A few more Salt Dough Christmas Decorations

These a just a few more salt dough decorations we have made. Feel free to make them yourself if you are stuck for ideas. Remember to cover each piece in varnish at least four times. On the last varnish coating we added the glitter while the varnish was still wet.

Hope you like them.

Ready for the oven

Baked and ready to paint.

Some painted.

All we did with these was to cut the rounds first. Then made the top pieces and placed them on top of the rounds. I did, however, brush the underside of the top pieces with a damp paint brush before placing them on the rounds, just to give them the extra staying power. Once baked they were firmly in place.

All of our salt dough decorations are on the Christmas tree now. How many can you spot?

Salt Dough Christmas Decorations

Salt Dough Christmas decorations. Fun for the kids of all ages.

Salt dough is a favourite for most kids (and grown ups!). Making salt dough Christmas decorations is my all time favourite.

This weekend my daughter, grandsons and me all made this years Christmas decorations for the tree, and we had hours of fun doing it. Even my two year old grandson had fun cutting figures and getting covered in paint.

I’ve seen salt dough recipes on line, but I thought I would give you the recipe here so that you don’t have to go searching for it. Salt dough can be used for all sorts of model making, but Christmas decorations is a family favourite in my house.

The recipe…

Two cups of plain flour (I’m not sure what this is called in other countries but here in the UK it is just called ‘plain flour’.)

One cup of salt

One cup of water

Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl to form a dough, use extra flour if it is too sticky but be careful, you don’t want it too dry either.

Cover the dough with a dry cloth and leave to stand for about half an hour before use.

We use cookie cutters most of the time, but I have made my own decorations and models too. If you do not have cookie cutters then try cutting shapes from card board, they will work just as well, but you might have to help the little one’s with their cutting.

You can either air dry your decorations and models, which will take about two to three days for Christmas tree decorations made with cookie cutters, or oven dry, which will take a few hours.

To oven dry set your oven to … 100 degrees C (200 F) or ¼ for Gas.

Before putting them in the oven don’t forget to make holes in the tops for string or thread to hang them on the tree with. We used a lolly stick, which was safe for the boys to use themselves, but you could use a knitting needle if the children don’t mind you making holes for them.

Allow your models to dry for approx two to three hours in the oven.

Make sure you leave a small gap between your dec’s on the baking tray or they might stick together while drying.

When dry and cooled on a wire cooler they are ready to paint.

I’ve used acrylic paint and poster paint before now and with each I’ve had good results. You might need bigger brushes for the smaller children and finer one’s for the older children so that they can add more detail to their pieces.

Any wood varnish will work well but make sure you use a clear varnish, you don’t want to ruin your efforts with the wrong one now!

WARNING!!

Don’t let small children use normal wood varnish. It isn’t child safe. You can get modelling varnish from most craft shops, but be sure to read the instructions no matter which you decide to use. A well ventilated room is a must either way.

Enjoy your Christmas decoration making and look out for my ‘Chocolate Fun Times’ post very soon.

This post has also been uploaded to my hubpages at  trudychappell.hubpages

Snowman Soup

Another make I took from my other blog…

Snowman Soup.

For a nice little extra Christmas present for friends and family (or even the postman) try some Snowman Soup, plus a quick knit for a mug cozy.

To make the Snowman Soup you will need…

Some cellophane cones or bags. You’ll need twice as many bags as gifts you want to give.

Ribbon, (red, green,gold or white), to give it that extra christmassy touch,

Instant drinking chocolate , the one you just add hot water to will do.

Some mini marshmallows,

some chocolate chips.

And a candy cane, (used for stirring)

Snowman Soup is a big hit with almost everyone, so…

Take a cellophane cone or bag and tip enough chocolate powder into the bottom to make one or two cups of hot chocolate, seal the top of the bag with cellotape and cut off any excess, put this first, sealed, bag inside another bag and add the chocolate chips then the marshmallows and seal with the cellotape.

Tie with the ribbon adding the candy cane as you go.

Add a small gift tag.

As a little extra you could add a christmassy mug too.

and maybe a knitted  mug cozy.

I made my cozy using a small amount of Double Knit yarn in a Christmassy green and 8mm needles as follows…

Cast on 22 stitches, and knit 2 purl 2 for 3o rows, or as many rows as you need to go round the mug. Cast off and sew two small baby buttons at one end, you won’t need to make button holes as the baby buttons will go through the stitches quite easily, and your done.

Pop the cozy into the mug and the Snowman Soup bag on top.

Fun to make and give.

Magic Reindeer Food

I’ve taken this Christmas Make from one of my other blogs (Thecraftwitch) because that blog is about crafts in general. This blog will be about Christmas Crafts and Makes.I hope your kids enjoy making it.

Magic Reindeer Food.

Start the magic of Christmas with a gift for Rudolph and his reindeer friends.

It must be hard work for Rudolph and his friends to fly Santa all over the world on Christmas eve delivering presents to everyone, it’s such a long way to go and all before dawn.

I’m sure Santa takes food for his beloved reindeer to help keep their strength up and to pass the time while Santa is down the chimney delivering all those lovely presents.

But what a surprise it would be to have some Magic Reindeer Food waiting for the Rudolph and his friends when they arrive.

Magic Reindeer Food glows bright at night and although we can’t see it glowing, Rudolph and his team of magic reindeer can.

So why not make some and help the reindeer to find your house as quickly as possible.

This is how to make it…

(Please use only natural ingredient, we don’t want to harm and tiny creatures that Rudolph shares his treat with.)

Take half a cup of reindeer magic oats
a sprinkle of edible cake glitter.

(Optional extras…some sultanas or current and maybe a few chocolate chips)

mix it all together while saying the magic words…

“Magic Food glow real bright
Bring Santa to my house tonight
Show the reindeer where to go
from the night sky they’ll see you glow”

Now go outside and sprinkle the Magic Reindeer Food outside you door and say.

“Magic dust just glow tonight give Rudolph and his friends some light”

Don’t worry if you live in a house without a garden or in a block of flats, just sprinkle it close to your home and Rudolph and Santa will find you, and please don’t make the Magic Reindeer Food untill Christmas Eve because the magic won’t work until then.
Have a very Happy Christmas X