If your Christmas tree is looking a little bit bare, you can fill it quickly with some home made ornaments. Home made ornaments are generally very frugal, especially if you use inexpensive materials that you already have at home.
Homemade ornaments, I think, are more precious than the store bought ones anyway. Every year, we add some home made ornaments to the Christmas tree, and it is always a delight when we take them out of their boxes and hang them on the tree each year.
One wonderful way to make homemade ornaments is by crafting them from salt dough. With salt dough, you can create almost any type of ornament you want. It is simple enough for children to do, yet you can get a real professional look or create a tree full of theme ornaments, such as snowmen.
Here is how to get started with creating salt dough ornaments.
Combine 2 cups of regular all-purpose flour with 1 cup of regular table salt. For the salt, you want the grains as fine as possible, so if you are substituting another type of salt with larger grains, such as kosher salt, run it through a sharp grinder first.
You also need 1/2 cup of warm water. Add the water after the flour and salt are combined. Knead the dough by hand or with a food processor or electric mixer and dough hook until the dough is supple and elastic. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it sit for 30 minutes.
The dough can be rolled and cut or sculpted to make tour ornaments. You can let the dough dry out on its own or speed up the process by baking it in a very low degree oven for a couple of hours.
When your ornament is dry, you can paint and decorate it. Add a coat of varnish to add shine and preserve the ornament for future years.
Click here for more articles by Mary Ann Romans.
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Trendy Home Made Christmas Gifts
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