutter numbers and just pushed them into the dough.

dp1320

That's a great idea! It's so cute.

mrsbtobe20122

Thanks for the tips ladies!! Here are my guy's for grandparents

ns1

Ok ladies - how do you know when the ornaments are "done"?  I know a couple of you said you had to leave them in the oven longer than you thought, but how did you decide that?  

I have my second try in the oven now and I don't want to mess them up again! 

kendy20

I left mine in for three hours exactly and let them cool about an hour before painting. I went with three hours because that's what a majority of websites suggested. But j couldn't tell you if they "looked" more done being in 2 hours compared to 3.

demomma15

What kind of paint did you ladies use to pain your ornaments? They look fantastic!

ns1

Success!  (I can't take credit for the painting; I made DH do that.)  They aren't sealed yet; I'm doing that tomorrow!  

Arinias

DH09072012 So I just learned I do not get bump notifications on mobile so I am sorry I did not see this earlier! I used acrylic paint on mine and just painted in his hand print after the fact, then used a tiny brush to paint on names and year. Like I said mine didn't dry well so I gave them plenty of time to really finish air drying before painting! I would think a colored sharpie should work fine for writing, but I do not think it would do well for coloring in the print, too many bumps and nooks and crannies in there.

dp1320

thanks @arinias!

@ns1 what are you using the seal it? I'm planning on trying mine out either this weekend or next to give as Christmas presents to the grandparents.

momthatlifts

Well the dough is ready but every attempt was a failure

momthatlifts

I tried 10 times and gave up. It was just frustrating by that point

ns1

DH09072012 said:

thanks @arinias!

@ns1 what are you using the seal it? I'm planning on trying mine out either this weekend or next to give as Christmas presents to the grandparents.

I used Krylon make it last clear sealer. The fumes will probably do us all in, but oh well...

caycelee

I'll have to try this one...I used the no-bake recipe and they cracked.

cgarklavs

So, I think my oven was too hot because mine are brown! They look ok, but I'm going to try again using the cornstarch/baking soda clay.

dp1320

Mine were a complete fail. I'm going to BRU today to get the kit for $10 that you can use to imprint their hands. I'm hoping it's fool proof and on sale.

cgarklavs

FYI, here's the cornstarch/baking soda dough. It was a little more difficult to make the dough, but the print came out much clearer.

melbjorkman17

@cgarklavs what is the recipe for those? and how are you guys able to get such good hand prints from you little ones? is there a trick? mine always grabs and closes her hands when I try hand print things.

cgarklavs

@melbjorkman17, I used this recipe: https://www.tipsfromatypicalmomblog.com/2012/12/better-than-salt-dough-homemade-clay.html
This recipe makes enough for 3-4 ornaments. I had to try a few times to get decent prints- I found it helpful to use a cookie sheet and hold LO over it so his hand was pressing down (almost in a crawling position if that makes sense?) but I really had to hold his hand open which was hard and he was NOT a fan.

rainbowsockmonkey

Just a tip for those of you with dogs. Apparently these taste good. My brothers lab ate the one that we gave him for Christmas this weekend.

dp1320

Our boxer ate the one that actually turned out well this weekend too.

I got this kit at BRU and it worked really well and was super easy! https://www.toysrus.com/buy/1st-keepsakes/pearhead-imprints-hanging-keepsake-2317909