Christmas Ornament Dough Recipes for Christmas Crafts

Most of us remember crafting homemade Christmas ornaments as gifts for our parents and Grandparents out of craft dough when we were young. However, some of us have forgotten those old recipes to use now that we have children of our own. Included here are three of the best and most commonly used craft dough recipes for making homemade Christmas ornaments and gifts.

Salt dough Christmas ornaments, looking like plain Christmas cookies or cutout bread loaves, were well known to us as children. The recipe for salt dough is useful for a variety of craft dough modeling uses. Salt dough is perhaps the most fail-proof of the craft doughs for making Christmas ornaments and crafts.

Salt Bread Dough

¼ Cup Salt

½ Cup Boiling Water

1 Cup All-Purpose Flour

¼ Teaspoon Vegetable Oil

Food Coloring (optional)

Pour boiling water in a bowl and add salt. Add remaining ingredients. Knead dough to desired consistency for crafting. If coloring dough with food coloring, work it uniformly into the dough as you knead the craft dough. Keep slat dough wrapped in plastic when not in use.

Model Dough as desired. It may be helpful to keep a bowl of water nearby while crafting to smooth dough and attach pieces.

Bake at 300 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes. Ornaments will puff a little when baked.

Completed ornaments may be painted, or brush with beaten egg and water mixture prior to baking or a darkened, shiny appearance.

A benefit of making Christmas ornaments with salt dough is that it can be colored with food coloring when it is made, and so does not have to be painted when it is finished. On the other hand, if you enjoy painting your Christmas ornaments, salt craft dough can be made plain and painted when it is dry. Salt dough is easy to work with and makes a lot of inexpensive Christmas decorations.

When crafting your Christmas ornament from salt craft dough, you may choose to cut the craft dough with cookie cutters or go for a more personal keepsake Christmas decoration. This salt dough recipe works well for baking handprint keepsakes; make handprint plaques, or with little hands, make a handprint Christmas ornament that can hang from the tree.

White Ornament Clay

2 Cups Baking Soda

1 Cup Cornstarch

1 ¼ Cups Water

Cook ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat until mixture is too thick to stir. Let dough cool until it can be handled, then knead dough until smooth. Keep wrapped in plastic when not being used.

Roll dough out to approximately 1/8 inch thick (dough that is too thick will crack as it dries). Cut ornaments out with cookie cutters. Make a hole for hanging using a straw. Dry on a cookie sheet for two days, turning periodically. Rough edges can be sanded using fine sandpaper or an emery board. Finished ornaments can be painted.

This white Christmas ornament clay recipe has replaced the old stand-by salt dough recipe in many homes and craft projects. White ornament clay dries to a matte white finish which is ideal for snowflake Christmas ornaments. Glitter can be mixed into the Christmas ornament dough when it is kneaded, for a shimmering finish that requires no more care or painting when the Christmas ornament dries. Food coloring can be added for colored Christmas ornaments.

Finish these craft dough Christmas ornaments with a length of shiny colored thread or twine that coordinates nicely with the white finish and added glitter. Children can also glue shiny embellishments, beads and more to their finished Christmas ornament gifts.

Cinnamon-Applesauce Craft Dough

1 ½ Cups ground Cinnamon

1 Cup Applesauce

¼ Cup White School Glue

Combine ingredients in a small bowl. Add water if the dough is too stiff, a little at a time (be careful not to overdo it). Knead mixture for five to ten minutes. Return mixture to bowl an let sit for about half an hour. Roll dough to a thickness of ¼ to 1/8 inches. Cut with cookie cutters. Make holes for hanging with a straw.

Cover a wire rack with a paper towel and place ornaments on the towel to dry. Ornaments can also be dried by baking them on a rack (without the paper towel) for two hours at 200 degrees.

Sand dried ornaments with fine sand paper or emery boards. Wipe sanded edges with a damp sponge to relieve discoloration.

A Cinnamon-Applesauce craft dough recipe is a good one to keep for making homemade Christmas ornaments year after year. Not only is this recipe great to use with children, but you may want to refer to it yourself for attractive, rustic homemade Christmas ornaments when you want to make a personal set for friends and family, or add a keepsake Christmas ornament to gift baskets and presents.

Cinnamon craft dough Christmas ornaments are popular for their rustic look, and for their great scent and ease in crafting. Once these cinnamon Christmas ornaments are cut and dried, you only need to add a Christmas or red and green plaid ribbon to finish off your homemade cinnamon Christmas ornaments. Adding buttons, dragees, glitter or other embellishments with glue is optional.

Any cookie cutter shape can make a great looking homemade cinnamon Christmas ornament. Of course gingerbread people are among the most popular. In addition to making individual Christmas ornaments with the cinnamon craft dough, consider making a hanging wall or Christmas tree garland. Simply cut two holes in the cinnamon Christmas ornaments before drying, and tie small lengths of ribbon from one ornament's edge to another to connect the shapes into a garland. You can make a Christmas gingerbread garland ornament that resembles dancing dolls, or a garland of one or more shapes like country hearts and Christmas stars.

People enjoy receiving handmade Christmas ornaments as gifts from friends and family. Each of the craft doughs included here can be carefully wrapped and stored for memorable keepsake Christmas ornaments that can be used again, lovingly remembered and appreciated Christmas after Christmas.

These craft dough recipes are common recipes that can be found in many places. These recipes were found in The Rainy Day Activity Book by Jennifer Rader (Doubleday, NY, 1995) and at www.marthastewart.com.

Need more craft recipes, children's activities and gift ideas? Read on at Associated Content.