To be clear, over the last three years the crafting wasn't really on 'hiatus' although the amount of time directed to crafting and (obviously) blogging has diminished.
Since I have been gone, Pinterest has kind of exploded and as a DIY craft enthusiast it is both a major source of inspiration and (like all social media) provides users with that sinking feeling that one is not quite performing at full capacity - as there are endless examples of others doing things way better than you.
So let's start this reboot by checking our egos and expectations at the proverbial 'crafter's door' ( imagine what a crafter's door would look like? - I am envisioning a lot of ribbon and glitter - I digress) and have some fun making some things together. To start, as I have a constant and wonderful crafting companion now I wanted to share something fun you can make with your favourite small people.
Ms. F and I got going on our Christmas ornament making this year in preparation for our tree arriving any day. We made these lovely salt dough ornaments and then painted and decorated them. The salt dough was lots of fun to play with and is a great medium for acrylic paint, glitter and a gloss as a final coat if you want a smoother and brighter finish.To make the salt dough
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
3/4-1 cup of warm water (add water slowly)
Work into a dough, roll and use cookie cutters to make your preferred shapes. After I used a straw to poke a hole in each ornament and then placed them on parchment paper and baked at 180 degrees until they dried out (these took about two hours). I also flipped them on the pan and let the backs bake for an additional time - just to even things out.
Once they have cooled - paint, glitter, sharpie - decorating options are fairly endless. You could also experiment with stamps on the dough prior to baking.
Now all they need is a coat of clear gloss (modge podge or equivalent) and a ribbon for hanging on the tree. Depending on the kiddo and age they may want to take part in making the dough, painting adding glitter beads etc. or just making a funny mess in the kitchen.
Happy crafting!
