Crafts – Salt Dough Paw Prints
Paw Print Keepsake Crafts: Keep the pitter-patter of little furry feet forever with this easy craft.
UPDATE 12/19/15 Warning: Please do not feed these to your dog! These are not treats. These are a craft project and meant for decoration only. If you make these to hang on your tree please ensure your dog(s) and or cat(s) cannot get to them. The amount of salt used in this project can cause major damage to your pet’s organs. That said these can make very special keepsakes ut like with anything else not meant to be edible you need to decorate your home with caution.
To make enough dough for several paw print keepsakes you will need:
½ cup of salt
½ cup of white flour
Turn you oven on to the lowest setting – 200F or lower if possible.
In a large bowl mix salt and flower together and add enough water to combine into a stiff dough. To begin with add a very small amount of water – 1 teaspoon full at a time. The dough will be sticky – continue mixing dough until it is smooth. If it is too crumbly add more water.
Too wet? Add more flour.
When the dough is completely mixed – divide into several pieces. The number of pieces will depend on the size of your dog’s paws. You want to make a flattened disc of dough that is about ½ inch thick, so adjust the size of your disc accordingly.
Flatten the dough into a disc onto a dish or other flat surface.
Take your dough disc and flip it over. Now you have a smooth, fingerprint free surface to work with.
Go get your dog! I found that giving my dog a treat, then quickly taking their paw and pressing it into the dough worked the best. They didn’t even know what had happened. Do not press too hard. A light touch works best. If you want to eventually hang your keepsake from a ribbon, take a drinking straw and press it through the dough – creating an open circle.
Dry your paw print keepsake in the oven on a baking sheet for about 3 hours. Every ½ hour flip the disc over, so it dries evenly on both sides.
When your disc is completely dry, add paint or other decorations.
Hang or add to a shadow box.
For even more crafts using Salt Dough you can create gift tags or ornaments.
Carmala lives in Minnesota with her two Tibetan Terriers, Dhali and Tibby. She blogs about their adventures at http://justatibetanpup.blogspot.com
I love this idea! I wish that I had paw prints of my pets that have passed on.
I think that it would be really cute to cut them into shapes. I’m a sap, so I’d probably use a heart shaped cookie cutter on mine. 🙂
Aww! I love that idea! I think that would be perfect.
What a nice way to make a keepsake. Great idea!
What an adorable craft and memory. Our dog had 9 puppies on Halloween last year. It would have been nice to have mementos of the pups who have found their forever homes.
LuAnn Braley recently posted..Mental Health Mondays #2
This looks so sweet! I may have to try it! Not quite sure where I would put it though…
Emily recently posted..New breeder
I remember making these when I was a child- Great memories and keepsakes for pets!
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What a cute idea. I am going to be all set one of these days when we get a dog. Not sure this would work with a fish. LOL!
Jenn @comebackmomma recently posted..Handbag Giveaway Heaven! Featuring Sarah Oliver Clutch
aww what a cute keepsake!
Sandy a la Mode recently posted..Zaarly and KC Blogger Meetup Events!
This is the cutest darn thing I have ever seen. How about a puppy paw print and then a BIG dog print when they have grown.. AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Still Blonde after all these YEARS recently posted..Genie Bra Full Figure Women — Does it Work?
Awwww! These are SO CUTE!!!
Dawn
Dawn recently posted..Whiskey 101: The How To Guide To Enjoying Whiskey
That is cute and adorable – I want to try it
Lena – @elenka29 recently posted..Biking 101: Safety
This such an adorable idea! I had never thought of doing a craft including my fur babies!
Ashley S recently posted..10 Tips to make the most of your Mall of America Family Vacation
neat idea
wish i had known this a month ago as my furbaby passed away 3 weeks ago and they didn’t do it at the place where we took her so never got her paw print mold as didn’t know i could do it this way thought it might hurt them with salt my first furbaby they did it but second furbabie at least they were nice enough too do ink prints for me it’s so hard they are so human sometimes when you show them full love and attension they can act so loving and human back and can be so smart so miss my furbabies 🙁 at least i know now as sure down the road will adopt another companion service furbabie : )
Thankyou for wonderful idea : )
It would be cute the roll the dough out to the size of a tile. Then put it on an easel.
this is great! thanks for the idea 🙂
Im so doing this for my parents for Christmas.
Thanks for the idea! Mine are in the oven as we speak 🙂
I love this idea I will definately be doing this tommorow. How did you get the things to stay in place in the shadow box? I’ve never made one yet!
How were you able to make it stay in the shadow box? I’m making this for my fiance for Christmas and have tried double sided tape and super glue and can not get it to stick. Any ideas?
salt is harmful to dogs so all needs to be washed off the paws to prevent ingestion by licking
This is an adorable idea!
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Thank you. I can’t say how much. Our beloved kitty sudden became very ill and we found out she had inoperable cancer. She was suffering very badly and we had to arrange to let her go as quickly as possible. We wanted a keepsake but didn’t have time to get someone to do it, or get supplies. My wife found this post and we were able to make her paw print before we took her in. We baked it when we came home. It means so much to us. You have no idea. Such a little thing, one little article you wrote, mea d so much to us.
a recently posted story on facebook says these killed their dog so be careful. I don’t know if it’s true or not but why take the chance