Homemade Ornaments

Here's 2 recipes for ornaments to make with your kids this holiday. The first recipe is the classic applesauce and cinnamon ornaments. Super easy and smells great! I have my applesauce and cinnamon ornaments that I made 25 years ago and they still smell like cinnamon! I hung them on a tiny tree last year and the entire room smelled like cinnamon for weeks. I store them wrapped in tissue paper in a cookie tin.
The second recipe I haven't tried yet, but will be this weekend. I'm going to try to do the girls hand prints as ornaments, too.

Cinnamon Applesauce ornaments
Ingredients:
Applesauce (regular)
Cinnamon
Wax paper
(I've used glue before, but they hold up fine without it)
Directions: Mix equal parts cinnamon and applesauce. You may need to add more of one to get it into a dough consistency. If you only want a few ornaments, use 1/2 to 1 cup of each. I squish it with my hands to mix it...fun for kids! Then roll it out. The thicker the dough, the longer it takes to dry. Using cookie cutters, make ornament shapes. I use a straw to poke a hole in the top to tie a string through once it's dry. Lay out on wax paper. The next day flip them. Don't store until completely dry.

Salt Dough Ornaments
(courtesy of Beth Ann Atkins)
Ingredients:
1/2 c. salt
1 c. flour
1/2 c. water
Rolling pin
cookie sheet
toothpick
cookie cutters
food coloring (optional)
paint (optional)
glitter paint/glue (optional)
ribbon (if you're making ornaments)
You can also add cinnamon to the dough before baking so that it smells yummy!
Preheat oven to 250. Mix together salt, flour, and water until dough is formed. You can add food coloring if you want colored dough. Knead the dough on floured surface until mixture is elastic and smooth. If dough is too sticky, sprinkle with flour, continue to do so until stickiness is gone. Do not add too much flour as this will dry out the dough and will cause it to crack before baking. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. Use cookie cutters to make shapes. Use a toothpick to make a hole at the top if you intend to make ornaments. Place shapes onto UNGREASED cookie sheet. Bake for 2 hours. Remove & allow to cool completely. Once completely cooled, decorate as you wish! Thread ribbon/yarn through hole if you're making an ornament (& don't forget to write and name & date on the back so you'll always remember when it was made :-).
If you aren't making ornaments, you can also put a magnet on the back or make them into lapel pins.