Clay Christmas ornaments

While Christmas *is* my favorite holiday, I feel silly making Christmas ornaments in August when it's 90-degrees outside! But...AC Moore is having a sale on Sculpey clay this week (88-cents/pack), so thought this was the perfect time to try my hand at clay ornaments. 

Plus, you could do these for Halloween/Thanksgiving as napkin holders, etc.

Project List:

• "Oven Bake Clay" (I used Sculpey brand, but others would work just as well. Each pack of clay made approximately 4-5 ornaments)
• nonstick rolling pin
• cookie cutters
• toothpick or a plastic straw
• clean working space (I used my silpat baking liner, which worked great)
• Oven 
• Wax paper
• Acrylic paint, clear glue, glitter (all are optional)

Instructions:

Step #1: Unwrap 1 pack of clay and roll it flat with your rolling pin. Recommended depth is 1/4". The clay is pretty firm, so it takes a little muscle to roll it flat.

Step #2: Using a cookie cutter, press down on clay to get desired shape, then set aside. Continue rolling/cookie-cuttering with leftover clay, until it's all gone. 

Step #3: Carefully remove shapes from your workspace and put them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Using the end of a toothpick or a plastic straw, make a hole at the top of your ornament, where ribbon or twine can be threaded through.

Step #4: Put your ornaments in the oven, following the baking instructions on the clay package. I baked mine at 275-degrees for 15 minutes.

Step #5: Remove from oven and let cool ~5-10 minutes. Once cooled, thread ribbon/twine/etc through the hole and knot it. If there are any ragged edges, you can either sand those down, or run a fingernail over the edges to knock off the rough spots. (you can see the rough edges on the ball-shaped ornament below, but they came right off, but I forgot to take a picture of the final product!)

Step #6: optional: If you'd like to color your ornaments, you can paint with acrylic paint and/or glitter. Once dry, paint with clear glue to give them a glazed look.

These would be such cute gift-toppers too!

Total cost of the project (9 ornaments): $1.76 

(I only used the white-color clay...the red and green may be for another project!

Has anyone else started Christmas decorations this summer?