Day One- Salt Dough Ornaments

Today began The Girl's first ever month of advent. I'm sure she doesn't totally "get it" yet, but she's a quick a learner. I see twenty-four inhaled breakfasts ahead... (She pulls the card for that day once she's done eating.)

Anyway, today she pulled "Craft: Ornament." The options are endless! Photos? Buttons? Handprints? How is a mother to make such a big decision for the day ahead?

It came down to this: materials needed must already be in our home. I scanned my Pinterest "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" board, and found a few recipes for 'salt dough ornaments.' Here's what happened...

First, I honed my inner Alpha Chi Omega. I'm pretty sure I hadn't touch most of these materials since I made my last paddle... almost 10 years ago! I'll be forever grateful that our founders chose Scarlet Red and Olive Green as our colors-- they came in all too handy for our Christmas crafting today!

Next, I made the dough. I tried two recipies, and this one was by far the better option:
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour

Mix it together. Knead it for 5-7 minutes. Roll it out to about 1/4 of an inch thickness. (I rolled ours too thin. Keep in mind they will shrink when they bake!)

Employ your helper to cut out ornaments. (You should get 15-20 per batch, depending on how big your cookie cutters are.)

Be sure to poke a hole in the top for the string or ribbon. Do this BEFORE you bake them! We used a straw, and The Girl thought it was really fun to blow out the little piece of dough that got stuck in the straw.

Bake them at 200 degrees for two hours, then flip them and bake two more hours.

We baked ours allllllllll afternoon, so it was fun to get The Hubby in on the action when he got home from work.

Finally, coat them with an acrylic sealer of some sort, and add ribbon or string!

Note: Though I blindly placed all of our Advent activities in the calender (I enjoy the suspense, too!), I'd probably try and get this one later in the month. Mainly because we JUST made Christmas cookies, and The Girl was very confused as to why we couldn't also eat these. She also wanted to lick the paint off her fingers-- as just days ago she was able to lick the colored icing off her fingers! Oops!