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Made with just flour, salt, and water, salt dough ornaments are an easy, beautiful craft for the holiday season (but don’t eat them, they’re not edible!). Simply roll out the three-ingredient dough between parchment paper, cut out different shapes using cookie cutters, bake them, and decorate to your heart’s content. It’s a fun, cozy activity that the whole family will love.
Whether you spend quality time with your family designing ornaments or throw a salt dough ornament decorating party (complete with delicious appetizers and drinks) and send guests home with their own, the possibilities for jazzing up salt dough ornaments are endless. To get your creative juices flowing, we are sharing nine dazzling ways to turn the blank canvas into a homemade masterpiece. Feel free to mix and match your favorite styles!
3D Painted Ornaments
Cut out rounds from the dough, and press a cookie stamp on the dough rounds, making sure you apply enough pressure to make an indent. Bake and cool as directed in the recipe. Using a small paintbrush and acrylic paint, brush patterns on ornaments as desired.
Candy Canes
Cut out shapes from dough using a candy cane-shaped cookie cutter. Bake and cool as directed in the recipe. Use red, green, and white fabric paints to create stripes, polka dots, or a marbled pattern on ornaments.
Stockings
Cut out shapes from the dough using a stocking-shaped cookie cutter. Bake and cool as directed in the recipe. Cut fabric to fit the shape of the ornament. Brush a thin coat of PVA-based craft adhesive on ornaments using a brush. Adhere the fabric to the ornament and smooth with your fingers (if desired, use another colored fabric for the top of the stocking to give it the signature look). Attach a piece of ric rac ribbon along the top of the stocking using glue. Let dry completely. Snip or poke a small hole where the hole in the ornament is for threading ribbon or string to hang; tie together.
Paw Prints
Cut out oval shapes from the dough to resemble a paw shape. Gently press your pet’s paw into the dough to create a firm indent with a clear paw print. Bake and cool the dough as directed in the recipe. Use matte acrylic paint to paint inside the indents to make the imprint “pop.” Thread a ribbon or string through the hole and tie together.
Snowmen
Cut out shapes from dough using a snowman-shaped cookie cutter. Bake and cool as directed in the recipe. Use colored paint pens to draw in a hat, scarf, buttons, face, and pockets. Let the ornament dry completely, then thread a ribbon or string through the hole and tie it together.
Shiny Gold Stars
Punch out shapes using a star-shaped cookie cutter. Bake and cool as directed in the recipe. Cut gold foil sheets to fit the shape of the ornament. Brush a thin coat of glue on the ornaments (you can also use a double-sided adhesive). Cover ornament with foil (shiny side up). Rub firmly with a finger. Let the glue dry. Poke a small hole where the hole in the ornament is for threading ribbon or string to hang; tie together.
Sequin Christmas Trees
Punch out shapes using a Christmas tree-shaped cookie cutter. Bake and cool as directed in the recipe. Using matte acrylic paint, paint the top part of the tree green and the trunk red, and let it dry completely. Using a toothpick to apply glue on the surface, glue green sequins to cover the top and red sequins to cover the trunk, gluing around the hole at the top. Let dry completely, then thread a ribbon or string through the hole and tie together.
Glittery Snowflakes
Punch out shapes using a snowflake-shaped cookie cutter. Bake and cool as directed in the recipe. Use silver glitter glue to create snowflake patterns on the ornament. Let dry completely, then thread a ribbon or string through the hole and tie together.
