It’s always fun and rewarding for kids to make their own Valentine cards.
Materials
- salt dough (salt, dough, water)
- mixing bowl and spoon
- rolling pin
- heart shaped cookie cutters
- items to create textures eg. rubber stamps
- baking sheet
- metal spatula
- sand paper
- acrylic paint and brushes
- Mod Podge
- decorative papers, card stock, etc. for making cards
- envelopes
- cutting mat, craft knife, ruler, pencil
- glue stick for collages
- white glue or glue gun for adding salt dough hearts
Instructions for making the hearts:
Salt Dough Recipe
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water
1 cup all purpose flour
Preheat oven to 200 F. Combine salt and water. Add flour, combine well, and knead for 7-8 minutes until the dough is nice and smooth.
Form a ball and flatten with a rolling pin. Any thickness is fine, as long as you adjust baking times accordingly. Add textures using rubber stamps etc., then use cookie cutters to create the heart shapes. Extra dough can be rolled out to use again.
Use a metal spatula to remove the dough shapes from your work surface and onto a baking sheet. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 F, until they are hard. The length of time will depend on the thickness, so keep checking on them. Ours were somewhere between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch, and baking took about 2 hours. Increasing the temperature can cause the dough to become brownish, so it’s worth being patient.
Once they have cooled, use sand paper to smooth the edges, then add acrylic paint to decorate – undiluted for intense colours, or combined with plenty of water to create washes. Hearts can be further decorated with glitter glue, or even with a collage of interesting papers. Applying Mod Podge as a final touch will give them a shiny, varnished look.
Instructions for making the cards:
You can choose pre-cut cards which come with their own envelopes, or cut your own cards from the amazing selection of papers that are available today. Just make sure their weight is on the heavier side, and that you cut them to fit your envelopes.
Before adding the salt dough hearts, you can embellish the papers by creating collages or splattering paint. Use white glue or a glue gun to attach the hearts. While they dry, kids can tap into their inner poet for the greetings they’ll be adding inside.
ArtClubBlog 
Ooooh, I love these!
Nice!
Thanks!
Very pretty! I love projects where kids get an entire array of supplies to choose from – unlimited creativity! I am nearing completion of a valentine’s Day paper mache project that uses Mod Podge and tissue scraps – kids love the shiny and strong finish too!
I love paper mâché. Looking forward to seeing it!
I haven’t made salt dough since I was a kid! How fun and easy! I love the little impressions on them too. Fun project!
Thanks Danni. I never made them as a child, so I’m making up for it now 😉
I have a question for you! I just made some photograph coasters yesterday. I Mod Podged the photographs onto the coasters, then put Mod Podge Dimensional Magic on top of the photo’s. My question is, do you know if I need to put anything else like a coat of varnish on top? I know the photo is sealed well, but I was wondering if the dimensional magic was good enough for the top. Let me know your thoughts on this. Thanks a bunch!
Sounds like a gareat project. I’ve only used the matte Mod Podge, and not on anything that was going to be getting wet. I do know Mod Podge acts as a varnish, so I would think several coats would do the trick. I would suggest you visit this website: http://modpodgerocksblog.com. Amy seems to be an expert on the stuff, so she would be a great person to ask. Looking forward to hopefully seeing them on your blog!
Great idea!
Thanks!
Cards of any sort I love, but these are something extra special. Visiting via ‘Family Fun Friday’ from over at http://www.ritewhileucan.com where I am passionate about letter writing.
Thank you! It’s always fun making cards with kids.
I love this idea. I’ve made several salt dough crafts in the past. I might have to do something like this with the kids.
Thanks Nikki. Salt dough is such a fun, versatile thing to work with.
What fun Valentines! I love this idea!
How creative! Thanks for sharing via Family Fun Friday.
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