Modge Podge Holiday Decor

Need a little holiday decor?  A simple, cheap, easy DIY?  Could even involve the kids. Choose the words you want to decorate with and go to Michaels or Hobby Lobby and get some letters.  Any kind you want, wood, metal, chipboard.  I chose to buy the chipboard letters since they are $1.99 each.  Once I decided on the letters, I carried them over to the paper isle to pick out holiday sheets that were large enough to cover each letter.  Then all you need is some modge podge, some paint to match your paper and a foam brush or two.  Start by painting the edges of your letters as they will not be covered by your decorative paper.  Once the edges are dry lay your sheets of paper face down and place your letter on top of the paper (backwards of course) and trace around the letter. Next cut out your tracing.  Next modge podge your letter and press the paper onto it smoothing it out as you go.  Once it dries apply another layer of modge podge.  I chose not to attach my letters together for easy storage after the holidays, but you could always do that with a flat bracket. 

Salt Dough

Decorate Christmas Gifts

Things you need

Salt dough recipe: 1/2 cup salt, 1/2 cup warm water, 1 cup flour stir until dough forms. Roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick and cut the shapes with cookie cutters or a cup. I used a straw to poke the holes so that I could tie them up with string.  Now you can bake for approx 2 hours at 250 degrees until hard or you can let air dry.  I am a very impatient person and have a hard time waiting for things.  But i did it both ways.  I found that the baked ones dried flatter and were a little bit darker but way easier to stamp or paint.  The air dried ones were almost pure white but the edges kind of curled up and they were very uneven for stamping.  The acrylic paints took several coats to cover these. Once these were baked I went to town using my clear stamps and StazOn ink  to decorate the round ones up for Christmas gift tags. I just used a red sharpie on the back to write to and from.  I enlisted my husband to help me paint all the little shapes to add to bags and presents.  This would be a fun easy craft for the kiddos.  You could even make the hand print or foot print ornaments with the kids.  The possibilities are endless.  

Stamped with Christmas Stamps for Gift Tags

Paint them with acrylic paints