The Whisper of a Smile: DIY Baked Ornaments

I made these ornaments when I was in elementary school and I thought they were really fun to create and personalize, so why not share this simple project with you?

You can use these ornaments for anything whether it's Christmas decorations to hang around your house or artsy displays to adorn your room with yearlong. I made one set of festive cutouts (mostly gingerbread, snowmen, and snowflakes) and another for my bedroom (I chose to make stars and flowers). I'm probably going to hang them on a string of twine as a sort of garland.

Ingredients
- 4 cups flour
- 1 cup salt
- 1 1/2 cup water
- oil (enough for your hands)
- clear polyurethane spray (optional, but recommended since it seals out moisture for the ornaments to last longer)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 300 F

2. In a large bowl, add together flour, salt, and water

3. Lightly lather your hands with oil to prevent the dough from sticking onto your fingers

4. Knead the ingredients together with your hands until they're well combined

5. On a floured surface, roll out the dough until it's about 0.6 cm thick

6. Using cookie cutters of your choice, create any desired shapes

7. Using a plastic straw, create a hole at the top of every ornament to allow for you to string the ribbon you'll use to hang it up

8. Move the ornaments onto a baking sheet

9. Bake for 30 minutes

10. Once you've allowed for them to cool, place the ornaments on a covered surface to prevent dirtying your workplace (I'd use wax paper or plastic wrap)

11. Decorate the ornaments however you may please by using paint, glitter... you name it!'

12. After they have dried, string the ornaments with string or ribbon.

13. All that's left to do is admire your final product

***To preserve, spray your ornament with clear polyurethane on both sides