Snowflake Ornaments

A while ago I mentioned here that I wanted to make most of the ornaments for my Christmas tree this year. There are a couple reasons for this, but the most important reason is..toddlers! Yes, the Sparkletots destroyed an ornament or three last year. Cheap, expensive, new or old, the kids did not care and no ornament was safe. It doesn’t help that our floor is concrete, any thing glass that gets dropped/falls breaks. Sooo, the goal for this year’s tree is Toddler Resistant Ornaments. They don’t have to be made of rubber bouncy material, but maybe just be a little less likely to break when dropped, or if they do break they don’t shatter into a million sharp pieces.

That’s where this stuff comes in:

Crayola Model Magic. This stuff is like clay, but when it dries it has an almost foam-like consistency, but still has the look of clay. It truly is magic. I have searched high and low for a recipe to make my own Model Magic, but haven’t found anything that can replace the original. Each bag makes about 13 to 14 ornaments.

Supplies:

• Crayola Model Magic
• Candy/chocolate mold {I used snowflake ones by Wilton}
• flour
• drinking straw
• craft glue
• glitter
• ribbon

Start by dusting a very light coat of flour on your candy mold. If you put too much on it, the flour will get into to grooves and then the clay can’t get the cool texture. Grab some Model Magic and roll it into a ball, a little smaller than the size of a golf ball. Slightly flatten it in your hand, then spread some flour across the surface of the Model Magic. Press the clay into the mold, making sure to cover the whole area of the mold. Smooth out the back with your fingertip. Then ever so carefully lift up the edge of the snowflake. Go slow and try to get your fingers between the clay and the mold, to support the clay.

Lay the snowflake on a flat surface and use the straw to punch a hole in the top. I usually put the hole at the spot where I first lifted the snowflake from the mold, since it would often get a little misshapen there.

They take a day or so to dry. I flip them over the next day to dry the backs. Once dry use a paint brush to brush off the residual flour. I love the way they look at this point, and intentionally left some like this. But for the others I added sparkle!

For the light silver ones, I sprayed them with a coat of silver glitter spray (Krylon). For the others, I diluted craft glue with some water, then painted on a light coat of the glue with a brush. Then I doused the snowflake in glitter. Then let it dry, tie on a ribbon and hang it on the tree!

Linked to: Tatertots and Jello, At Home With K, Today’s Creative Blog, My Girlish Whims