The Martha Stewart Show

Faux Tart Ornament, 1

The Martha Stewart Show

Crafter Jenni Bowman joins Martha in the crafts room to make beautiful faux tart ornaments. Part 1.

Faux Tart Ornaments

This Handmade Holiday gift is an ornament that looks good enough to eat.

Tools and Materials
Blender
Shredded newspaper
Bowl
Table salt
White craft glue
Measuring cup
Spoon
Food molds
Nonstick spray
Acrylic paint, white and colors of choice
Paintbrush
Spackle
Food coloring or decorator gel (optional)
Piping bag
Tweezers
Decorative embellishments
Gloss varnish
Needle
Fishing line
Scissors
Candle
Pliers

Faux Tart Ornaments How-To
1. Add hot water to blender until it's about 1/3 full. Put 4 cups of shredded newspaper in blender. Blend together until newspaper is finely shredded. Take shredded newspaper out of blender and, using your hands, squeeze excess water into blender and place newspaper into bowl. Repeat this process until all the newspaper is removed from the blender.

2. Add 2 teaspoons of table salt to newspaper in bowl. Add approximately 1/8 cup of white craft glue to the mixture. Using spoon or hands, mix newspaper, salt, and glue together.

3. Select mold for ornament, and spray with nonstick spray. Using your hands, you're your newly made papier-mache and press into mold, making sure you see no parts of the mold through the newspaper and that the top edges are even. Set aside molds, letting them dry in warm sun or in oven heated to 200 degrees for about 2 1/2 hours. Be sure to keep checking on them as they dry.

4. Take dry molds and remove faux food ornaments. Select an acrylic paint color. First, paint inside of the ornament. Saturate with paint, flip over, and paint outside. Let dry for about 10 minutes so it looses its shine.

5. To make the piping, measure 1/2 cup of spackle and mix with 1 teaspoon white acrylic paint, enough for about 4 ornaments. If you would like colored piping, use food coloring or decorator gel. Place in a piping bag, and pipe onto ornament.

6. Using tweezers, place decorative embellishments onto ornament. Let dry overnight.

7. Spray gloss varnish on ornament. Using a needle, prick 2 holes in ornament. Cut 7 inches of fishing line, and place through holes. Melt ends with a candle, and using pliers, clamp ends together.

Resources
Special thanks to crafter Jenni Bowman for demonstrating this lovely craft.

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The Martha Stewart Show

Faux Tart Ornament, 1

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