Hello friends! Today I’m sharing a little DIY project to help you with your holiday wrapping and decorating. I have to confess, though, that traditionally I’m not much of a holiday decorator. For the last several years we haven’t even gotten a tree other than sometimes a little tabletop rosemary tree from Trader Joe’s. This year, though, we went all out and bought a 6-footer, and then realized that we had no lights or ornaments. Since it’s easy for trees to veer into tacky territory, we kept ours simple with silver balls and white snowflakes. Our decor inspired me to make a few more glittery snowflakes for tree and present beautification.
Materials:
White polymer clay (such as Sculpey
Small snowflake cookie cutter (but it shouldn’t be used for food after using it on clay)
Rolling pin
White glitter (of course Martha Stewart has a great set of white glitter
White glue
Oven
Toothpick
Cookie sheet/baking pan
Paintbrush
Thread, wire, ribbon, or string for hanging or wrapping
Parchment paper (optional)
Methods:
1. Grab a chunk of clay and knead it to soften it up (known as conditioning the clay). Flatten the clay a bit and sandwich it between two pieces of parchment or wax paper. Roll out the clay until it’s less than 1/4 of an inch thick and large enough to fit your cookie cutter.
2. Place your cookie cutter onto the clay and cut out the snowflake.
3. Pierce a hole in your snowflake with a toothpick. Poke through the hole from both sides of the clay to enlarge the hole.
4. Follow the directions on your package to bake your clay. Mine said to bake at 275 F for 30 minutes per 1/4-inch of thickness, so that’s what I did. I baked my clay directly on the parchment paper I rolled it out on, but if you’re not using parchment paper you can bake it on cardboard. Keeping it off of the metal pan is a must if you plan to use the pan for food, plus it keeps the clay from getting shiny spots where it is in contact with the metal.
5. If you want glittery snowflakes, keep going, otherwise stop here! I made a couple of each. Allow your clay to cool, then coat it with a thin layer of white glue. (If you’re using a paintbrush to spread the glue, make sure to thoroughly clean it before the glue dries!)
6. Sprinkle a layer of glitter on your snowflake. Umm, not as much as I used. (Trying to do crafts at the same time you photograph them can be tricky.)
7. Tap off the excess glitter and re-coat any areas that don’t have enough. Allow to dry.
8. Now you have a few options. If you’re hanging your snowflakes on a tree, add thread or fishing wire loops and/or wire hooks.
9. Or you can use them to add a little flair to gifts. You can even write the recipients’ name on the back with a felt-tip marker (or on the front, if you forgo the glitter). It looks cute, plus it can be used as an ornament after the gift is unwrapped.
I read somewhere that you should use a toaster oven to bake clay, does this mean a regular oven could get ruined by baking clay in it?? I haven’t tried anything with polymer clay yet but I plan to soon.
Christina, I’m by no means a clay expert, but you can use either one. The only thing is that some people worry about fumes from polymer clay in their oven, but if you’re worried about that you can wrap the clay in aluminum foil to contain any fumes. Personally it’s not something I’m concerned about, especially since the clay is non-toxic and I only ever bake a very small amount. If you’re baking a ton, though, it would probably make sense to use a dedicated toaster oven.
Hope that helps!
Thanks! I will think about that 🙂