DIY salt dough cat ornaments

If you're looking for a last minute Christmas gift that you can whip up at home, look no further! Salt dough ornaments are so easy to make and you probably have all the ingredients in your kitchen right now, so you don't even have to leave the house! I decided to make custom cat ornaments for all of my family members based on their own cats (and then a hot air balloon for my cat-less grandmother!) They came out SO cute and I even made a little Arrietty one for myself!

Materials needed:
2 c. flour
1c. salt
1c. cold water
acrylic paint
mod podge (optional)
paintbrushes
ribbon
template (download here)

Mix the flour and salt together, and then add the water until the dough is smooth. Knead the dough for ten minutes (mine didn't actually get very smooth until I had already been kneading it for a few minutes, so make sure to be patient with the dough!) and then let it rest for 20 minutes.

You can definitely try to use cookie cutters for your dough, but I prefer the more homemade look of hand-molding them myself. I placed some plastic wrap over my template so that it wouldn't stick, and then I rolled up little balls of dough and used the template to shape them into a cat head. Then I used a large plastic needle to poke a hole at the top for ribbon and placed the cats onto a greased cookie sheet that I lined with aluminum foil.

Bake at 250' for 2 hours and then let cool completely before you paint them.

I painted my cat heads to look like all of the cats in my family, but very loosely. I just wanted them to look simple, not like photographs. When they're all finished, give them a coat of Mod Podge (or honestly clear nail polish would work too!) and then add a ribbon in the hole. And voila! A very thoughtful homemade present :)