Salt Dough Ornaments

I told you I had been blog-hopping lately and I saw these adorable and easy ornaments to make and thought it would be a great project for the kids and I plus they would be a perfect little gift for my husband's co-workers. I hand picked what kind of ornament shape so I could come up with cute sayings or stories with each one so it would be more meaningful to them as gifts. So here is what you need:

And here is the recipe:

SALT DOUGH ORNAMENTS

1/2 Cup Salt

1 Cup of Flour

1/2 Cup Water

Mix all ingredients together. Roll out on floured surface and cut out shapes with cookie cutters of your choice. Make a hole in the top of your shape by pressing the end of a straw into the dough. Transfer them onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 2 hours at 275 degrees. Allow to cool completely before adding embellishments.

It said to use a type of sealer - we had Mod Podge on hand so I just applied a thin layer to each side. If using Mod Podge do not make a thick layer, it goops up and leaves a chunk of glue on ornament that will rip the paint off if you try to remove (yes I know from experience).

Here are a couple ornaments that we made:

I also got this next idea from a blog and thought it was a priceless keepsake. I had my kiddos place their hands gently on the dough and made a faint outline with a pencil. Then they removed their precious hands and I cut out their hand print shape with a knife. Now we have adorable hand print ornaments to keep for years to come!

This is my son's hand - 5 years old.

And this is my daughter's hand - 3 years old.

If making as a gift you can make the wrapping cheap and easy too: I bought a package of small plain white paper bags and simply stamped on a silver snowman and "Merry Christmas" (they have some clearance Christmas stamps on sale at Hobby Lobby right now!! So check your local store) Wrap in one sheet of tissue paper and Voila!

Hope you are having fun making many memories this Christmas Season!

My Photography

I am so excited to let everyone know that I will now have some of my best photography available for purchase on Imagekind.com. If you look to the right side bar you will see a scrolling banner of my current photos that also includes a link straight to them.

You can get them any way you want - as cards, prints, framed artwork, canvas, anything!

This sight is a GREAT way to find unique artwork and greeting cards from ordinary artists such as myself. I encourage you to check it out for that perfect wall art or perhaps a great Mother's Day card (since it's in a couple days you know)!

I have only added one photo so far, as I just signed up, but keep checking back for more to come!

Thank you for your support!

Christmas Memories Monday

Okay it is now the 3rd week of Christmas Memories Monday! Thank you to everyone who has been participating!! This week we officially have a week and a half before Christmas is actually here so I decided to ask about gifts as hopefully you have been wrapping them and sending them and the such within this week or maybe before (or after, hopefully not!)

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES MONDAY:

"GIFTS"

1. What do you want for Christmas this year?

I only asked for one thing and one thing only from EVERYONE - a CAMERA! I love photography and scrap booking and family heritage and this year the last of our cameras finally took the blink and so I have been without a personal camera for over a year now and it is killing me!! So this Saturday (yes early so I can take my Christmas photos!!) I will be getting a Canon EOS Rebel!! with a telephoto lens may I add!!

2. Who's gift did you have the most fun making, buying or getting? (You may be discreet about "what" it is if identity would be revealed to receiver!)

I think I had the most fun coming up with my sister-in-laws gift this year. She is the person I have to always get creative with when I give her gifts so I like the challenge! Now she does blog stalk and may read this so I can't tell you what it is...but I can say I am making it myself and it will have a touch of her "favorite" in it! lol..I know that makes no sense so I'll have to blog about it after Christmas so you can see it for yourself!

3. Who is the hardest person to buy for?

Hands down my father-in-law!! I never know what he wants, he never wants anything, and he doesn't NEED anything! Seriously! We usually go with something his wife tells us to get or a gift card!

4. Who will you be opening gifts with this year?

My family - my hubby, my two kids - Tyler and Gracious (3 and 1), and my mom and dad!

5. How many gifts do you have left to even GET! (not ship or wrap)

Well I will admit I do these blogs early and put them on a timed posting so this is actually a couple days early but I have 13 people to get gifts for still. I will say I already know what a couple of them are I just haven't jumped online or gone to the store and GOTTEN them yet!

That's it for this week! Please post a comment letting me know you participated so I can stop by and read about your "gift" situation this year!