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Ice Cream- 5 Cents

Designed by Amanda Formaro

Make this cute little sign to welcome summertime into your home!

What you need

1 cup salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup water
cookie cutter (ice cream cone)
acrylic paint in pink, coffee bean, light brown, yellow, purple, blue, orange, green, white
paintbrushes
stylus
clear acrylic sealer (matte)
white and brown craft paint pens
7" wood slat
20 gauge craft wire
drill or small nail and a hammer
black fine tip craft pen
white craft glue (Tacky glue)
IMPORTANT NOTE: This recipe for salt dough makes a lot of ornaments. If you only plan on making a few, cut this recipe into fourths or in half, or you can make the whole batch and store the leftovers in a zipper lock plastic storage bag.

What you do

Preheat oven to 250 F. Mix together, salt, flour, and water until a dough is formed. Knead the dough on a floured surface until the mixture is elastic and smooth. If dough is too sticky, sprinkle with flour, continue to do so until stickiness is gone. BE CAREFUL. Do not add too much flour, this will dry out the dough and will cause it to crack before you get a chance to bake it.

THIS DOUGH IS NOT EDIBLE.

Roll out the dough to about 1/2" thick. Use the cookie cutter to create an ice cream cone shaped ornament. (The cookie cutters we used in this craft can be found here) Place the cut out onto the cookie sheet and bake for approximately 2 - 2.5 hours. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. For best results, allow shape(s) to cool and dry overnight, or for at least 4 hours.

Paint the ice cream cone with acrylic paints, using the photo as a guide. Create the candy sprinkles by dotting different colors of paint on with a stylus (a toothpick is an alternative to this tool).

Paint the wood slat with light brown paint. Using any leftover light brown, add some white and mix, highlight edges with the lightened brown. When paint is completely dry, drill two holes in the upper corners for your wire hanger. If you don't have a drill, you can use a hammer and a small nail to poke two holes in the wood. Just be careful not to split the wood! Thread the craft wire through one holes, curl the end by wrapping it around the back end of a small paintbrush. This will hold the wire in place on the wood. Use the paintbrush end to coil the long sides of the hanger, then thread the other end through the second hole and curl the end to secure hanger in place.

Using a fairly generous amount of Tacky glue, adhere the ice cream cone to the center of the wood sign. Use a white paint pen (then outline with brown paint pen) to put the "5 cents" at the bottom and a black fine tip craft pen to write "Ice Cream" at the top. Finish with two coats of acrylic sealer, waiting at least 15 minutes between coats.

About the Author:
Amanda Formaro is the crafty, entrepreneurial mother of four children. She and her husband live in sunny Nevada with a houseful of kids, dogs and cats. They enjoy traveling in the RV, swimming, and riding their four wheelers. While Amanda’s professional background was originally in finance, she chose to stay home to raise her family after her third child was born. Amanda enjoys tole painting, crafting with her kids, walking her dogs and working on her website, FamilyCorner.com Magazine

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