S – Salt Dough handprint keepsakes (AtoZ Blogging Challenge)

Phew! I can’t believe we are already on S! In proverbial Hindi,” Haathi chala gaya poonch reh gayi!”

Which in translation means that the up hilll task is almost over. Just a few more steps to go.

I am sure I speak for most of my bloggy friends here when I say that it’s a relief! This was one heck of a challenge.

Coming back to the S in question, I was literally looking for something similar when both my kids were born. For Saee, I found something I could order online, and have kept it as a keepsake. Which is good. Only, I couldn’t find something similarly inexpensive for Sayalee. Everything I saw online was priced 1.5K and upwards. Which is ridiculous.

Why pay so much when you can simply make something in under 300 bucks (That is counting the mount and the frame). The actual print cost me less than 10 bucks. It was so easy and so cheap I wonder why I hadn’t thought about it before.

Let me introduce you to the salt dough.

 

 

See how beautiful the prints look?

Here’s what I used:

1 cup plain flour (maida)

1 cup salt

3/4th cup water

 

Mix all the three ingredients together till you have something that looks like a chapati dough. This was the measurement I saw online, but I realized that I would need a little more water than that.

Once the dough is formed you can do whatever you want with it. I rolled it out thin till it was 0.5 cms in thickness, and then took both my kids’ handprints on it. Then I recorded their names and the date.

Following this, I allowed it to sun dry for around 7 days, turning it over every few days, so that it dries well on both sides. If you are in a hurry, or if you don’t have enough sunshine, you can simply pop it in the oven and bake at 100 degrees for a couple of hours (around 4 to 5 hours)

The idea is to dry it not to cook it.

Once your plaque is dry, you can color it if you wish. I prefer to keep it the way it is. Soon I am going to have it mounted and framed to keep as a keepsake.

I am sure the girls will appreciate it when they are older.

 

If you have babies, this is ideal for you. It is all natural, non-toxic, and non-allergenic. Plus it is so inexpensive!!!

Go right ahead and make one for your kids.

 

Here’s what else you can do with salt dough:

Salt dough gift tags

 

source: etsy via pinterest

Salt dough Christmas Ornaments via Imagination Tree

 

Fridge Magnets from Make and Takes

 

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and would make something for yourselves or for your kids as well.

Happy DIYing!!!

 

This post has been written for A to Z April Blogging Challenge 2014.

Also linking it to the Ultimate Blog Challenge

 

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