I have a confession to make. The older the kids get, the harder it is to get them excited about crafts. Playing with leaves is not the draw it used to be, so my expectations going into trying a fall craft were mostly that I'd go at it alone.
I didn't count, however, on the draw of salt dough. By the time I set out the modest ingredients list and got a pile of leaves together, I had two interested and willing assistants. And so we set out to make salt dough impressions of leaves, as seen on The Imagination Tree.
I'm normally pretty together when it comes to crafting, but this time, I treated a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old to an afternoon of crafts that I proceeded to accidentally light on fire.
First, whip up some salt dough.
It started with making the salt dough, which is easy and involves ingredients you likely have at home. You'll need:
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
• 1 cup water
Get your hands to work making it into a dough!
Next up, roll out the dough.
The salt dough shouldn't be too thick or too thin when making leaf impressions. Ideally, you want it to be about a centimeter thick.
Next, it's time to arrange the leaves.
Make sure to space the leaves out if you're working with big pieces. You can also create smaller, separate pieces for each leaf, rolled out to the same thickness. Once you know where you want to arrange your leaves, you're ready to press them into the dough.
Pay attention to the edges.
When pressing the leaves into the dough, be gentle. Make sure to pay attention to the edges of each leaf so that the shape is noticeable. You'll also want to pay attention to all the veins of the leaves, which make for each one's unique look.
Peel the leaves back.
Once you're confident you've pressed every detail of the leaves into the dough, carefully remove the leaves. Take a look and assess if you need to go over any details using a pencil.
Next, get them ready to bake.
Once you're satisfied with your leaves, grab a baking sheet. You can bake the salt dough directly on the tray or use parchment paper. Bake at 240°F for two to three hours.
This is where you'd pull them out of the oven.
If you're a successful crafter, this is where you'd be pulling your finished masterpieces out of the oven. Once they're out and firm on both sides, you would leave them to cool before coloring them into works of art.
I, however, was not a successful crafter.
As many parents/guardians/adults-in-charge find themselves during the holiday season, I was multitasking while doing this craft. Why? Because dinner needed to happen, and if I had to order takeout one more time, I was going to scream.
I didn't see how using my broiler could be a problem.
Ovens are funny, and this oven and I have had some battles before, so I really should have known better. But I didn't know better, and so I made dinner and, in the process, set the salt dough on fire.
It was pretty bad.
As in, I couldn't take pictures of it because I immediately dumped it in the garbage bag. And that garbage bag? It melted because the dough was so hot, so that was an added fun bonus.
I backed up from the oven and realized my whole house was full of smoke.
Immediately, I wondered how none of the other four people in the house told me this was happening. That's when I realized they were all sitting on the floor around the coffee table playing a board game. The second the kids realized, chaos ensued.
Luckily, some open windows and box fans cleared the house out.
By that time, I had lost the kids' interest. Instead, they were recapping their realization of the smoke to each other in increasingly dramatic detail. I threw trying again out there, but they weren't into it.
I went at it on my own and had better success.
My second go saw me successfully put salt dough in the oven and take it out. The leaf impressions kept a surprising amount of detail after the salt dough baked. I left them out to cool before coloring them in.
The end result was pretty cute, all things considered.
It was pretty cool discovering you can use colored pencils on salt dough. Sure, paint is a lot of fun, but sometimes you're just not in the mood for the mess. All my missteps aside, this was an easy and fun craft that has gifted my family with jokes to make for (with my luck) years to come.
