Pin-Spired: Christmas Clay Ornaments

I'm really into ornaments this year, can you tell?!  I saw this idea and was so excited to try it.. The "Snow Day" on Tuesday was the perfect time!  I thought what can I make? Instantly I thought Nash would be up for some crafts!  So I set out with the objective to make three "Nash Paw Print Ornaments".. one for each of our houses..

Christmas Ornament Dough Recipe:

4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup salt

1 1/2 cups water

(makes a dozen ornaments)

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 300 degrees

- combine all three ingredients and mix together/knead for approx. 10 minutes

- roll out dough onto wax paper and begin making your shapes

- bake for 30-45 minutes (depending on how thick your ornaments are)

- allow to cool 

- (optional) decorate the ornaments 

You can cut the recipe back or double it depending on how many ornaments your making -- I decided to cut mine in half since I was making just a few (and because we were almost out of flour).  You pour all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix it together -- in the beginning you can start with a spoon, but pretty quickly you'll be kneading it together with your hands.

 

Next, you roll out the dough onto a piece of wax paper and use cookie cutters to cut out your ornaments!  To get Nash's paw prints, I rolled three individual sections of dough and pushed Nash's paw into each one.  Steve helped hold Nash down and Mom was ready to clean off the paws!  I don't know why I thought it would be such a struggle -- Nash LOVED it!  One time he even held his paw up ready to make his imprint. 

Use a straw to poke a hole into the ornament so you'll be able to hang it on your tree.  Since I had some left over dough, I made a couple extra shapes for fun then popped them into the oven. 

Next let them cool and decorate if you'd like then you can tie some ribbon on them and you're finished! 

We only ended up with two ornaments with Nash's paw print.. if anyone can figure out how to make those in a perfect shape -- let me know!  Everyone, including Nash had fun making the clay!

Xo C