Stamped Salt Dough Gold Leaves

I was recently inspired to make some stamped salt dough art from a post I found on Make It, Give It.  I was looking for a way to decorate some napkin rings that I was making for our Thanksgiving table and stamping on dough to make a shape to use seemed like a perfect solution.

Making your own salt dough is really easy:

Salt Dough

1 cup flour

1/2 cup salt

1/2 cup water

Mix the flour and salt in a bowl.  Slowly add water, mixing it into the flour while you pour.  Form the dough into a ball.  Depending on humidity, more water may be needed, but don’t add so much water that the dough becomes sticky.  If the dough is sticky, mix in a small amount of flour.  Continue to knead the dough for 7-10 minutes until it is smooth.  Keep any unused dough in a Ziploc to keep it from drying out.

I rolled my dough to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness and stamped my design using the same Stampin’Up! leaf stamp I used when I made the Eggnog Bread tags. Because I didn’t have a circle cookie cutter, I improvised using half of my loose-leaf tea ball.  It was perfect for cutting a 1 1/2 inch circle.  Love it when something can do dual duty like that!

I then made a small stringing hole with a toothpick so I’d be able to string my ribbon through once it was dry.

Baking the shapes dries them the quickest, but you can leave them out to air dry.  The website I followed said to bake them at 200 degrees for four hours, but mine were not dry by the end of that time. Another site I found suggested a half-hour baking time at 325-350 degrees. Next time, I am going to try 325 degrees and will check them periodically to be sure they aren’t browning.

Once they are dry, if you find you have rough edges you can sand them lightly with a nail file.  Mine were fairly smooth, so I left them as they were.

I think the dried dough is beautiful, but because my napkins are a light beige I wanted them to have some contrast so I opted to paint them gold.

I used Folkart’s Metallic Gold, like I did for my Thanksgiving Scrolls. It’s a perfect color to match the rest of my Thanksgiving decor and my gold chargers. I used two coats of paint to be sure the color was even. To finish, it’s best to seal your salt dough pieces with a spray sealer, or Mod Podge.  They will absorb moisture from the air if they aren’t sealed completely.

This salt dough recipe works perfectly for stamped art and ornaments. It could be added to cards for a 3-dimensional look, tied onto wreaths, or made into a fun garland for any holiday.  It’s also a perfect dough for kids, so make up some extra and let the kids play along if you have time!

Have fun, and I’d love to hear back what you make! I’ll be posting my Thanksgiving napkin rings tomorrow, so be sure to check back to see how I use my pretty gold leaves.

Happy Monday to You!

Laurie

For a bit of fun, I’m linking up at a few fun sites: Craft-o-Maniac, Skip to My Lou, Between Naps on the Porch, I Should Be Mopping the Floor, Adventures of a DIY Mom, Sugar Bee Crafts, Nap Time Creations, Ginger Snap Crafts, Crystal and Comp,