Easy DIY Clay Ornaments

First off I just have to say how much I LOVE that chunky little footprint :)

Ok, so for Thanksgiving on my family's side after we had our big dinner we helped my parents decorate for Christmas. Since we were all together we thought it would be fun to make some Christmas crafts as well. 

We usually do a craft on Christmas when we all get together, but this year we wanted to do it on Thanksgiving so we could admire our little decorations all season long!

I of course found this idea on Pinterest.

You can see the original post here.

I have a couple pointers for you as well...let's just say I learned from some mistakes :)

First you'll pour the following ingredients into a saucepan and cook over medium heat

1 c. corn starch

2. baking soda

1 1/2 c. water

At first the mixture looks pretty runny, but just keep stirring, it will thicken.

 It's going to kind of end up looking like a big clump of soft cookie dough.

Remove it from the heat, and the original directions say to cover it with a moist towel while it cools.

I was too impatient to start making shapes, and I didn't do that step.

I would recommend doing that step.

It was still pretty warm when I rolled it all out, and at first when we cut out the shapes they were kind of sticking to the plastic on the tablecloth...it did cool down eventually and then it was easier to work with.

 I had a bunch of Christmas themed cookie cutters, so we let everyone pick out a couple of shapes each.

The kids loved this part!

Use a straw to poke a hole where you want the string to run through.

 About half-way through rolling out the 'dough' we decided to add some green glitter to just see what would happen.

If you want to 'write' in the ornaments or make any type of impression, now would be the time.

 Then bake the ornaments at 175 for about 45 min turning over half-way through.

That's another thing I was too impatient for...I didn't let the ornaments bake or harden all the way, (we were running out of time), so we just pulled them out of the oven and started painting them.

Not letting the ornaments finish in the oven did leave some small cracks in them, but they still worked!

For my baby's footprint I held his foot out while my husband painted it, then we pressed it down onto the ornament.
These are my son's ornaments.
He wanted to paint the tree red so it was a 'fire type' and the star brown for an 'Earth type'....(That's a Skylanders reference :) )

If the ornaments aren't dried all the way, you can leave them sitting out and being exposed to the air will actually air dry them.
We had leftover 'dough' and kept it wrapped in plastic wrap for about a week, and when we went to roll it out to make some more ornaments the dough was still soft and easy to use, so as long as it's not exposed to air you can save it for later.