CRAFTS | Bicarb dough Christmas stars

Every December, my creative juices go into overdrive. As fun as crafts are year-round, there's something ultra-satisfying about having a homemade Christmas.

Whether it's printing your own wrapping, making a wreath or baking mince pies, ideas for Christmas crafts are as long as Santa's nice list.

I generally add a batch of new decorations to my tree every year - it's fun to see my ornament collection grow every twelve months with homemade additions. This time, I decided to make some nature-inspired stars from white or bicarb dough.

I found the recipe online while looking for salt dough recipes. The idea was completely new to me but as the recipe looked simple enough (plus I already had the ingredients in my kitchen) and the clay seemed so pure, white and smooth, I decided to give it a go.

You can find the recipe all over the place online by searching "salt dough alternatives" or "bicarb dough". You basically heat the bicarbonate of soda, corn flour and water together until it comes together, leave to cool for a few minutes and then get creating!

I rolled out the dough and cut out several stars using a basic star cutter. I then used the end of a pen lid to make a hole in each of them (for hanging) and then, following on from my leaf print cards, I decided to lightly roll over my stars with leafs. I also gently pressed in some bark as an alternative texture.

You can either bake in the oven on a very low heat (approx. 70 degrees) for an hour or so, turning over every now and again, or you can leave your decorations to air-dry for a few days.

Once dry, I painted mine with gouche and acrylic, using watered-down PVA glue before sprinkling over with a little white glitter. This was very effective on the bark-texture stars I didn't paint.

To finish, I fed through a single piece of raffia on each star and popped on the tree. You can of course use festive red or gold ribbon, or even some sisal for a rustic alternative.

The dough was so easy to make and gave much smoother results than salt dough - I can't wait to try making other ornaments for the house!

Word of warning - My leaf imprints, although not deep set in the clay, did mean my stars cracked slightly. To harden and prevent further cracking, I painted each one with a bit of PVA glue when dry, which I think really helped to strengthen them.

You might remember I mentioned oven-drying some oranges for my Christmas table centrepiece. Well, here they are!

Check back for images of the finished article tomorrow.

Happy Christmas crafting!

Love Victoria x