Snowman Play Doh Gifts {Craft Tutorial}

My FAVORITE play doh recipe!

I'm not much a fan of the stuff that makes irreparable messes in my home, such as slime, gum, glitter and play doh,  but this is seriously the best dough!  It's super soft, smells amazing and will leave your hands feeling silky smooth!   We enjoy making large batches and sharing it with family and friends, especially around the holidays!  

Here is a quick how to for the best play doh ever and these adorable snowman play doh gifts you will want to share with all the favorite children in your life!

Materials Needed:

For the dough:

• Hair Conditioner - if making snowmen, you will want to make sure it is white.
• Corn Starch

For the containers:

• Mason Jars
• Acrylic Paint in Black
• Acrylic Paint in Orange
• Ribbon, String or Yarn
• Optional - Cookie Cutters
• Optional - spray sealant

Directions:

To make the dough:

Mix 1 part Conditioner to 2 parts corn starch until you have a smooth doughy consistency.  

That's it!  

Marvel at your wonderful two ingredient, barely any effort dough!  It is literally that easy!

Next, make your jars:

Paint the lids of the jars black and set aside.  

Use the acrylic paint to paint one side of the jar to look like a snowman - just a few dots and you'll be done!

Note:  Acrylic paint will scratch off over time.  If you would like to protect your craft, I would recommend using a spray sealant like the one listed above.

Now you can optionally dress up your snowman with a bit of ribbon and a cookie cutter if you want to provide one as a gift.

Now gift and enjoy!

Drippy Pumpkin Craft {Craft Project}

I have been crafting my whole life, and as much as I don't like to admit it, I sometimes have craft fails.  This craft project was one of them.  I decided to share it because I have come up with some solutions for the problems that we faced, and hope that you, my beloved reader, might be able to complete this project and make it look better than I managed to.

Drippy Pumpkin Craft:

Materials:

Fake pumpkin
Crayons (crayola brand seem to melt better)
Sandpaper
Hair Dryer
Tape

Instructions:


I started with a white fake pumpkin that I had bought at Michael's, some broken crayons, tape and a hair dryer.

I picked my crayons, laid them out on the top, taped them down and then started to melt them!

Whoa!  Slow down!!!!  Don't do what I did!  First, make sure you're using good crayons.  ie, Crayola.  They melt better!  In all of my experience with melty crayon crafts, they work much better.  Second, I would recommend sanding the pumpkin down just a little bit, especially in the tracks that you want to use for the drips, perhaps even all over it, with some fine paper.  It makes it easier for the crayon to stick to the surface, which was one of my downfalls (which you'll see later)

Also, use much smaller crayons.  And low heat.  High heat makes the crayon melt in funny ways, too drippy, too fast!  

As you can see from the pictures here, the crayons up top are hardly melted, but the drips have come down pretty far.

As you can see from the side, the pumpkin actually looks pretty cool.  The top, however, is a totally different story.

The top was a mess!!!!  In retrospect, I would have melted more crayons on the top, perhaps with shavings, to make it not look so thin and gross.

It was a fun craft, my kids enjoyed watching the crayons melt, but none of us were too appreciative of the final result.  I think that sanding, smaller crayons and lower heat would have been the solution to our crafting problems!  

Have you tried a drippy crayon craft?  If so, I would love to see how yours turned out!  If you have any secrets to share, please leave me a comment!!