Shamrock Necklace

I have been thinking about St Patricks Day now. And what My daughter has that is green to wear to school. She has to wear a school uniform so she cant wear an item of clothing different from her uniform. My sister had this really cute idea for Valentines Day to make heart shaped buttons out of Salt Dough. And then I saw where someone had made necklaces out of it as well. So here is what I am going to have my daughter wear. A Homemade Shamrock Necklace. These are so easy to make and so much fun!!



You will need:

scissors
ruler
paint brush
shamrock cookie cutter
rolling pin
measuring spoons
1-cup measure
pot of gold metallic confetti
Green Acrylic Paint
White Craft Glue

Here are the Step By Step Instructions

1. Make one recipe of the salt dough (below).
2. Rub flour on your rolling pin and roll out the dough to ¼" thickness on a lightly floured surface.
3. Cut out 1 shamrock with the shamrock shaped cookie cutter. (I have some Pampered Chef Cheese Cutters which will work great!)
4. Using one end of a straw, make a hole in the top of the shamrock ¼" from the top. This will be the hole for the cord with which you will hang the shamrock around your neck.
5. Set the shamrock aside to dry. I let it dry overnight, flipping it over once after a couple of hours when the top surface of the shamrock is dry. You can also bake it in the oven as indicated in the salt dough recipe (see below). The shamrock will dry flatter when you air dry it instead of baking it in the oven.
6. When the shamrock shape is dry, paint the top and the sides green. Let the paint dry completely. When the paint on the first side of the shamrock is dry, flip it over and paint the other side green. Let the paint dry completely once again.
7. Squeeze a drop of white glue in the center of the shamrock and press a piece of pot of gold metallic confetti into the glue. Let the glue dry completely before wearing the necklace.
8. Insert one end of the 32" piece of green elastic cord through the hole in the top of the shamrock. Pull the cord all the way through until the ends are even and tie a knot in the ends.

Salt Dough Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 cup + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.
2. Combine the flour and salt into a bowl and mix thoroughly.
3. Add the water to the dry ingredients.
4. Mix thoroughly with a spoon or use your hands to knead the dough to ensure the ingredients are well combined.
5. The dough may be a bit sticky so add a sprinkle of flour if necessary and knead it in with your hands.
6. Lay the cookie cutter shapes on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. They don't need to be very far apart because they don't spread when they bake but you also don't want them to be touching.
7. Bake the cookie cutter shapes for an hour on one side. Flip them over (use an oven mitt, they will be hot). Bake for another hour on the other side. The first side will have a white, slightly sparkly look to them (from the salt) and the other side will get a hard skin but won't turn white. It may also puff up a bit during baking but if you flip them back over again (use an oven mitt, they will still be hot), the puffy side will flatten down slightly.
8. When the cookie cutter shapes are finished let them cool completely before painting with acrylic paints.

I hope you enjoy making these with your children!