Salt dough Valentines

A few questions I asked myself while making salt dough. Could we do anything easier? WHY didn’t I get these done for Christmas gift tags like the original plan was? I could just kick myself, thank goodness I already know I am using the rustic look on the tree again next year, I will for sure make some for Christmas tags. Anyhow, on to another super easy project. Making this salt dough is like DIY play-dough. EASY!! A bit messy non the less. That is a small price for how cute they turn out. I had my daughter start this project, and I ran out of flour, so this contributed to the tacky messiness. My bad!!

What you will need

mixing bowl
1 cup flour
1 cup salt (regular table salt)
1/3 cup white acrylic paint (any kind will do, simply helps to keep it white)
1/3 cup warm water (will add more bit by bit)
baking spray (I use Wilton Bake Easy)

Put the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl. In a 2 cup measuring cup, (like a Pyrex glass 2 C.) measure water, then add in paint. Stir these two together, then add to flour-salt mix. Stir this up until all the flour is combined into dough ball. You may have to add water as needed. 1 tsp. at a time. Use your fingers, yes, it’s messy, but it gets the job done quickly. Knead it around until all is combined.

Ours was tacky still. I ran out of flour remember.

At first I rolled it between 2 sheets of parchment paper

But after I cut the shape, I couldn’t get it picked up easily due to it being so soft.

So I just made little dough balls, no particular perfect amount. There are variety of thickness here.

On a parchment lined cookie sheet, I simply pressed the dough ball into the cutter shape. You will have to spray every so often as the dough is tacky, and your fingers will stick. The spray was Wilton Easy Bake, similar to a flour spray so the color was just right.

As you see there are larger hearts. I did these by making bigger dough balls, pressing into the heart cutter, then shaping it more after removing the cutter. This can’t be done with all shapes of course.

I knew I wanted to string the heart shapes, so I broke toothpicks and stuck them in the top of the heart before baking.

There are options for drying:

If you want the project done quickly like I did, preheat your oven to 200*. Bake for 30-45 min. Time will vary with your oven, and thickness/shape of dough.
Let the dough air dry. This too will depend on thickness and size of dough, but is a more child safe option.

They then can be painted, strung, jeweled, glittered, or what ever your heart desires. I used inexpensive acrylic and glitter glue.