Valentine's Day DIY Hanging Hearts
Here's a family craft to help you and your little ones celebrate love this February 14th.
Image: Simply Being Mum
We typically associate salt dough with Christmas, but leaving all your doughy DIYs to December does this versatile substance a sort of injustice. A natural material that comes pretty cheap, salt dough can be a great choice when crafting with the kids - if it all goes wrong, simply start over.
This Valentine's Day, it's time to crack open the salt shaker and get kneading and cutting. Salt dough hanging hearts make for the cutest gifts, as well as simple rustic decorations ready for your home on V day.
Ingredients:
• 225g/8oz of plain flour
• 110g/4oz of table salt
• 100ml/4floz of tap water
• Metal spoon
• Protective mat or board
• Rolling pin
• Heart-shaped cutters
• Cake pop stick or skewer
• Greaseproof paper
• Baking tray
• Acrylic paint and/or additional decoration (glitter/diamontes)
• Ribbon or string
• Glue
• Scissors
Image: Simply Being Mum
Step One:
Preheat the oven to approximately 100-120°C (the lowest setting). Place the flour and salt in a bowl and mix together. Gradually add the water; mixing in a little at a time with a metal spoon. You may not need all the water — use your judgement here as you should ideally have a dough consistency, nothing soggy. Shape the dough into a ball, taking care not to spend too long on this step, as salt can irritate the skin.
Step Two:
Knead the dough on a mat and once smooth, flatten slightly.
Tip!
As you're using your oven to dry the dough rather than bake it, keep your oven cool. Ovens that are too hot will cause the dough to rise, bubble and crack. The salt dough can also be left to air-dry over a period of three to four days.
Step Three:
Roll out the salt dough until it's approximately 1/4" thick — about the thickness of a typical biscuit.
Step Four:
Using a heart-shaped cutter, cut out your hearts. Please be aware when using clay you must use cutters and other tools that you keep solely for crafting projects. This image shows clay being used. More information on using clay as an alternative can be found in the tip box at the end of this tutorial. When using clay, make individual balls about 35g in weight and roll into circles. After cutting out the heart, keep hold of the circle — this makes a great variation on the hanging heart.
Image: Simply Being Mum
Step Five:
To make the hole for hanging your hearts with your ribbon or string, use either a cake pop stick (safer for children) or a skewer and poke a small hole in a corner of the heart.
Step Six:
Place salt dough hearts on the baking tray covered with greaseproof paper. Wash your hands immediately after handling the salt dough and don't forget to moisturise! Salt draws out moisture from the skin.
Image: Simply Being Mum
Step Seven:
Pop in the oven for 3-4 hours, carefully flipping the hearts over halfway through to ensure an even finish. Leave to cool.
Step Eight:
The salt dough hanging hearts can be painted, but please note this re-softens the dough and additional air-drying time (not in the oven) will be required for the dough to re-harden. Alternatively the hearts can be left unpainted and decorated in other ways, such as covering in glitter or placing rhinestones on with glue. Another option is to use oven-bake clay rather than salt dough (if you're looking to paint and use the same day). This increases the cost, but clay is very durable and requires just 15 minutes in the oven plus cooling time — great for when time is limited.
