Salt Dough Napkin Rings Tutorial

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DIY Craft Project: How To Make Salt Dough Napkin Holders

Now that the holiday season is upon us, are you looking for creative ways to spend quality time with your family?

Why not create a beautiful set of Salt Dough Napkin Rings to dress up your Thanksgiving dinner table?

This easy-to-make project is the perfect craft to make with children of all ages and will add a touch of charm and beauty to your table throughout the Autumn season!

Our Salt Dough Leaf and Pumpkin Napkin Rings were inspired by this classic Dixie Crystals Salt Dough Leaf Napkin Holders recipe!

First you’ll need to gather a few basic supplies:

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You’ll also need to pick your favorite cookie cutters for the project! For Thanksgiving, we selected a leaf and a pumpkin to adorn our table.

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Supplies

2 Cups Salt
1 Cup Water, Divided
1 Cup Cornstarch
Baking Sheet (Non-Stick or Tin Foil Covered)
Red, Yellow and Orange Food Coloring
Leaf Shaped Cookie Cutter
Ribbon, Twine and/or Tulle

Instructions

1. Stir salt into 1/2 cup of water in a medium saucepan.

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2. Cook over medium-low heat until hot.

3. Remove from heat.

4. In a bowl, mix the remaining 1/2 cup of water with the cornstarch until smooth.

5. Add the cornstarch mixture to the salt mixture.

6. Return the saucepan to the stove and cook, stirring constantly over medium-low heat until the mixture thickens into the consistency of stiff mashed potatoes.

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7. Turn the mixture out onto a glass plate and cover with a damp towel.

8. Allow the dough to cool and then divide it based on the number of colors you need. Red, yellow and orange (a combination of red and yellow) are great colors to work with for autumn leaves. For our project, we used orange and brown (a combination of red, yellow and blue – which looks green before baking but turns brown after baking).

9. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin or with your hands. Use the leaf cookie cutter to cut out multiple shapes.

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Here’s your opportunity for your creativity to shine! You and your children can make your leaves as colorful as you like or you can coordinate the leaves to match your décor. For our project, we used a lollipop stick to insert a hole in a few of the shapes so we could them as decorative embellishments for gift. We also scored our shapes using a toothpick and decorated our shapes with contrasting colored dough to add visual interest to our napkin holders.

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10. Bake the napkin holders at 250 degrees for 2-3 hours until completely hard.

Here’s a sample of what our final salt dough napkin holders looked like!

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11. Let the napkin holders cool, and then attach them to your cloth napkins with ribbon, twine,  or tulle. We chose raffia to give ours extra rustic fall flair!

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For more fun and versatility, consider using these salt dough leaves as decorative embellishments on gifts – as ornaments on trees – and as mementos to “leave” with your dinner guests!

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Now that you know how easy it is to personalize your dinner table with handmade napkin holders, why not pin this tutorial and use it to decorate your table year round?

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Disclosure: This original post was written on behalf of our sponsor Dixie Crystals.

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109 Responses to “Salt Dough Napkin Rings Tutorial”

Read below or add a comment...

  1. Helen says:

    This is a pretty napkin ring, just perfect for this celebration. Thank you for sharing the tutorial 🙂

    • Create With Joy
      Twitter: CreateWithJoy1
      says:

      Thanks for visiting Helen – these napkin rings were so much fun to make (and so easy too!)
      They are a perfect way to put your cookie cutters to use in a healthy and creative way! 🙂

  2. These are so adorable.

  3. Self Sagacity
    Twitter: selfsagacity
    says:

    What a unique idea! Miss Trinity would love to help me make them. Thanks!

  4. Trine @ Creative Pink Butterfly says:

    What a superb craft! Its so cute!!

    I would love if you came and linked up at the Bewitchin’ Projects Block Party:

  5. Nigel says:

    Fantastic. I may have to try these for this year’s Midwinter feast.

  6. Mrs. AOK says:

    I love these!! Thanks for sharing via Mommy Monday 😉
    XOXO

  7. Pinkoddy
    Twitter: pinkoddy
    says:

    This is a really good idea and we may make Christmas shaped ones for our Christmas dinner – and then the guests can take theirs home with them 🙂

  8. C.L. Murphy says:

    What a festive way to dress up a harvest table! Thanks for sharing.

  9. Oh this looks so easy to make! I bet I can do this with my daughters for Fall crafting activity 🙂
    Thank You, Ramona for sharing the tutorial!

  10. Lisa Ehrman says:

    These are so cute, and what a great way to decorate the table for fall 🙂

  11. Elle says:

    Cute idea! I might make some fall ornaments with this. Hang them on the wall.

  12. Danita Carr says:

    Love this idea! Thanks for sharing at Small Victories Sunday Linkup!

  13. Diona says:

    This is such a cute idea! As I prepare to visit my family I will definitely be adding this idea to our activities list. With my three kids and 12 nieces and nephews, we will have to make a ton of leaves and pumpkins this year! Thank you for sharing!

    • Create With Joy
      Twitter: CreateWithJoy1
      says:

      I’m so happy Diona to hear you’ll be doing this – your children and extended family will have tons of fun with this project!
      Be sure to take lots of photos and share them with us (and leave a comment so I don’t miss out!)

  14. Akaleistar says:

    What pretty napkin rings!

  15. What a wonderful, adaptable craft! Your Salt Dough Napkin Rings look wonderful. Thank you for sharing this tutorial with us at Hearth and Soul. I’ve featured your post at this week’s hop 🙂

  16. swathi says:

    Thanks for sharing with Hearth and soul blog hop.

  17. Love this! I have actually never made salt dough before but these are great for fall. #Sitsblogging

  18. These are really pretty.

  19. Sarah Fuller says:

    These napkin rings are adorable. What a wonderful idea!

  20. Bev says:

    These are adorable! And such a fun project to do with children. Thanks for sharing, stopping by from SITS.

  21. What a cute way to dress up napkins for the holiday’s. Love the pumpkin and leaf, super cute idea!

  22. Jessica says:

    I love these! What an easy way to add a little festivity to your table!

  23. These are so cute!! I bet my kiddos would get a kick out of this!

  24. We host a HUGE thanksgiving every year and every year the kids make a craft for the seating- these would be so perfect! Pinning

  25. Cheryl says:

    Very cute idea! Pinned to hopefully make this season!!

  26. I love this idea! Salt dough is so versatile and these are adorable! My 16-month-old daughter could even help me with these! Thank you for the awesome idea! I will definitely be saving this for my Thanksgiving table!

  27. madalyn says:

    Oh my gosh I loved salt dough projects as a child, this brings back so many memories!

  28. Your Salt Dough Napkin Rings are so pretty, Ramona, and what a fun family activity! Your tutorial makes this craft look do-able even for someone who isn’t very crafty (like me!). These would also make great hostess/grandparent gifts as well. I’m featuring this post at the Hearth and Soul Link Party this week. Thank you so much for sharing it. Have a great week, and hope to ‘see’ you at the party.

    • Create With Joy
      Twitter: CreateWithJoy1
      says:

      Thank you so much for sharing this April – you should try this, you would have so much fun doing it!
      It is really similar to making cookies so you would be a natural!
      Have a great week and thanks for hosting a wonderful party each week!

  29. Karren Haller
    Twitter: Myllls
    says:

    Your salt dough project is great, good way to get the kids involved!!

    thank you for sharing on Friday Features last week, this week your post is being featured on Friday Features, I have Tweeted and Pinned on Pinterest and on Instagram!.

    Be sure to stop by and share again with us!

    Hope you enjoy this weekend
    Karren

  30. Amy says:

    Oh my goodness, these napkin rings are so cute. I love the fall colors and theme. Thank you for sharing. Thank you too for the awesome party.

    • Create With Joy
      Twitter: CreateWithJoy1
      says:

      Glad you enjoy the napkin rings Amy – they make such a cute fall accent (of course you can adapt them to any season) –
      so glad you’re part of our Inspire Me Monday community as well! 🙂

  31. I’ve made salt dough creations before but had never thought of napkin rings. These are DARLING! Thanks for sharing. Pinning. 🙂
    #inspirememonday

  32. Ramona,

    Years ago, I made salt dough Christmas ornaments with our kids and I even have some of them to this day. That was a lot of fun. I’m saving this idea because I think it would be a great one to do someday. I like how you colored your dough. That’s something I did not do. Great idea! Thanks for sharing!!

  33. Alice V says:

    This is such an awesome idea. sometimes I hate being a crafter because it makes me want to go out and get supplies right away. Thanks for sharing this idea.

  34. Kippi says:

    I love these napkin rings. I would love to include it in my pumpkin roundup this week. I would like to use your photo and your link to your blog.
    Thank you,
    Kippi

  35. These turned out nice! I remember making Christmas ornaments from salt dough. Thanks so much for linking up at #AThemedLinkup 1. Shared.

  36. Christina says:

    I absolutely love this DIY! 🙂 I will pin this!

  37. Kippi says:

    Clever napkin ring idea. Pinned!
    I am going to try this craft this weekend.
    Happy fall,
    Kippi

  38. Such a fun idea, I love how many different things you can do with salt dough.

  39. Kristie says:

    These are beautiful, Joy!

  40. Lafayne says:

    I just shared this. Great article.

  41. SO cute!! I love this idea.
    #ohmyheartsiegirllinkup

  42. Very cool idea, thanks for sharing.

  43. So simple but so elegant!! I’d love for you to share over at our weekly Wednesday Creative Crafts Linky Party https://creativelybeth.com/creative-crafts-linky-party-7-join-in-the-fun/
    Have a great week!
    Creatively, Beth

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