July's Craft: Salt Dough Ornaments and Snowmens

It's Christmas in July!

SUCH AN EASY CRAFT!

Great fun with kids. Great fun for adults. Makes great gifts!

(***PS...I know I'm saying 'snowmens' and that's, technically, incorrect. But my niece keeps calling them that, when there are multiple, and I find it adorable.)

What you need:
Salt
Flour
Water
Rolling Pin
Cookie Cutters
Twigs - to make the snowmens arms
Toothpicks - to make the snowmens noses (if they are not already orange you can use food coloring to make regular toothpicks orange)
1 straw
Cookie tray

How to make the Salt Dough:
1 cup of salt
4 cups of flower
Roughly 1.5 cups of water

Combine ingredients in a bowl - you might need to add more water - until it forms a fairly sticky dough. Once all is combined, but still sticky, place the dough on a floured board and - using extra flour - kneed the dough until it's no longer sticky.

The Next Step:
Once you've made the dough, form your snowmen ... as many as you'd like ... and place them on a cookie tray. Roll out the remaining dough and, using the cookie cutters you've selected, cut out your ornaments.

Once the ornaments are on the tray, using the straw, make a hole where you will eventually put a string to hang it on your Christmas tree.

Baking the Snowmens and Ornaments:
Bake at 240 degrees fahrenheit for about 2 hours. When they're good and baked, remove and let cool.

Decorating your Snowmens and Ornaments:
Paint away and let them dry ... once they're dry, add googly eyes or glitter or hot glue beads/etc...onto your ornaments. Once they are fully decorated, and dry, use ribbon to add the "hanger" for each ornament.

Family and friends will enjoy making them, seeing them in your home, and receiving them as gifts! :)