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Christmas Ornaments

My three kiddos have been home sick from school for the last five school days, so we have been entertaining ourselves with our own version of "homeschooling."

First, we made salt dough ornaments:
This is the recipe we used:
4 cups of flour
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups hot tap water
Mix together and knead until soft and smooth
Roll out the dough and shape into designs or cut out figures - don't forget to make a hole if you plan to use these on the tree!
Bake in 325 oven for 1 1/2 hours (I took mine out at 1 hour because they were thin).

After they cool down and dry a bit, paint them with acrylic paint and sprinkle with glitter, etc. Now you can add string to hand them on the tree!

IMPORTANT NOTE: To remain sane while allowing children to complete this project, I recommend making one or two yourself if you want some very beautiful ornaments and then let the kids make theirs however they want.

Second, we made ice crystal star ornaments. Thanks to a friend who shared the recipe!
Bend white pipe cleaners into your desired shape
In a large wide mouthed jar (pickle jar)
put 3 cups of boiling water (I needed twice this amount)
9 heaping teaspoons of Borax
Mix until dissolved
Hang pipecleaners from a pencil with fishing line. Drop into the jar with pencil laying across the top rim of the jar, being certain that the shape is not touching any sides of the jar.
Let it sit overnight. Remove and dry. They are so cool looking - I'll have to post a picture later.


Works for me!

Comments

ellen b. said…
Hope everyone is all better by now! Your ideas to keep them occupied are wonderful. Blessings. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours!
Denise said…
These are so cute.

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