DIY Easter Pallet Project

You won't believe how easy this DIY Easter Pallet Project is! Plus, it's a great piece of home decor for the coming season!

Whenever I think of "salt dough" I think of kid's crafts. Mostly Christmas ornaments and hand print gifts, or the model teeth I made out of salt dough in 4th grade. I think that was my first experience with salt dough. And those model teeth looked amazing. It's possible I still have them. We must have been learning about the human body or something and had to make a model of our teeth. Mine was just the bottom row, but they looked great. Complete with the painted pink gums.

While I was digging through my tub of 101 Wilton Cookie Cutters, looking for some fun ones for Easter, I stumbled upon this bunny shape that I really liked. I decided it was time to do something different with salt dough -- I'd use it for a big kid project, an Easter Pallet Project!

If you need help cutting pallets check out my post here. Otherwise, grab a pallet board and some salt dough ingredients and let's get to work!

How to Make an Easter Pallet Project

To Make Salt Dough:

½ cup flour
¼ cup salt
¼ cup water
rolling pin
baking sheet

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, mix together salt, flour and water. Stir until combined well and dough forms.
Turn dough onto a flowered surface and knead for about 3 minutes, adding flour into the mix and onto the table to reduce stickiness. When the dough is no longer sticky, it's usually read to roll.
Roll dough onto a floured surface until ⅛" thick.
Use the cookie cutter to cut out bunnies.
Place on a baking sheet to dry for 1-3 days. Turn at least once a day

Note: This recipe makes more than 3 bunnies. Also, I dried my bunnies in the oven. If you have time, I suggest letting the bunnies air dry. Drying mine in the oven was quick and worked well, but the dough bubbled and did not remain flat. If you allow the dough to air dry and flip it over at least once every 24 hours, it will dry flat.

To dry in the oven: Place bunnies onto a baking sheet and into a cold oven. Heat to 325 and check the bunny after 15 minutes once the oven has reached temperature to see if it is done. The dough will begin to brown as it dries. This is normal. If the dough begins to bubble up, gently press down to flatten the bubbles.

To Make Easter Pallet Project:

1 pallet board (mine measures 13" long x 5.5" tall)
white acrylic paint
purple acrylic paint
green acrylic paint (I used a Christmas green and a moss green color)
hot glue
3 salt dough bunnies (made with recipe above)
3 white pom poms
paint brush

Directions:

Paint the pallet board white and set aside to dry.
Paint the 3 bunnies, 3 different shades of purple. Add white paint to your pallet and add a drop of purple. Mix well to combine to make a light purple. Paint your bunny with 2 coats of paint.
Add another drop of purple to the paint you just used, and mix well, making sure the purple is darker than the first paint. Paint another bunny with 2 coats of paint.
Add another drop of purple to the white paint making it darker than the 2nd bunny and paint a 3rd bunny purple with two coats. Let set aside to dry completely.
Paint green grass on the pallet board in irregular patterns to create grass. Let dry completely.
Place your three bunnies onto the board and affix with hot glue. Add a pom pom to each bunny and attach with hot glue.
Hang or display as desired.