Gluten Free Crown of Thorns and Alleluia Sign

So we have never, ever made a salt dough crown of thorns because of my little rose's gluten allergy. Never. This year I thought I would do one using Gluten Free flours, salt and water. AND...

SUCCESS!



My son was convinced we had to paint it (actually he wanted to use blue and black...but I explained why brown was more realistic).



We painted it together and ended up with this for our table centerpiece! I decided to use my cake stand since I'm not making cakes (Except for Rose's Birthday) during Lent. Then, on Easter, we'll put a pretty cake on the stand and decorate our crown with flowers. We aren't pulling out the toothpicks as I really prefer the beans in a jar for sacrifices but it is always an option now that I know the gluten free version works! I used a salt dough recipe I found and converted it to this:

2 cups of Rice flour
2 cups of Bob's Gluten Free Flour Blend
1 cup of salt
water
toothpicks
Paint (we used acrylics)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all dry ingredients. Add water until dough forms. Approximately 1 to 2 cups of water depending. Then carefully make 3 snakes and braid them together and shape your crown pinching it off at the ends. Place toothpicks in as desired. Bake about 40 minutes to an hour until it begins to brown. Word of advice...if you do this place it on a heavily greased cookie sheet or use a sheet of parchment paper as ours plastered itself to the cookie sheet and I spent quite a bit of time trying to "unstick" it. Also, gluten free flours make the dough more likely to tear as you work with it so plan on your crown being smaller in diameter and just patch together pieces if they break. I did one small braid and one larger one and pinched them together. Let it cool completely before painting.

ALSO...
We have our first decorative Alleluia sign to hide!

I used the letters suggested by Lacy at Catholic Icing and glued them to scrapbooking paper and cardstock which I then cut out and laced onto a ribbon (the only ribbon I found in my house)! I think it turned out OK. I'm not much for the fancy paper crafts! I'm more of a baker myself! Soooo props for our first time! Hopefully it will last more than one year!

I plan to do a lesson on Tuesday and have the kids sing and shout Alleluia and then we'll put it in a bag and hide it away until Easter.

Wishing you a blessed last few days of ordinary time!!