carry over craft

Since the salt dough ornaments were such a hit during Christmas, we decided to carry them on into the next major holiday...



Valentine's Day. 

We were out of school again today [This time for MLK Day.  Lately it seems like we have been out of school more than we have been in school.  It sure is going to be a long stretch until Spring Break in April.]  I knew we might need a little art project to help get us through the day.

Last night I mixed 4 c. flour, 1 c. salt and 1½ c. water.  Then we rolled out the "dough" and cut it with heart cookie cutters.  Once they were cut out we "drilled" a hole in the ornament...



We used a straw for the big ornaments and the blunt side of a bamboo skewer for the baby hearts. 



We did 2 wholes in the big hears because I wanted to string them together to make a garland.

We even put a few of them on sticks...



...to create Heart Pops.

After we got them all poked, we then baked them for 2 hours in a 200˚ oven.  Once the 2 hours were up, we turned off the oven and just let them sit overnight.  [Let them sit at least 1 hour before decorating them].

The next morning we decorated with paint pens.  [I love using paint pens instead of real paint with my kids being the ages they are.  It is way less messy.]

Once the paint was dry, I got my kitchen decked out for the big day.  I put a salt dough heart garland round the light fixture...



...and mixed in some plastic hearts from Big Lots.

Then I planted my heart pops...



The containers are supposed to be used for collecting sap from a maple tree to make syrup.  Debbie was in charge of decorations for a work-related party.  She and our friend Amy at Sugar Magnolia's decided to plant grass in them for their table centerpieces.  Then they were going to mix in some fresh flowers the day of the party.  Long story short...the party was postoned due to the blizzard last week.  So Debbie brought me over 2 containers to enjoy.

I decided to spruce them up for Valentine's Day.  It makes me happy to stand and my kitchen sink and see them...



All the crafting wore Owen slap out...



I found him sound asleep next to Mary Reese in the den right before lunch.  Bless him!