How to Make a Salt Dough Heart Garland

Learn how to make a beautiful, simple salt dough heart garland in this easy DIY step-by-step craft tutorial with photos.

Salt dough is a natural play doh alternative, made with flour, salt, and water.

It can be used as a malleable dough to manipulate and play with, or it can be used and hardened to make items like a circle salt dough ornament or heart-shaped salt dough ornaments.

To get the dough to harden, it can be baked in a low-heat oven or left out to air dry for several days.

Recently, we made salt dough hearts for a cute Valentine's Day ornament. Today, we are going to take a handful of hearts and string them together to make a beautiful salt dough heart garland.

How to Make a Salt Dough Heart Garland

Step 1. Gather Supplies

Supplies Needed:

• Flour - 2 cups
• Salt - 1 cup
• Water - 1 cup
• Mixing Bowl and Spoon
• Cutting Board
• Rolling Pin
• Heart Cookie Cutters
• Cookie Sheet
• Parchment Paper
• Drinking Straw
• Twine
• Scissors

Step 2. Using this simple salt dough recipe and tutorial, make a batch of salt dough.

Mix 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of salt together in a mixing bowl.

Stir in 1 cup of water. Add the water in small amounts, stirring it in thoroughly each time before adding more.

Knead the dough for 5 minutes and let it rest for 10 minutes. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to make it easier to handle.

Roll the dough out using a flour-coated rolling pin and cutting board so it doesn't stick.

The salt dough should be ¼" thick or slightly less.

Step 3. Use heart cookie cutters to cut out heart shapes from the salt dough.

Place the hearts onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.

Step 4. Use a drinking straw to add a hole to the top of each heart shape.

I used a paper drinking straw because it will become filled with dough and needs to be discarded when you're done.

Step 4. Bake the salt dough hearts for 2+ hours in a 250 degree Fahrenheit oven until hard.

You can also leave them out to air dry for at least several days, depending on the temperature and humidity level in your home.

Step 5. Use pieces of twine to string through each of the hanging holes, and knot the twine close to the heart.

You are giving each heart a small hanging string, which will be threaded onto a longer twine string to make the garland.

Trim the extra twine from each salt dough heart.

Step 6. Cut a long twine piece; long enough for your finished garland.

String on each of the hearts.

Tie loops at each end of the twine hanging string.

Your salt dough heart garland is finished!

This heart garland made from salt dough is a lovely way to decorate the mantel for Valentine's Day!

The tiny hearts can be painted if you want or left the natural light tan color.