I sometimes get a bad rap in my family as the one with expensive taste. Sorry for knowing what I like, amiright?! I often get comments like “when your father and I were your age, we got our furniture from the trash on the street!” Cool, enjoy your bedbugs, peasants! (jk)
But also I like to set the record straight every now and then and showcase how I use creativity to get the look I want while still being frugal.
Since I was hosting Christmas this year, with my own real tree and everything, I knew I needed to decorate it accordingly. Luckily I had all the lights I needed, I was able to use gift cards to buy the stand and the star on top, and instead of buying a tree skirt that I didn’t love I just used a white blanket. When it came to ornaments, I decided that rush buying a bunch of ornaments that I didn’t love would just be a waste of money. I choose to accumulate them slowly, with each ornament having meaning to my life and being something I truly love.
But because I couldn’t just have an ornament-less tree, I decided to make some! It was so easy, a lot like baking sugar cookies (just less tedious) and SO cost effective. The whole project probably cost me…$2?! I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up a pack of white acorns and clear spherical ornaments for future projects that I also added to the tree, but since those were 70% off, they cost under $5. So, you guys, I decorated my tree for $7.
Here’s what you do!
DIY Cornstarch Clay Ornaments
ingredients/materials:
1 cup baking soda
1/2 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup water
ornament hooks
optional: acrylic paint, tree branches, lace, other materials for imprinting
directions:
combine all ingredients in a saucepan or dutch oven over medium heat. stir constantly until a thick paste forms, so that it almost forms a ball by itself.
scrape the paste out onto a piece of parchment paper and form a ball (be careful, it will be hot!) let it rest and cool until luke-warm & comfortable enough to touch.
roll the dough out with a rolling pin, use cookie cutters to cut out your shapes, and set them on a cookie sheet with a fresh piece of parchment paper.
use a straw (preferably paper/cardboard so you can just trash it when you’re done) to punch out the ornament hook holes.
*if you want to imprint some branches/patterns on the ornaments, now is the time!
preheat oven to 175 F, and bake the ornaments for 1 hour, flipping them halfway through!
*once baked and cooled, you can paint on them if you choose!
add ornament hooks and hang on your tree!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!
girlandhercoffee.blog 
These turned out so great! Even better in person. 🙂
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