A couple of years ago my sister-in-law and I decided to start a tradition of no gift buying for us adults for Christmas. Or at least no big ones. It can be something tiny like our favorite chocolate or tea or something of that sort or we can make them ourselves. So this year I decided to do just that. I made these cute Santa Ornaments from salt-dough hand prints of my kids for the whole family. They didn’t cost much (nothing even since I had everything at home already) but they are worth more than money could ever buy. It won’t really be a surprise for them since they will probably see them here already but I know they will be super happy to get them.

I love this craft for several reasons: it’s super fun to make, kids are involved, they make a perfect keepsake for the family, they look absolutely cute and as I said – the things you need to make them don’t cost much. Unfortunately this time I can’t say it’s a super quick diy but it’s the perfect holiday craft and fun for the whole family. I think I’ll make them every year just to track the growth of my two Santas! 😉

So, to make these Santa hand-print Ornaments you need:

For the dough (to make the prints) for about 3 kid-size prints

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water

1. Preheat the oven to 120 °C and line baking tray with baking paper
2. Mix flour and salt in the bowl then gradually add water, stirring until combined
3. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface, roll out until about 7mm thick and transfer to baking tray
4. Press your kiddo’s hands onto the dough and cut them out leaving about 2mm edge. You can make ornaments with the left-over dough, just use some nice cookie cutters
5. Use a knitting needle or a chop stick to make a hole at the top of the palm, about 1 cm from the top edge. This will be used to string the twine through
6. Bake for at least 3 hours, turning them once after 2 hours. You can easily leave them in longer or even over night!

Now, for the fun part you need:

White, Red, Black and Skin Tone Acrylic Paint
Acrylic Gloss Varnish (optional)
Twine

First paint the entire print white twice, waiting about an hour between coats
2. After the second one dries completely sketch the outline of the hat, the pom-pom and the face with a pencil
3. Draw a face (without the eyes, nose and mustache) and a hat (without the dots) using two coats again. But always remember to wait for about an hour in between! You probably have some red paint left so use that for the nose.
4. Now draw the fur on Santa’s hat and lastly the rest of the face (eyes and mustache) and the tiny dots on the hat. Leave to dry.
5. You can stop here and string the twine through the hole or you can seal the ornaments with two or more coats of Gloss Varnish, which will make the ornaments last for ages! Plus they look so much nicer with some extra gloss on them 😉

-Polona

To read more from Polona, go to her cute blog Baby Jungle!