Christmas Crafting

Woo hoo It's Friday! Being at home during the week is the best but I look forward to Friday- when hubby is home for the weekend:D. We are getting very much into the christmas spirit at our house. We decorated our tree last night & seeing Connors face this morning when I turned the lights on was so precious. I am so looking forward to more moments like these. Friday also means I am going to share another DIY project, this one involves your little ones tiny hands &/ or feet. This week I made baking soda clay ornaments. I haven't made an ornament since elementary but I knew I wanted to at least try to make Connors first christmas ornament. I thought I would start with a handprint ornament so that every christmas I can remember / cry at how tiny Connors little hands were.  

There are a lot of recipes for homemade clay, the one I chose Is from the blog mama.papa.bubba . The blog gives great ideas on how to easiest work with your clay and what household items can be used if you want to turn up the creativity. The recipe made enough clay for quite a few ornaments, so I just kept creating. The clay was really easy to work with and if your not happy with your creation you can squish it and start again,which definitely happened to me a few times. Also, if you have to stop mid project to change a diaper or put your little one for a nap the clay will keep. I just added a touch of water if I felt it was dry. If you have a toddler they can get involved with the fun & messiness <3.

Recipe:

2 cups baking soda

1 cup cornstarch

1 1/4 cup water

Heat on high, stirring constantly until it starts to thicken and stick together. It took about 5 minutes for my dough to come together. Take it off the stove before you think you should- I made two batches and the second one I over cooked. Next, take the dough out of the pot and put it in a container covered partially with a lid or with a damp towel. Let the dough fully cool before you try to work with it or it will be too sticky. 

   

Once the dough is cool you can begin creating,I used cornstarch on the counter to decrease the stickiness. When I was done making my ornaments I put them in the oven on the lowest temp (170) and left them for about 5 hours. Make sure to flip them periodically or the bottom side will not dry out. After about 5 hours I turned the oven off and just left them in there overnight. Don't forget to poke little holes to string ribbon through before your ornaments go Into the oven. I used a straw to poke my holes which worked really well.

  My Little Helper

   

    Our creations 

I used some of the stamps I had leftover from our wedding, I really like how they came out. Cookie cutters are a great easy tool and usually readily available at this time of year. The sky's the limit, you can use anything or nothing at all and just free hand your ornaments.  Next I'm going to paint some of them and add some modgepodge for shine. Last I will attach ribbon or twine to hang them on our tree to enjoy. I think this will definitely become a tradition in our house. Our tree will be full and our hearts happy. 

Have a great weekend!