Cinnamon Dough Ornaments

With one of our local crafting groups where we make crafts inspired by our favourite Pinterest finds. For our November 2014 edition I hosted cinnamon dough ornaments.

The evening I hosted was centered around cinnamon dough ornaments from a recipe I found on Martha Stewart’s website. The following tutorial comes from her website and is written by her staff. To read it on her website click here.

MATERIALS

• Two medium bowls
• 1 cup ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• Craft glue
• Rolling pin
• Bird templates
• Utility knife, or bird-shaped cookie cutters
• One straw
• Wire rack
• Paper towels
• Baking sheet
• Glitter and beads
• Bottle with applicator tip
• Length of thin ribbon for each ornament
• Tissue paper, for storing
  

  STEP 1

  

  image from marthastewart.com

  Prepare dough: in a medium bowl, mix together 1 cup ground cinnamon and 1/4 cup applesauce using a rubber spatula.

  STEP 2

  

  image from marthastewart.com

  Stir in 1/2 cup craft glue. Stir the dough until consistency is smooth and dry. Let stand 1 hour. Applesauce gives the dough pliability, glue makes it firm, and cinnamon imparts a lovely fragrance and a gingerbread colour.

  STEP 3

  

  image from marthastewart.com

  Turn out one-quarter of dough onto a cool, flat surface; flatten with your hands.

  STEP 4

  

  image from marthastewart.com

  Flatten with a rolling pin to 1/4 inch thick. If dough becomes too dry, spritz with water. If it sticks to rolling pin or work surface, sprinkle with additional cinnamon.

  STEP 5

  

  image from marthastewart.com

  Photocopy bird templates onto card stock (these are enlarged roughly 150 percent); cut them out, punching holes where indicated. Lay a template over dough; cut out shape with a utility knife (or use bird-shaped cookie cutters). Repeat with each of three remaining quarters of dough.

  STEP 6

  

  image from marthastewart.com

  With a straw, poke a hole in dough as indicated on template (for hanging). Air-dry ornaments on a wire rack lined with paper towels for 24 hours, turning them over every 6 hours or so to keep them flat. Alternatively, preheat oven to 200 degrees. Transfer ornaments to a baking sheet; bake, flipping once, until dry, about 2 hours. Once the dough has dried completely, adorn the birds with markings inspired by nature or your imagination. As you decorate, proceed from the finest embellishment to the coarsest, adding glitter, then beads in order of size.

  STEP 7

  

  image from marthastewart.com

  Using a bottle with an applicator tip, spread craft glue over the area you wish to decorate.

  STEP 8

  

  image from marthastewart.com

  While glue is still wet, sprinkle with glitter or beads, holding ornament over a bowl as you work; tap off excess.

  STEP 9

  

  image from marthastewart.com

  Wait for the first area to dry completely (at least 30 minutes) before repeating steps 7 and 8 on another section. Thread a length of ribbon through ornament’s hole, trim the ends to prevent fraying, and knot. Once you take the ornaments off the tree, store them, wrapped individually in tissue paper, in a cool, dry place.

I went with three little cardinals with glitter wings. They were super easy, and in keeping with Martha’s bird motif.

Happy dough making!