Salt Dough Beads

January and February are NOT my favourite months in the Great White North.  If it weren't for viruses and illnesses I might be singing a different tune...maybe we'd get outside and enjoy the cold instead of staying inside, loathing a cold!
So, we have to find things to keep us busy!  Sophia and I made Salt Dough Beads!  This was a great project since she was home for a few days were were able to work on them over many days.  They were super easy.

Ingredients
1 cup salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup luke warm water
Directions
1. In a large bowl mix salt and flour.
2. Gradually stir in water. Mix well until it forms a doughy consistency.
3. With your hands, form a ball with your dough and kneed it for at least 5 minutes. The longer you kneed your dough the smoother it will be.

Store your salt dough in a air tight container and you will be able to use it for days.

Bake your creations at 200 F until they are dry. The amount of time needed to bake your creations depend on size and thickness; thin flat ornaments may only take 45-60 minutes, thicker creations can take 2-3 hours or more.

You can paint your creations with acrylic paints and seal with varnish or polyurethane spray.
You can let your salt dough creations air dry.

Our Tree

Here are some of my most favourite ornaments on our tree, I had to resist posting pictures of every single ornament!  Do we all feel that way about our ornaments?

Each member of my family possesses a portion of this chain made by my Great Grandmother.  She made it by painstakingly peeling the foil off the paper backing from each paper in her cigarette pack, I can't imagine  how many packs of cigarretts she smoked to make each chain.  We lovingly refer to it as the Chain Smokers chain.