This adorable Christmas ornament is made using basic craft punches in holiday shapes and is courtesy of miniature artist, Betsy Niederer.

Tools and Materials
Premo polymer clay in white, cadmium yellow, and translucent
Pasta maker, rolling pin, or glass bottle for rolling out clay
Knife or other tool for cutting clay
Craft punches in holiday shapes
Cornstarch
Flat-tipped paintbrush
Light-brown artists' pastel
6-by-6-inch tile
Acrylic varnish
Coarse glitter
Ribbon
Crafter's Pick "Ultimate" glue
Small sticker medallion or piece of decorative paper

For Icing (optional)
Acrylic white paint
Texture medium
Pastry tip

Christmas Cookie Ornament How-To
1. Mix together 2 parts translucent clay to 1 part white clay, adding a dash of yellow, until you have a uniform color. Flatten the clay to about 1/16-inch thick by putting it through a pasta maker, or by rolling it out with a rolling pin or glass bottle. Cut flattened clay into small squares.

2. Dust a craft punch and squares of clay thoroughly with cornstarch.

3. Punch shapes from squares of clay with the craft punch. Place punched clay shapes on a tile.

4. To get a "baked" appearance on the punches, apply light-brown artists' pastel around the edges with a flat-tipped paintbrush.

5. Put tile with punched shapes in the oven and bake according to clay manufacturer's directions.

6. When "cookies" have come out of the oven and cooled, apply acrylic varnish with a paintbrush. Sprinkle with coarse glitter to create the look of sugar cookies. If you would rather "ice" your cookies, fill a pastry tip (only) with a mixture of acrylic white paint and texture medium; use your finger to press icing through tip.

7. Glue a loop of ribbon to the back of a small plate, and cover where you've glued with a small sticker medallion or piece of decorative paper.

8. Glue a pile of cookies to the front of the plate to finish the ornament.

Mini-Turkey How-To
If the Christmas cookie ornament has made you want to try more of Betsy's great crafts, try making her mini-turkey. Use the same clay you used for the cookies to sculpt a body, legs, and wings. Paint the turkey with light brown artists' pastels and shade with dark-brown artists' pastels to create a "crispy" look. Tie the legs with string and bake in the oven to cure the clay.

Resources
Special thanks to miniature artist, Betsy Niederer, for sharing this craft. Premo Polymer Clay is available at craft stores; visit sculpey.com for locations. "Alpine Snowflake" and "Snowman" craft punches and coarse glitter in a variety of colors are available from Martha Stewart Crafts. Crafter's Pick "Ultimate" glue is available from crafterspick.com. Tile may be found at home improvement or tile-supply stores. All other tools and materials are available at crafts or art-supply stores.

Special thanks to Greenleaf Dollhouses for giving a storybook cottage kit to everyone in our studio audience. Special thanks to Dollhouse Miniatures and American Miniaturist for giving copies of their magazines to our studio audience. For more information on miniatures, visit cdhm.org.