Salt-Frosted Winter Decorations

A beautiful and easy way to frost your natural, homemade and DIY holiday decorations for the winter!

This is a super simple and perhaps more toddler-friendly alternative to frosting your decorative objects with Borax! The orange slices, pinecones, and pine sprigs I have seen crystallized and frosted with Borax look absolutely gorgeous. However, salt is much more of a non-toxic option for little toddler fingers and mouths! Once my boys are older, I will definitely try the Borax method.

Instead of soaking in a Borax solution, all you need to do is brush on some Mod Podge or another suitable non-toxic glue with a paintbrush (extra kudos if you can make a compostable, natural glue at home). I recommend a non-toxic glue not only for children’s safety, but because I did get glue on my fingertips from holding the objects. I think Elmer’s glue painted on with a paintbrush, a glue stick, or even a hot glue gun (carefully and speedily drawing swirling patterns instead of brushstrokes), could work, but I’m not positive. I only used Mod Podge! I did use a matte Mod Podge, which worked just fine. I think a glossy Mod Podge would look even prettier, however, even though it might not show through the salt.

Then, you simply shake some white table salt onto the glue-y object, making sure to do so above a plate! Mixing in some rock salt could look lovely as well, but I only had pink Himalayan rock salt on hand, not white, so I did not try that– pink might be a nice touch for spring and summertime projects, however!

Once enough shaken salt collects below on the plate, you can simply rub the glue-y object directly onto the salt pile as well to avoid wasting the extra salt.

I salted all sides of my objects at once, without letting each side dry first. I found it worked just fine with the Mod Podge! I do recommend avoiding handling the objects too much after they are dry, as the salt may erode off little by little. So, just place them wherever you would like right away!

I hung these frosty, dried orange slices in my Christmas tree, using deconstructed paper clips as hangers. The frosty pine sprigs I stuck back in my DIY Winter Table Centerpiece basket. I wish I had known about frosting, because I might have salt-frosted my entire Dried Orange and Pinecone Garland.

This was a quick and easy project that I hope you have fun with this season! Cheers!

How To Salt Frost Your Natural Winter Decor:

Materials:

• Non-toxic glue that dries clear (I used matte Mod Podge)
• White table salt
• A cheap paintbrush you don’t care about
• Items to frost (dried orange slices, pinecones, pine sprigs, anise stars, etc!)
• A plate to collect shaken salt

Method:

*Get ready to work quickly so that you can salt before your glue dries!*

1. Hold your object above the plate, and use your paintbrush to brush on glue. For a more heavily frosted look, use generous glops of glue. For a lighter frost, use less glue and lighter brushstrokes. You can also just frost the edges of your object, such as the tips of the pinecone scales. However, I found that a quick and messy brushing and glopping of glue worked just fine, and looked natural and pretty in the end!
2. Shake salt generously onto object. Don’t worry about wasting salt– it will collect on the plate and you can rub the next object onto it directly instead of shaking to salt it.
3. Repeat on all sides of your object (as stated above, I did not find it necessary to let glue dry in between sides).
4. Once finished salting all your objects, make sure to thoroughly wash the paintbrush with warm water and soap to remove the glue and preserve the softness and life of your paintbrush.
5. Let objects dry overnight, and avoid handling them too much before placing them in their decorative destinations, otherwise some salt may get shaken off or erode off (like how glitter does).
6. Enjoy all season long!