Ornaments or Gift Tags

Hi, and thanks for stopping by to visit!  My challenge this week for The Outlawz Saturday Paper a la Mode Challenge was to make a gift project.  I found a tutorial online for salt dough ornaments/gift tags that have designs stamped into them, so decided to give it a try.

The recipe calls for:
2 cups of flour
1 cup of salt
1 cup of water

Mix everything together well, roll out to 1/4 inch thick.  Ink a stamp of  your choice and press it into the dough (not too hard though), then use a cookie cutter to cut out the design in the shape of your choice.

Then bake in a 200 degree oven for 6 hours (it helps to have an oven that has a timer on it!).

May I say that's all easier said than done!  It took me a little practice and reworking the dough so that after I cut out the design the dough would lift up easily and the shape wouldn't get warped.  It also took a little trial and error to get the ink colors right and the pressure on the stamps just right. 

Overall, I think these 4 turned out really nice - I think they are prettier in person because you can get the full effect of the background done in diamond and stardust stickles that really didn't show up in the photos.

It was getting dark and I took them outside to photograph by hanging them on one of my rosebushes.  The wind was blowing like crazy and I had a challenge getting them not to sway and twist in the wind, but hopefully you enjoy these photographs and give this technique a try.

After the stamped shapes baked and cooled, I lightly sanded the edges (a rough nail file like used for acrylic nails works great for this).  Then I added stickles and some gems for a little extra oomph.

Thanks for stopping by to visit!  Much love and hugs to you!