"God Jul" is Merry Christmas in Swedish

I love the look of gingerbread ornaments, so when I found some flat pieces of cork in my craft box, I knew I wanted to make “gingerbread” ornaments with them. It’s a really easy project and I like the idea of making gingerbread ornaments that will keep for years to come.

I used homemade puffy paint to decorate my ornaments. Though small children would need help to cut out the ornaments, kids of all ages would love decorating these with puffy paint. Too fun!

Click past the break to get the details.

These were really easy to make. Here’s the how-to:

1. Trace your your cookie cutter onto the cork and cut it out using scissors. Cork is a little brittle, so avoid really sharp or very intricate shapes.
2. Use your scissors to poke a hole where you’d like to tie your ribbon. Poke a hole and sort of twist the scissors around in the hole to make it big enough.
3. Decorate your ornament with puffy paint and let dry.
4. Thread a red ribbon through the hole. Hang the ornament on your Christmas tree, by a window or in a doorway. Or use it as a gift tag on a Christmas present – isn’t it great that the gift tag can be hung on the tree as an ornament once the gift has been opened!

HOMEMADE PUFFY PAINT

• 1 part flour
• 1 part salt
• 1 part water
• corn starch

1. I mixed 100 ml of flour, salt and water and then added a couple of Tbsp corn starch until I had the texture I wanted. I didn’t want my icing (puffy paint) to be too runny.
2. Put the paint in a squeezie bottle (the kind used for ketchup) so you can “draw” your designs with some precision. Puffy paint keeps for weeks in a squeezie bottle in the fridge.

Also – make mini gingerbread houses and decorate your home with fragrant Christmas oranges. And check out this year’s holiday gift guides!