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Easy Salt Dough Hearts (Valentines)

Our family loves making crafts for Valentine’s Day and these Salt Dough Hearts are a favorite! Use them for decorations, valentines, ornaments, or just a fun project for a crafty afternoon. Ideal for preschoolers, kindergartners, and even older kids too. All you need is flour, salt, water, and a drop of food coloring! This project uses my super-easy salt dough recipe.

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A variety of light pink hearts cut out from homemade salt dough.

Valentine’s Day is the perfect time for crafting. Make a batch of salt dough and have fun cutting and decorating hearts for décor or even to give as valentines. My daughter loves decorating salt dough cut-outs as permanent “cookies” for her dolls. We had fun making the batch shared here!

Nine mini pink salt dough hearts arranged in a square on a pink background.

Supplies You Need

Gather together:

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  • salt
  • all-purpose flour
  • water
  • red or pink food coloring (optional)

As well as:

How to Make Salt Dough Hearts

This recipe is the exact same as my usual salt dough ornaments recipe. Some recipes use more salt, but I find that this ratio works well. It creates a smooth dough that is easy to work with.

Gather Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour (all-purpose)
  • 1 cup salt
  • 3/4 cup warm water (mixed with a tiny drop of pink food coloring)

Mix Dry Ingredients

In a medium bowl, mix together 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of salt.

Slowly stir in 3/4 cup of warm water. Note: I add a tiny bit of food coloring to the water, but you can also add it in after the dough is mixed up. Feel free to make more than one color if you wish!

Pouring bright orange-pink water into a bowl of salt dough mixture.

Mix until the ingredients form a ball of dough. Then, gently knead with your hands.

If the dough is too dry, add small amounts of extra water (about 1-3 teaspoons at a time). Too wet? Add a little more flour.

Mixing salt dough.

Roll & Cut the Dough

Sprinkle a work surface with flour and roll out the dough to a 1/4″ thickness. If the dough sticks to the surface, knead in a bit more flour and roll out again.

Don’t roll the dough too thin, otherwise your hearts will be too delicate.

Rolling out a sheet of pink salt dough and using cookie cutter to cut heart shapes.

Use heart-shaped cookie cutters to cut shapes from the dough.

If desired, use a straw or skewer to create a hole at the top of each heart. This will allow you to thread ribbon or twine through as an ornament later.

If you don’t have a heart-shaped cutter, you can shape the dough by hand or use a butter knife to carefully cut out the shape of a heart.

Pink salt dough cutouts on a white background.

Optional Decorations (Before Drying)

Before the dough is dry, you can add decorations with toothpicks, fancy rolling pins, or even scraps of lace.

To add a lace imprint to the dough, use a piece of thick cotton lace trim. More delicate trims do not imprint very well. Place trim on rolled out dough and roll very firmly all in one stroke to imprint.

Quick Tip: To get the clearest imprint, start rolling at one side and roll firmly to the other side without stopping or going back-and-forth.

Using a rolling pin to press lace trim into salt dough.

Optional Decorations (After Drying)

You can also decorate after the hearts are dry (see drying instructions below).

Once the salt dough hearts are dry, get creative by painting them in shades of pink, red, or white. You can also use glitter, washi tape, or stickers. If you’d like, you can even personalize them with names, messages, or cute Valentine’s Day quotes.

I used a little white paint, as well as puffy paint, to customize a few of mine.

A pink salt dough heart with a lace pattern printed into it.
Pink salt dough hearts with a printed lace pattern and painted white on top.

Once salt dough is totally dry (including any paint you may have added), thread a ribbon or twine through the hole at the top of each heart. Tie a knot to secure it, and your ornaments are ready to hang.

Pink salt dough hearts with puffy paint designs.

How to Air Dry Salt Dough

You can opt to air dry or bake the hearts. I prefer air drying because then both sides will look about the same. You just flip them over every day or every few hours until they are dry.

See the difference with the baked hearts? The first two hearts show what the front looks like, and the second two hearts show what the back looks like. See how the back of the baked salt dough is smoother and darker?

Salt dough hearts shown front-and-back, air-dry versus baked, with the words, "air dried" and "baked").

How to Bake Salt Dough

For a faster alternative to air-drying (especially if you are in a rush to deliver these for Valentine’s Day), try baking the salt dough.

  • Bake the salt dough hearts for 30 minutes at 200° F, flip them over, and bake for another 30 minutes. You might need to do another hour (flipping halfway) if the hearts are larger.
  • Allow them to cool completely before decorating.

How to Store Extra Salt Dough

Leftovers? No problem! If you have extra dough, refrigerate it in a sealed plastic bag for 3-4 days. The dough may become more wet/sticky after being stored, so plan to incorporate more flour to adjust the consistency.

Storing Finished Crafts

Be sure the hearts are completely dry before storing them to avoid mold.

Perfect for Valentine’s Day

These salt dough heart ornaments make charming decorations for your home or great additions to a gift. Hang them over a window, make a garland, or tie them to gift bags. They also make a fantastic craft project for kids.

If you are looking for non-candy valentines, salt dough is a cute option. Use a large heart cookie cutter and add messages to the back with a permanent marker.

Don’t Forget to Pin it for Later!

Use the following link to save this tutorial for later: Easy Salt Dough Hearts

Happy Crafting! ~Ellen

A collage of images of pink salt dough cutouts with the words, "Cute Salt Dough Heart Valentines".

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