Salt Dough Ornaments

I found this on http://crafts.kaboose.com. Just search "Salt Dough Ornaments". Here is what you will need:

½ cup salt
1 cup flour
½ cup water


Rolling pin
Cookie sheet
Toothpick
Miniature cookie cutters
Acrylic paints
Glitter glue or glitter paint
ribbon


Here's what you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.**
2. Mix salt, flour, and water together until dough is formed.
3. Knead the dough on a floured surface until the mixture is elastic and smooth. If dough is too sticky, sprinkle with flour, continue to do so until stickiness is gone. Do not add too much flour, this will dry out the dough and will cause it to crack before you get a chance to bake it.
4. Roll out the dough to about ¼” thick with a rolling pin that has been dusted with flour.
5. Use cookie cutters to cut the shapes that you want.
6. Use a toothpick to make a hole toward the top of the shape. Poke the toothpick into the shape, then holding toothpick straight up and down, make a circular motion as if you were stirring something. Keep circling until the hole is the size you want.
7. Place all shapes onto an ungreased cookie sheet and place into the preheated oven.
8. Bake for 2 hours.
9. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
10. Paint the ornaments.
11. When paint is dry, use glitter glue (we used green) or glitter paint (we used gold) to put a sparkling cover coat on your ornaments.
12. When dry, thread ribbon through hole and tie in a knot in the back.

**I also read on another recipe where you can microwave them instead of using the oven. I got this step off of http://www.allfreecrafts.com. Here is what they say:

Using a microwave-safe plate (not paper or cardboard), microwave a plate of your ornaments for 1 to 4 minutes, increasing the time by 1 minute increments and keeping a close eye on the microwave as the ornaments bake. Microwave power levels differ greatly, so use high power in a less-powerful oven, but lower it if your oven tends to heat things very quickly. You don't want to risk a fire! Let the ornaments cool completely before decorating.

Tips:
If your toppers are large enough, you can make two holes in each so that you can thread ribbon through like a button, only showing a small amount of ribbon on the front.
These make adorable pins to wear to school. Just don’t make a hole. Glue a pin back to the back of the completed ornament instead.
Uncooked salt dough doesn’t keep well, so only make enough dough for the ornaments you are going to make. If you are only making a few toppers, halve the ingredients above. The listed amounts will make enough ornaments for a classroom of 20.