Stamped Clay Ornaments

The finished oven-bake clay ornaments are painted simply. My daughter pressed a small twig
from a fir tree into the bauble shaped ornaments along with letter stamps.

       My eldest daughter made these merry little clay ornaments for family and friends this year! Each features the first initial of the recipient and will be tied with a bow on the packages she gives this coming Christmas holiday.

Supplies Needed:

• Sculpey oven bake clay, white
• cookie cutters
• letter stamps
• decorative plant stamps
• green and white acrylic paints
• clear coat acrylic sealer or Mod Podge
• twin for hangers
  
• a glass jar for rolling out the clay
• fir tree branch for pressing into clay (optional)

Step-by-Step Directions:

1. Select your favorite cookie cutter for this Christmas ornament craft. It is best to choose something simple that won't include fragile extensions that may break off with rough handling. Our versions are made with three cookie cutters: a house, a sunny star and a Christmas bauble shape.
   
2. Roll out the oven bake clay to approximately 1/4" and stamp with the cookie cutters.
3. Use a toothpick to make a hole wherever you would like to loop twine through in order to hang the handmade ornament.
4. Use rubber stamps to make words or images by pressing these into the unbaked clay.
5. Bake the clay in the oven at the temperature recommended on the package of the craft material you are using.
6. Let the ornaments cool before painting these as you choose.
7. My daughter used green to pool the paint in the areas pressed out with the rubber stamps.
8. Seal the painted surface with an acrylic spray or Mod Podge.

Left, the cookie cutters and rubber stamps my daughter used to make her ornaments. 
Right, here you can see that she lined up her unbaked ornaments in a glass cooking 
dish for baking. These are the safest dishes to use when working with clay because 
the residue from the plasticine washes off of glass easily.

Left, are the tiny letter stamps she used to press "God With Us" into the house ornaments.
Right, she included the word "Emmanuel" on a clay tag strung onto the house as well. 
See also the partridge in a pear tree pressed into the star ornament and painted green.