During the holidays, many people choose to bring Christmas trees into their homes and decorate them with lights and ornaments. People fondly gather around these tree corpses, and celebrate family and togetherness – a ritual that must seem utterly barbaric to trees. Some even decide to decorate their entire homes in the holiday spirit, and most residents hang up their own special stockings or ornaments. If you own pets, then surely you’ve tried to get them involved in the festivities, too. But problems often arise with decorative ornaments and animal companions.
Store bought ornaments are not the answer to theis problem! We’re not talking about a cat or dog knocking them off the tree, either. In reality, stores sell dozens of generic pet-focused ornaments. They may or may not resemble your household pets, in fact chances are high that they don’t…at all. Store bought ornaments are acceptable at best and uninspired at worst. On the other hand, not everyone has the crafting skills to create their own personalized pet ornaments for the Christmas tree. Which is what this article serves to help accomplish! So if you are interested in creating your own personalized, pet-proof ornaments, keep reading:
To most people, creating an ornament from scratch seems difficult. But with the help of this video anyone and everyone can create a paw print ornament from their pet’s paw. It’s a simple process that requires mere minutes to start and finish. For this project, you’ll need to mix one cup each of salt and flour with a half-cup of water. Mix these ingredients together as well as possible for a minute or two. Lay out some parchment paper, and then form two identical balls of the mixture. Next, you should grab a glass and flatten the dough balls into perfect circles. You’re encouraged to grab that excess dough and form a third dough pancake, too.
It’s now time to give the dough some personality, which requires some assistance from your furry pet(s). After finding your dog or cat, grab its paw and create a soft imprint on the dough. You’ll want to grab a straw or similar object and push a hole through the top of the ornament. At this point, those ornaments seem a little flimsy because they’re not finished. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit and bake each ornament for two to three hours. Don’t try to increase the heat or decrease the time, though. In doing so, you could cause cracks and other blemishes to the ornaments.
To wrap this project up, you need to take the ornaments out of the oven and let them cool. Then grab spray paint, glitter, and other supplies to decorate each ornament to your heart’s content. You could even let your children or other family members tackle this step. For finishing touches, a string should be looped through that premade circle to hang the ornament to the tree or elsewhere. Write the pet’s name somewhere, too.
Due to the baking requirement, this project could take three to four hours. The real grunt work lasts only a few minutes, though, and the project ends on a high note with decorating. Don’t hesitate to introduce this pet ornament project to your family. Sure, your pets might not understand why you’re pressing their paws into dough, but the rest of the family will love the end result! Finished ornaments look great on the Christmas tree. Plus, you can keep these ornaments from year to year, make new ones each year, or both!