One Last Try At Christmas Creativity

 I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas despite the challenges faced this year. 

This past year has been a challenge to say the least, full of more online time than I've ever experienced. With more zoom meetings and other creative ways to keep in touch.  More home time, more of that "To Do" list whittled down and a whole lot less of our own individual normal. 

So as this is the last blog post for the year I thought I would end on a positive creative note. 

Yes you guessed it. I decided to tackle one last Christmas diy, this time it was baking soda and cornstarch ornaments.  There were a couple of simple recipes that I found on Pinterest. They generally include just three ingredients, baking soda, cornstarch and water. You can actually find a couple of the recipes on our Christmas board on Pinterest . From the pictures I had previously seen of others who had made these, I really liked the simple white Scandinavian feel and thought I would like to give it a try.

I followed the directions and mixed the three ingredients together and heated them up on the stove until a thick dough formed. I  then formed it into a ball and placed the dough in a bowel to let it cool with a damp cloth over top for about 15 minutes.

I rolled it out and used cookie cutters to make the shapes using extra baking soda to dip the cutters in so they would hopefully stick less.  I did find that the five point star that I used stuck in the very tips of the corners but the other two shapes I had worked really well for this.

At this point I learn two things. 

Thinner makes a better ornament than thicker and of course it also dry's faster.  

If a shape breaks like the edge of a star don't try to pinch it back together.  As I found out it will just break when it's completely dry.  

Apparently it works with my cookies but not so well with these ornaments.

With some of the shapes I created patterns and others were left plain. I added a hole in each one (using an old straw) to allow for hanging.  You can leave them as is but I decided to add one more step.

  

This product (a matte gel) is not at all smelly and that's one of the reasons I chose to use it (especially good for any sensitive noses or chemical sensitivities anyone in your home might have). I would think you could also use something like modge podge or even a matte clear coat as well.  It gave them a solid outer coating that should help with any chipping and hopefully add to their longevity. 

It's important to note they should be completely dry before adding the gel.  I also applied 2 coats to every side and made sure that it was completely dry between coats. They're not hard to make but they do take a while to dry so you'll need to have a corner to place them. For me it was a couple of days on the corner of the kitchen table.

In the end most of them turned out very well, I definitely would recommend making them on the thinner side.  But I like how white they are and they fit my style very nicely. 

It was a simple and inexpensive craft project and I think it could be a fun one to do with the kids. You could paint them, use sharpies to draw on them, add some glitter, or even add a few more holes and use string or ribbon to weave through them. 

And...here is where some of them ended up. 

We have a ledge along side of our stairs (actually it's the top of the entryway closet) that usually hold  a couple of large baskets. But at Christmas I like to add some of these branch lights that give a pretty glow at night.  As it turned out these turned out to be the perfect addition.