~ DIY ~ Christmas & Holiday Salt Dough Ornaments & Handcrafted Primitive Cabins!

~If you click and purchase from any links in this post Primitive Gypsy may make a small commission~

Have you been wanting to make your own ornaments? Or do you need a fun project at home for the kids? This year we moved and since we don't have all of our tools we thought it would be fun to try our hand at Salt Dough Ornaments. We've made different batches for weeks and here are the best ways to do them we've found. These are fairly quick and easy enough that the kids can make them too. You probably have all or most of the ingredients already in your home.

First off what ingredients do you need? Here is a list-
3 cups of All Purpose Flour
1 cup of Cinnamon + a jar with a sprinkle lid (Leave out if you want light Ornaments)
1 cup of Salt
1 1/2 cups (or thereabouts) of Water
Essential oils. Your choice, we used Cinnamon and Clove. Barefut makes an excellent Christmas Time or Tree Blend. You can buy it HERE.
Large Mixing Bowl
Rolling Pin
Spoon
Cookie Cutters
Baking Sheet
Dried Cloves, Juniper Berries or Seeds of some kind. Optional but look nice.
Shaping Tools and/or Toothpicks
String, or Ornament Hooks
Pastry Cutter Optional for all but Cabin.
Cooling Rack is optional but helps
Spray to seal. Optional but they will last longer. This should be the kind that dries clear and can be found at any hardware or big box store. Amazon also has a large selection HERE.

Start out with making the dough. Add all the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl. Stir well until fully mixed. Take out a small amount of this mix around 1/4 to 1/2 a cup and use to dust where you will be rolling and cutting out your ornaments. We did ours on a large wooden cutting board. Set this aside for now. You can also just use cinnamon.

In the measuring cup with your water add a few drops of your Essential Oils of choice. I added about 6 to 8. Stir this well and then gradually pour into your dry mixture while stirring. You may use Fragrance Oils but they don't smell as nice nor are they as good for you. Continue to add and stir your water in. You want a ball of dough. This should not be sticky, but nice and smooth.

Place your dough on your floured counter, table or cutting board. Pat it down and then start rolling. You want it to be about 1/4" thick all around.

Once the dough thickness is the right size start cutting out your shapes. Immediately move them onto your baking pan. You may grease it but I found you really don't need too, especially if you are using stoneware. If you have extra dough just re-roll and start the process over.

Try and use all the dough at once. You may refrigerate it but it becomes difficult to use and dries out fast.

Using either your little cutting tools or toothpicks work out a hole towards the top of your ornaments. Make this a good size to put string or a hook through. You do not need to leave the toothpick in it, it will not close.

Add any cloves, berries or seeds for buttons or decorations. Press these down deep and hard or they will fall off once baked. I love the way the Juniper berries look. You can buy them HERE from Amazon.

Bake the ornaments at 300 degrees for approx 30 minutes. Depending on the size and thickness these can take up to an hour. You want them to be dry but not burnt.

Pull them out of them over and transfer to a baking rack or someplace to dry. Once dry and cool, you can dust them with cinnamon or spray with the Sealing spray and dry. This shouldn't take but a few minutes if that. If you want to dust with cinnamon get them lightly wet, sprinkle the cinnamon over them, blow excess off or lightly shake. Then do the sealing spray. After dry add string or hooks and hang on your tree. You can do so many things with these. We did footprints and carved out Log Cabins. See visual instructions for those below. We did hand and footprints. For those make the dough slightly thicker and evenly press the hand or foot in. We did names and dates and we used our little tools to make our own patterns and designs like snowflakes. Your imagination is the limit.

How to make your own Primitive Log Cabin Ornaments.

Start off following all directions above and then follow the photos and instructions below to shape them! This is where you need the pastry cutter or a knife will do!

First make your dough rectangular, just cut off the excess. Use your tools to draw lines in your dough. As many as you want including one for the cabin roof.

Use your tools to cut off the roof at an angle and then to cut a straight line for the edge of the cabin walls. Save this dough to make your doors and windows.

Take that extra cut off dough and lightly smooth with water. Cut off excess if needed to make the right size door and /or windows. You will also use the water to smooth it down onto the cabin so it will stick. Pat around the door edges into the cabin with your tools. This will ensure the door won't come off. You can also do this and add a chimmney if you'd like. This is a fun added touch.

This is what they will look like without cinnamon dusted on.

I hope you enjoyed our little tutorial on making Salt Dough Ornaments. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to reach out!

~~Rebecca

~Review~ The Surviving Momhood Subscription Box

I have become friends with this mommy..We met at a online party of all things! She is the nicest person and when I found out she ran her own subscription box for moms, I thought I have to try that! What a wonderful idea! So I ordered a box for December..

The theme for the December Surviving Momhood box was "Baby, it's Cold Outside". When you order she asks you all sort of questions to give you a more personalized box. So each box will be slightly different. This is mine.

Each box starts with a note explaining the box and this one included Hot Chocolate Spoon recipes. Yummy...

You'll have to forgive me I opened this for Christmas but didn't take photo's till later..you try getting photo's with a 2 year old in the mix. Of course that ended up happening anyway as you shall see...

Each Surviving Momhood box comes with something fun for your kids...In ours was these adorable fox ear muffs, and for mom fluffy white one's. Can't you just see yourself skating on a frozen pond with a cup of hot cocoa? Nikolas LOVES his ear muffs, they go everywhere with us now. He calls them his hat...he also steals mine but amazingly they are still white. This was one of my favorite item's in the box. You can never go wrong with fur and a good neutral color.

There was also an ornament for the little one's. Nikolas was thrilled because it had Mickey Mouse on it. He is currently in love with Mickey. I was thrilled because he has no idea it's filled with candy! He went straight to the Christmas tree with it.

Next was a Thomas Kinkade Mug filled with yummy goodies. I'm always up for a larger than normal coffee/tea mug and English Breakfast tea is my favorite tea. A little milk and sugar. It also comes with a Sugar Cookie and some candies. I'm not normally a huge fan of Thomas Kinkade, but this fit right now. I'm missing my grandma Jeanie and dementia is setting in. She hardly remembers me, and this reminds me of her. It made me cry. She only drinks tea, and loves Thomas Kinkade. So this part of the box really mean't something to me. Isn't it funny how that happens? God speaks in mysterious ways, doesn't he?

The box was filled with accessories. A pair or warm gloves, and a hat and scarf. I was a little sad nothing matched..but I love the pink and the fur. I'm giving the hat to Emily (she's 16) because I can't stand purple. I dunno why but I have a huge aversion to all things purple and anything with butterflies or dolphins... They make me cringe. It's too bad because I love the hat, just not the color! It's soft and fuzzy. The scarf is soft also, kind of silky!

This next item was my favorite part of the box. I can see my color choices play out here with the pink and green. It's a handmade coffee cup sleeve. Not only is it cute but I LOVE supporting small business.. I think you guys know that! This was made by Stitched by Katie on etsy. She has a few other cute things, keychains and hair items. I really love the paisley on this and the colors of course! Yes I know it's weird that I love green so much!

Lastly the box has some yummy goodies in it. Some Cider Spices, Lindor Truffles and Caramel Hot Cocoa. For whatever reason I don't like anything but hard cider so I let my mom take the cider spices. She was thrilled. Yes I've heard it before how un-American of you, hey guess what I don't like apple pie either. I do love baseball though. That has to count for something, right? I LOVE the caramel hot cocoa. I love caramel. Yummy!

The value of the Surviving Momhood box is very good. I didn't look up every item but just the Thomas Kinkade mug, the ornament and coffee cup sleeve cover the cost of the box. Each box is $30, or $65 for 3 months. You can also get a 6, 9 or 12 month plan for a really good discount. She also offers a fun Surviving Kidhood box just for the kids! My kids are begging for one. There is also a Survivng Momhood with my Faith, and a Luxury box called "It's All in the Bag".

I'm sure she'd love to hear from you, and if you have any questions she's usually around on her Surviving Momhood page on facebook. Let her know I sent you!

~I was not given anything for this review. I payed out of my own pocket for this box. All opinions are 100% honest and my own.

~Giveaway~ Set of Hand Carved Wooden Ornaments

Having my first giveaway on my own facebook Page. I would love for you to enter! Go to Primitivegypsy on Facebook to enter.

This is a WIN with a friend event. When you head over to Primitivegypsy make sure you comment and then tag your friends! If you win one of them will win also!

To see more photo's please visit our Etsy site Primitive Gypsy

~This giveaway in not endorsed or sponsored by Facebook. All items will be provided by Primitivegypsy