Would you likesomething creative in the run-up to Christmascompany? We have collected exactly the right ideas for you. All you need is a few household items and a bit of skill. Get inspired by our salt dough ideas for Christmas! Whether cute Christmas pendants, small Christmas figures, beautiful candle holders or imaginative gifts from the children - there is something for everyone here!
Make Christmas pendants out of salt dough
One of the most popular salt dough ideas for Christmas is without a doubt the Christmas pendants for the Christmas tree. You can give these any shape you like and adapt them to the available Christmas decorations. Of course, you can use cookie cutters to create the characters, but don't worry if you don't have any. Beautiful ornaments can also be made with household items such as glasses or simply cut out with a knife.
Now we come to the salt dough recipe. You will find different variations for this, with the classic consisting of flour, salt and water in a ratio of 2:1:1. But we have chosen a better recipe that is wonderful for modeling and sculpting different figures. Here are the necessary ingredients:
- 4 cups flour
- 1 cup salt
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
The recipe is very quick. First mix the flour and salt well in a bowl. Then slowly add water while stirring constantly and knead the ingredients into a smooth dough, making sure the dough doesn't stick to your hands. Complete!
In the next step, place a piece of baking paper on your work surface, put some of the salt dough in the middle and place another sheet of baking paper on top. Then use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to a thickness of approx. 3 to 5 millimeters. Remove the top sheet of baking paper and cut out the tags using matching cookie shapes. Peel off the excess dough, decorate the figures as desired and use a drinking straw or skewer to poke a hole in each pendant so you can hang it later.
Of course, you can not decorate the salt dough pendants any further and leave them as they are, but they certainly look nicer with some patterns and motifs on them. Use household items such as forks, wooden skewers, drinking straws, etc. to create pretty patterns. When you have finished decorating, transfer the baking paper with the molds to a baking tray and bake the pendants at 150 ° C for about 1 hour. They are ready when they harden and start to brown a bit. But don't worry about that because they will be painted in the next step. To do this, you should let the trailer cool completely and only then spray it with white spray paint.
Once the paint is already dry, we get to the funnest part – painting! You can either go for classic Christmas colors like red and gold or create your own color combination. There are no limits to creativity. If you have children, you can of course join in too. Allow the colors to dry completely before hanging the homemade Christmas tree decorations on the tree or wrapping them as a gift.
Decorate beautiful Christmas pendants using the napkin technique
Another way to decorate the salt dough crafts is to use the napkin technique. You can use napkins with any motif and transfer the motifs to the figures using napkin glue. A simple yet original way to decorate.
Choose suitable motifs for Christmas from napkins
Using decoupage glue and varnish, transfer the motifs to the salt dough figures and seal them
Make a star garland for Christmas
With the salt dough ideas for Christmas you can make beautiful Christmas decorations. For example, you can even make a star garland yourself using a few stars that you design using your cookie cutters and a piece of jute string. Whether you just leave the stars as they are or paint them in any color dependsstyle of your Christmas decorationab.
A star garland with lights looks even more atmospheric. To make these, you should wrap the finished salt dough stars with a wire string of lights. You can use this garland to decorate the Christmas tree or the mantel, for example.
Salt dough ideas for Christmas: A lit house
Who doesn't like atmospheric lights and pretty decorations? With this idea you get both. The illuminated house made of salt dough requires some skill and patience, but the result is definitely worth it. We'll show you how it's done!
Step 1: Roll out the dough, cut out house pieces and bake
First prepare the salt dough and roll it out to about 3 millimeters thick. Then you need a template for the house parts (you can find these below) so that the house turns out well. Cut out the house parts according to the template. Then use small cookie cutters to cut out a door and other random figures so that the light can later shine out of the house in some places. Set the remaining dough aside. Now bake the house parts for 1 hour at 100 °C.
Step 2: Assemble the house
When the elements cool, start gluing them together. You can either use water and the leftover salt mixture, or simply work with hot glue. However, with the hot glue the end result wouldn't look as nice.
To assemble the house with water, first coat each edge with water. Place a layer of salt dough on top, brush again with water and stick together. Start with the floor and four walls. Before sticking the roof, smooth all joints by brushing them with water and rubbing with your finger.
Step 3: Allow the salt dough house to harden and paint
Place the house on a baking sheet and bake again. This time at 150 °C for about an hour. Support the roof with toothpicks to prevent it from accidentally slipping off. After baking and cooling, the house can be sanded with sandpaper or painted immediately. Acrylic paints are best suited for this. The house should cool completely before painting. Finally, place a tea light or a string of lights in the house to transform it into a Christmas lantern.
Free printable salt dough house template
You can also make beautiful Christmas tree decorations from the individual parts of the house
Make a Christmas tree tea light holder out of salt dough
Other salt dough ideas for Christmas can also be made using the same principle as for the illuminated house. For example, how do you find that little Christmas tree that you can light up with a tea light? To make it, all you need is a quarter circle as a template and a little water for gluing.
Make an Advent spiral with salt dough
Although Advent has already begun, you can also make a beautiful Advent spiral. This will certainly be used next year as the material is really durable if stored correctly. In contrast to the Advent wreath, the Advent spiral has 24 hollows - one for each day of December until Christmas. Candles are usually placed in the hollows, but small things such as stars, stones or other decorative items are also suitable for this. To make the Advent spiral, you should roll out your salt dough into a large roll and then form a spiral out of it. Finally, press in the hollows with a small ring or with your index finger and let the Advent spiral dry thoroughly.
Salt dough ideas for Christmas: make angel figures
Since the salt dough is similar to modeling clay, you can also use it to create wonderful figures. Below you will find step-by-step instructions on how to do itMaking an angel. The angel is a popular Christmas symbol and is suitable for both Christmas decorations and as a gift. Don't forget to paint the finished figures after they have hardened. This makes them even more beautiful.
Salt dough ideas for Christmas: make your own angels
Free salt dough angel templates
Salt dough ideas for Christmas with hand and footprint
Among the most popular ideas that can be created from salt dough are, without a doubt, the souvenirs with the child's hand and fingerprint. These are also perfect as pendants for the Christmas tree and can be transformed into the most popular symbols of Christmas. How? With paint, brushes and a little creativity. There are three examples in the picture, but other ideas are of course also possible.
Handprints on salt dough as Christmas presents
We already have some for youIdeas for homemade Christmas presentsshown that you can try out even with the smallest children, such as a picture frame made of salt dough or cute tealight holders. Another great option that grandparents would surely like are these children's colored handprints. They are super easy to make and with a beautiful satin ribbon as a pendant you get an elegant touch.
An original idea: create handprints in gloves
Make a Christmas pendant with a paw print
For you, your four-legged friend is like a child? Then of course you can also make beautiful ornaments for the Christmas tree with his paw print. These are trendy right now and will be a nice reminder of your pet after a few years.
Here's how it works: Press the dog's paw onto salt dough and cut out any shape
Decorate Christmas pendants with paw prints with glitter
Make gift tags out of salt dough
Would you like to beautifully wrap and label Christmas presents for your loved ones? Salt dough comes to the rescue again. The small salt dough cookies not only look beautiful on the Christmas tree, but are perfect as small gift tags. Simply thread the gift ribbon through the hole and tie it around the gift. These salt dough molds can be wonderfully labeled and personalized.
Make personalized gift tags out of salt dough using letter cookie cutters
Decorate salt dough pendants with stamps
Salt dough ideas for Christmas crafts with children
The best thing about salt dough is that the material is also suitable for crafting with children. The little ones especially like kneading and cutting out things. Here you will find another nice idea that would be fun for the children. Candy canes are a classic Christmas decoration in the USA, but are also becoming increasingly popular here. Before you make this pretty decoration, you should divide the salt dough in two and color half with red food coloring. Then it's the children's turn.
We hope you enjoy our salt doughIdeas for Christmas!
