More Salt Dough Ornaments

We had a busy Saturday doing lots of fun things. We started with a small craft that I will share tomorrow. Then Hazel and I went to our church for a gingerbread man decorating fundraiser. Hazel had so much fun decorating them. I let her do two. We came home and had some lunch and of course no nap, and she and Mommy and Daddy really needed one, but when Daddy is home we often do not take one.

Then we made some salt dough ornaments. I used a different recipe this time. I wanted to make them like a play dough at first after seeing the post at The Magic Onions. I loved her idea of decorating them with glitter and just have it colored. I got to thinking if the cream of tartar makes the play dough last longer, does it need to be there. I did some research on line and then remembered I had a book, The Arts and Crafts Busy Book: 365 Art and Craft Activities to Keep Toddlers and Preschoolers Busy by Trish Kuffner, with an appendix full of such recipes. I was going to make a no-bake craft clay with cornstarch and baking soda, however to color it you added the food coloring in the beginning. Since I wanted to make two colors this wouldn't work. So I went with the Salt Clay recipe which is the same recipe you see everywhere. I used the method of mixing the dry ingredients that The Magic Onions suggested--the snow method. Hazel loved it!! Then we added the water and still mixed with our hands. At first Hazel didn't like it sticking to her hands but after I did it some she wanted to try some more. I thought I had added too much water at one point but kept kneading it and it became the perfect consistency. We divided it up into two parts and mixed in red in one and green in the other. 

The first rolling, after I got it pretty flat, we used one of Hazel's textured rollers to give stars on our ornaments. Then we cut them out. Used a straw to punch a hole in it and added some glitter.

The next ones we did not give texture by a rolling pin, but used some rubber stamps after we cut them out.  Overall, I love how they came out. We of course added some more glitter to the stamped ones as well and then we baked them for several hours.

Our Salt Dough Ornaments

Today, Hazel spent most of the day at my mother-in-law's and I spent it resting again. I'm starting to feel better, but my energy doesn't stay there.

When she got home we painted our salt dough ornaments. Hazel had fun with the glitter and the gold glitter came out a bit fast. But here they are. Safe travels to everyone on the road today. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving if you are celebrating tomorrow.

These are the ones I painted

Leaves, acorns, pine cones and crafts!

Hazel's handprint

Today I adapted a recipe for No-Bake Craft Clay from The Arts and Crafts Busy Book by Trish Kuffner. When it was ready, we made nature impressions from the things we gathered on our nature walk on Sunday. We also did one of Hazel's hand. Hazel really enjoyed this craft and my hands smelled of cinnamon for quite awhile afterwards even with washing. We are going to try new scents next. I'm thinking I will add some vanilla extract the next time and may play with other extracts and essential oils. It adds a whole new sense to play dough.

Oak leaf and acorns

Oak Leaf

My oak leaf and acorn

No Bake Craft Clay Revised:
Food coloring (I used red and yellow to make orange and the dots are the cinnamon)
1 1/4 cups cold water
1 cup cornstarch
2 cups baking soda
Cinnamon (or other scent of your choice)
Saucepan
Plate
Damp cloth (that you don't care if it gets messy)

Add the food coloring to the water and then put in pan. Then combine the water with the cornstarch, baking soda and cinnamon (I probably used about 2 teaspoons, but didn't measure it). Mix over medium heat until it becomes the consistency of mushy mashed potatoes. The original recipe said about 4 minutes but I found it took much longer like 15 minutes. Then scoop onto the plate and cover with the damp cloth until cooled. (It does solidify while cooling.) When cool knead the dough and shape. To do the nature impressions take a small ball and make it into a disc big enough to take your piece of nature. Press the leaf or whatever you are using down into the clay and then lift up. You may want to let the disc set a little before pressing to make sure you get more details.

The other craft we did today was leaf rubbings. I found this idea on Michaels website...well actually an email they sent me. I printed out a few copies of their leaf shaped book and gave some to Hazel and kept some. I showed her how to do leaf rubbings. My original hope for this project was to keep her busy while her toe nails dried, but she decided she did not want to try the Piggy Paints with me today after I touched her toe to apply the base coat. So my toes are pink and hers are not. However she did have fun doing some rubbings and coloring in general. You can definitely tell which ones I did and which ones she did. We did not cut them out and I probably won't since several of them went outside of the outline. Hazel has not learned to color in the lines yet.

Lazy Rainy Day

Well after a rough night of sleep, we got up late and have had a relaxing morning. Our plans have changed since Hazel has an ear infection. She was suppose to go to the library today for the Move and Groove class. My mother-in-law was going to take her since they are suppose to be cutting down my tree today at 10. It is now 11:15 and no one has shown up.

Hazel wanted to "cook" this morning. However since we already ate breakfast, we made homemade play dough. I tried one of the recipes in The Toddler's Busy Book by Trish Kuffner. She has many recipes in the Appendices and it has many great craft and activity ideas for toddlers. Hazel enjoyed mixing and then playing with the playdough even while it was still warm. We made four batches, red, green, yellow and blue. We had to scrounge for enough salt and cream of tartar for the last batch though. It was nice to not smell the typical store bought playdough smell. The recipe says it can last for 6+ months. We shall see.

This afternoon I hope to make some crafts with Hazel to decorate for our Fourth of July Party. I have a great idea for placemats. We stopped at the library yesterday and Hazel made a flag out of construction paper and cardboard. It would be easy to do in a bigger scale as a placemat and put clear contact paper over it to protect it from the food. I also saw a craft in one of my books about painting red, white and blue fireworks. I figured we could try that as well and then after the paint is dry cover it with the contact paper. If they work well, I'll have Hazel make them for the adults and then have each kid make his or her own.

I have also been trying to find a good chai latte recipe to make at home. Of course I have been changing any that I find so it is less Weight Watchers Points, but I figure eventually I will find the right combination of spices and such for me. I have been missing my daily chai, but don't want the sweetened stuff you can find around here or to spend the money on them all the time. I guess I'm spoiled when I go to the Cape and can order it unsweetened.

Well that is it for today. I will let you know how our afternoon crafts go.