DIY

Easy Homemade Ornament Modeling Clay

 Easy Homemade Ornament Modeling Clay
I love homemade Christmas tree ornaments. Each one has a special memory and feeling attached to it, especially the ones made by my kids! I teach a weekly preschool class from my home and we are used to a little #HappiMess. I decided to be adventurous during a recent class, and had the kids make homemade ornaments to give to their parents as a Christmas gift. 
 
As I have a couple kids in my class who are highly allergic to gluten, I had to go searching for an alternative to the standard salt dough recipe, and I’m glad that I did! I found a recipe from Tips From a Typical Mom Blog that was amazing. The clay was so soft and silky smooth that the kids loved playing with it. Then once baked, they were brilliant white ornaments that had a beautiful smooth surface. Perfect for little hands to decorate! 
 
Here is how to make them: 

1 Easy Homemade Ornament Modeling Clay
 
  1. In a medium saucepan, mix 1/2 cup of cornstarch with 1 cup of baking soda 
  2. Add 3/4 cup of water and whisk together until smooth
  3. Over medium heat, warm the mixture, stirring continuously. Remove from heat when mixture forms into a thick, starchy ball with the consistency of mashed potatoes 
  4. Remove from pan, and place in a bowl to cool. Cover with a wet towel until ready to use, to prevent clay from drying out 
  5. When ready to use, roll out and clay and cut into shapes. Be sure to make a small hole to thread a string 
  6. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 175 degrees for 1 hour. To ensure that it is evenly naked be sure to flip ornaments over after 30 minutes. Do not over-bake as this will cause your ornaments to become brittle. 
  7. Decorate with paints or markers and thread a string or ribbon through the hole for hanging. 

 Easy Homemade Ornament Modeling Clay

 
My preschool kids were so excited to decorate these ornaments for their moms and dads! I don’t think I have seen them all sit and work on an art project this intensely for a long time. The kids (okay, me too), are always up for a little organized mess making. I also received so many messages from parents saying how much they loved hanging their child’s ornaments on the tree. That’s what Christmas is all about, the simple, pure joys of life! 
 Easy Homemade Ornament Modeling Clay
 
I had the kids decorate their ornaments using markers (less messy… I thought), but I found out that even using markers, this project gets pretty messy as the clay does make the markers bleed pretty badly. These are my little girls fingers after she decorated her ornament all in blue! 
 
 Delta Touch2O® Technology for the Kitchen
Luckily a few little messes didn’t deter me from the fun as I knew that cleaning little fingers would be a breeze with my new Delta Touch2O® Technology for the kitchen. I love that with Touch2O® Technology, messy-handed preschoolers can happily tap anywhere on the spout or handle of the faucet to start and stop the flow of water. This is perfect for little fingers covered in clay or marker! It means that they can wash their hands by themselves without getting the entire faucet a sticky, colorful mess! Because these faucets were the first touch-sensitive faucets of their kind, they are so intuitive and easy to use, making life easier when your hands are messy or full. With the Delta Touch2O® Faucet I can actually embrace mess in the bathroom or kitchen. Delta is reminding people that mess isn’t a bad thing, but simply the evidence of life well lived.
 
The Delta Touch2O® faucets are available for your kitchen and bathroom. To be inspired about embracing mess in your life, visit the Delta Website.
 
How do you embrace the #HappiMess in your life? Share with the #HappiMess hashtag on social media.

This is a sponsored conversation written based on my partnership with Delta Faucet. The opinions and text are all mine.

 

leanne

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Emily Buys

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