Baby's First Christmas Ornaments- DIY
Happy holidays! Christmas is one of my favorite holidays and this year I had someone special come spend it with me!
Nasir is here to help me make Christmas tree ornaments! We wanted to make these to give out as gifts to all of Nasir's friends and family. The dough is a simple salt dough made with 1/2 cup salt, 1 cup flour, and 1/2 cup water. I added some food coloring to give it a cool marbled look.
Once those ingredients are all mixed, you want to roll out the dough on a counter space dusted with flour (flour your rolling pin too). You need to roll it out thick enough so he can press his little hands and feet into, but thin enough so it's not a really heavy ornament. Once that's rolled out you want to take a cup, jar, or anything that can cut out a hole and press a few circles into the dough. (Make sure you measure it and it's big enough to fit around his hand and/or foot.) Find a spot on the ornament not too close to the edge for the hole. Use a straw to press into the dough and the excess goes right into the straw!
Once your circles are made, use a spatula to move them onto a parchment lined baking sheet. I love the marbled look!
We brought the tray over to Nasir and pressed his hands and feet into the ornaments while distracting him with snacks. It took me and his mom, Julie, a few tries to get these just right. The hand and foot prints will look a little faded now but once it's in the oven you will see them a lot more. Bake on 250° for 2-2.5 hours. (I was very distracted with the baby so I am missing photos of the ornaments before they went into the oven...) Here they are out of the oven after I started painting the handprints...
I decided to paint the handprints with food coloring as opposed to paint. I used a q-tip dipped in water to get a watercolor look. I loved this step, it really made the handprints pop!
Letting them dry!!! Once they were dry, I took a sharpie and wrote Nasir's name and age.
But wait, there's another step: Mod Podge!!! I love Mod Podge, I've used it before on various projects and it acts like a glue and seal. Last step is to take a paintbrush and apply Mod Podge to the front, back, and edges of all of the ornaments.
I let these dry overnight and the next morning the ornaments were so smooth and had a bit of gloss to them! I love how they came out! Now I can hang them on my Christmas tree and all of Nasir's friends and family can have one too!!
Merry Christmas from Nasir, Julie, and I !
This DIY was so much fun and I am so happy Julie brought Nasir over to make these! Happy Holidays everyone!!