DIY Dough Holiday Ornaments from Hallmark's Home and Family

This morning on Hallmark's Home and Family, I shared two super easy DIY ornament ideas using one simple ingredient: salt dough. These ornaments will last for years, are easy enough to make with your kids, and make a great gift for friends and family.

Recipe for Basic Salt Dough:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour (plus extra for the board)
• 1/2 cup of salt
• 3/4–1 cup of water
• food coloring (optional)

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and line a few baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In an electric mixer combine flour and salt and mix well.

3. With the mixer on low speed add in the water slowly until dough comes together in a ball. You may need as little as 1/2 cup of water or as much as 1 cup so pour slowly and stop when the dough comes together and feels like cookie dough.
4. 
Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 10 minutes to firm up.

5. On a very well floured board, roll dough out to 1/4″ thick. Cut out ornament shapes using various cookie cutters. I used a small star cookie cutter.

6. Transfer ornaments to prepared cookie sheets and poke a small hole in each using a toothpick. Make hole large enough for an ornament hook or ribbon

Pro Tip! If your ornaments get “puffy” when baking, gently press them down for a few seconds with a spatula while they are on the cooling rack.

Optional Colored Dough:
 If you want to color your ornaments, add food coloring to the water in step 3 before mixing it into the flour and salt. Adding food coloring to the dough will result in splotchy ornaments.

To Decorate

1. Apply white craft glue or puffy paint to the front side of your ornaments.

2. Generously sprinkle silver or gold glitter, rough cut glitter, or fake snow on top, OR use acrylic paints to decorate.
3. 
Allow to dry completely before hanging.

Gingerbread Snowflakes

After making the basic salt dough, simply add food coloring to achieve the 'gingerbread' look. Here's the formula for the golden brown color, but feel free to experiment yourself to get your desired color: 

• 10 drops yellow
• 8 drops red
• 3 drops green

Pro Tip! Add a tablespoon each of cinnamon and ginger to make these ornaments smell like the real thing!

If you make these salt dough ornaments with your family, post a photo on Instagram and tag me @meredithplays! Plus, that's where I post behind-the-scenes peeks! 

Happy making!