Salt Dough Christmas ornaments

HOUSTON -- These easy inexpensive ornaments have been made in my house since I can remember. Every year my family would get together with all the ingredients and create a fun family ornament and then we would write our names and the year on them and hang each ornament on the tree. Once I married my husband, I started making the Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments for his family, which is a really big family, and I have so much fun creating a new theme each year. You can also create these ornaments for a kid event or work function. As always, remember to get creative and have fun.

Items Needed
1 Cup of flour (plus extra for rolling)
1/2 Cup of salt
1/2 Cup of water
Different style of cookie cutters
Americana acrylic paint
Paint brushes
Americana sealer
Decorative ribbon or pipe cleaners

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. First you must mix the ingredients, salt, flour, water and form it into a ball of dough. Next, flour your surface and start to roll out the dough, be sure to keep your surface and rolling pin covered in flour as the dough is quite sticky. Roll out the dough to about an 1/8th of an inch. Flour your cookie cutters and start cutting your shapes into the dough. Place the shapes onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake the shapes at 200 degrees for 2 - 3 hours. Let your ornaments cool for at least an hour and then drill a hole into the top of the shape for the ribbon or pipe cleaner. Paint your ornaments with the Americana acrylic paints; be sure to have a lot of colors to choose from as this makes it more fun. Be sure to seal the painted ornaments so that they will last longer.