I used mostly tea, fresh basil flowers, and evergreen leaves in mine. Additionally, fresh herbs, evergreen leaves, and the strained tea from your DIY pigment will stick much more easily than dried elements. Now is the time to add them! They will stick in the final ornament MUCH more easily if you roll them into the dough. Lightly flour your rolling pin and cutting board, partially roll out your dough.ĭecide what, if any, botanicals or decorative elements you’d like on your final ornament. Knead until a dough forms, about 3-5 minutes. Pour water or pigments into flour mixture. If you’re making three colors, scoop one cup flour mixture into two additional mixing bowls. If you’re making white dough, add one cup water. Make your dough! Whisk together flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Natural twine such as jute, hemp, raffia, or cotton (check craft or garden stores)įor natural varnish, optional: 1 egg, brush, whisk Kitchen sieve or cheesecloth or coffee filter (but that would be messy) You can also air dry them over several days, but I have no patience) You can also use an oven, but your ornaments are more likely to curl up or stick to the pan. I used tea, basil flowers, part of my Christmas tree, and cloves and star anise.)ĭehydrator (A dehydrator will make this craft a SNAP. Modern Minimalist Christmas: DIY Natural, Botanical Salt Dough Ornaments What You Will Need:Ģ cups white flour from paper bag (this is a great opportunity to use that flour that’s out of date) + additional flour for rollingġ cup white table salt from cardboard boxġ cup water OR natural pigment (details on this below, keep reading)Īssorted fresh herbs, whole spices such as cloves or star anise, loose tea, and botanicals (Bulk spice stores will allow you to bring in your own reusable containers. REESE’S NOTE: Because this is a ZERO WASTE CRAFT, you’ll notice the instructions and supplies list is probably a little different than you’re used to. I can just pop these in the compost, guilt-free, without accruing more stuff. They’re compostable, which means I don’t have to go into my creepy carport closet where I store the holiday decorations.

I could not be more thrilled with how these turned out! Why? You’ll see photos from the first batch when we get down to the egg wash bit, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Then I finally nailed down the DIY for the boho salt ornaments of your dreams. I made some really cute ornaments thanks to a quick trip to the grocery store, some antique hors d’oeuvres shape cutters, a bulk spice store, and an oven, but it was still trial and error. Could you make pretty, colorful salt ornaments WITHOUT acrylic paint (which is plastic polymer based) and all the plastic packaging that goes along with modern crafts? Oh yes, dear reader, you absolutely can. I do personally hate artificial trees, mostly based out of childhood nostalgia for our real tree tradition, and since I was already dealing with a plastic tree I for sure wanted to keep the decorations zero waste. I became the Spirit of Christmas Present, hippie edition.

Minimalist christmas decor with kids