DIY Baking Soda Ornament Semi-Fail

One of the bloggers who always inspires me is Alex from NORTHSTORY. This December, one of her projects that I really liked were the baking soda ornaments that she made with her daughters. I decided that I was going to try it. Since Alex gave specific amounts and instructions, I will not repeat them. You can visit her post for those.

One of the nicest things about this project is that I had all of the ingredients in my cupboards. The first step was to pull them all out. One change I made was to use peppermint essential oil rather than cinnamon. In the end, I do not think that the smell is strong enough to even need to add any oil. I will skip that step if I ever make these again.

Crème did a thorough inspection and made sure that the water was not poisoned. I guess she did not understand that the ornaments would not be edible.

I mixed all of the ingredients in a large bowl but failed to take a picture of that step. Then, it was over to the stove. The mixing and cooking took about 5-10 minutes total.

Alex stressed the importance of letting the dough cool. I think I may have left it a bit too long, because it developed quite a thick crust on the top, but I was able to work it back into the dough.

After I rolled the dough, I pulled out my bucket of cookie cutters. I bought them several years ago at Bed, Bath & Beyond. There are 100 in the bucket, and I love all the options that they give me for different holidays.

Rolling the dough was not too hard, but it was really sticky.  I kept putting more baking soda on the counter, but the dough kept adhering to the counter and many of the ornaments were misshapen when I tried to peel them off.

I poked holes in the ornaments with a toothpick and laid them on a baking sheet. I wish that I had made them thinner. I was happy with the thickness originally, but the thinner ones turned out better in the end.

Alex did not put hers in the oven, but I was too anxious to wait 3-5 days for my finished products. I was hoping to decorate my tree before then. However, it would have been better for me to wait. It took me over a week to finally decorate my tree, and I almost destroyed my ornaments after baking them.

When I took the ornaments out of the oven, they appeared and felt fully dried. Unfortunately, the undersides were not finished and they stuck to the baking sheet when I tried to pull them off. It made me want to cry.

I turned them all over and let them dry for several more days.

In the end, they were not too bad. The backs are ugly, but you cannot tell from the front. Here is a selection of my favorite ornaments. The first row contains our initials and a 2 for our second Christmas together as a family and a married couple. The second row are Christmas images, and the third row contains shapes that represent the four of us.

In the end, I rated this project a “semi-fail” because the ornaments did not turn out as well as I would have liked, but they were not a total disaster.

This one is my favorite. My husband wears shoes with toes. I am not sure why this foot was in the box of cookie cutters, but I love that it was. It makes me smile every time I look at it.

So, our tree is now decorated. I will post the pictures of our full tree on Wednesday.

Happy Homemaking!