DIY on a Dime: Salt Dough Candle Holders

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Kids love to make gifts for others. Spend an afternoon with your kids creating a special Valentine’s gift for a loved one. Learn how to make these inexpensive candle holders from homemade salt dough in this tutorial from Life as MOM Contributor Janel.

Don’t forget to check out our other cheap and easy DIY projects for kids and families.

Salt Dough Candle Holders

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Kids love playing with playdough and painting their own masterpieces. This DIY Salt Dough Candle Holder is a great combination of the two!

This craft is very child-friendly so get them involved. The salt dough is seriously simple to make from ingredients that you can find in your pantry. Have the kids help you measure and mix up the dough. The kids can also shape the candle holder is easily with a heart-shaped cookie cutter. Once the candle holders are baked and cooled, let the kids decorate them however they wish.

How to Make Heart-Shaped Tealight Candle Holders

Heart Tealight Supplies

Supplies:

  • one recipe salt dough (see below)
  • heart-shaped cookie cutter, about 4-inches wide
  • tealight candles
  • baking sheet
  • metal spatula
  • craft paint, glitter, or other decorating supplies

Directions:

Divide salt dough into four equal balls and place on a baking sheet.

Flatten each ball into a circle that is just big enough for the cookie cutter. Cut a heart shape out of the dough with a cookie cutter. Gently wiggle the cookie cutter and then remove it along with the excess dough.

Heart Tealight Cutout

Press the tealight candle into the center of the heart shaped dough. Gently wiggle the tealight to make the circular indentation slightly larger than the candle. Remove candle and use your fingers to smooth out the indentation and enlarge it more if needed.

Heart Tealight Holder

Bake the candle holders in the oven at 250 degrees for about 3 hours or until dry. Use a metal spatula for easier removal from the baking sheet.

Decorate your candle holders with craft paint or other decorating supplies. If you choose to use glitter, you may wish to coat your candle holder with a sealant like clear spraypaint so that your candle holder doesn’t “shed” glitter. Let dry completely.

Place a tealight candle in your candle holder and enjoy!

A girl in a pink shirt looking at the camera.–Janel is a stay-at-home mom of two daughters and a “law school wife” in Virginia. Raised in a budget-conscious and DIY-minded family, she blogs about motherhood, crafts, and living on a law school budget at Life with Lucie and Ella.

DIY on a Dime

This is part of the DIY on a Dime: Valentine’s Day. For more easy and frugal gift ideas, check out the list.

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16 Comments

  1. I find a little cooking oil usually helps to make the dough easier to work with especially if you are attempting your own design which may be abit more challenging

  2. Can you tell me how you can cook them for 3 hours at 250 degrees won’t they burn
    Also is it plain flour you use many thanks

    1. Regular all-purpose flour is what I used. Yes, it does sound strange that you can cook something for hours without burning. The temperature is low enough that it is drying out the dough over a long period of time. The thinner your cutout is, the more quickly it will dry out. It’s not an exact science because each creation is different. So, you’ll want to monitor the progress as it dries out in the oven.

    1. The dough turns out pretty smooth, and then I used a rolling pin to flatten the dough before cutting it out.

  3. I am wondering how these hold up over time? Do they crack easily? I was wanting to make flowershaped candle holders and possibly layer them in smaller sizers for a votive holder. Do you think this would work?

  4. Hi,

    I made this today for Valentine’s day gifts and it was so easy and fun to make.
    I put red food coloring in the dough as it mixed and it made really pretty pink hearts.
    My daughter already wants to make another batch using other colors

    Great craft!!

    Thanks
    Joanne

  5. I love this idea. It’s the perfect gift for my kids’ teachers. Did you add food coloring before baking or did you paint after baking? Thanks!

    1. You could try adding food coloring. However, I just left the dough uncolored and painted it with craft paint afterwards. I had some red glitter on hand, so I sprinkled that on the red one while the paint was still wet. Then after that dried, I added a clear coat of spraypaint. Have fun creating!