This project is fun for the adults but very kid friendly. Just use caution with the hot glue.
Materials Needed for Ornament:
- Cotton balls
- Hot glue gun
- Glue sticks
- Small twigs
- Seed beads
- Fabric scrap
- Ribbon (12")
Preparation
- Break your twigs to about 1-1 1/2" in length
- Cut a 1/2" x 5" piece of fabric from the scrap fabric
Assembly
- Hot glue two cotton balls together.
- Glue a third cotton ball so that the three balls line up one on top of the other in a row.
- Glue your twigs onto the snowman at the top of the second ball, one on each side for arms.
- Glue seed beads for the eyes and mouth. Leave spaces between the beads on the mouth so that they resemble pieces of coal.
- Use your cut piece of scrap fabric and tie it around the neck of the snowman to resemble a draped scarf and glue into place.
- Tie the ribbon around the neck at the center of the ribbon and make a knot at the back of the snowman.
- Tie the ends of the ribbon together to make a hanging loop.
Optional: Using scraps of felt, you can add hats and other clothing. You can also use polymer clay to shape a small orange, carrot-shaped nose.
Making Snowman Garland
The snowmen are constructed exactly the same, with one exception. The arms cannot be glued to the sides of the cotton ball. The cotton ball would separate with the weight of the garland. In order to make the garland strong enough, you will need longer twigs. Make your twigs 2 1/2-3". Instead of gluing them onto the snowman body, you will need to glue them to each other. (Figure one shows how an individual ornament has the arms (twigs) glued to the sides.
Figure two shows how to set up the garland twigs for gluing.) You will be using an M design. Cross each of the twigs at each end. Glue everywhere the twigs meet. You will still need to attach the three cotton balls separate from the arms. Instead of gluing the arms to the snowman you will glue the snowman to the M you created with the twigs.
In order to give the snowmen raised arms, glue the snowman to cover the lowest points of the M (See figure 3). The peaks of the M will be their clasped hands. If you want their hands to be low, glue the snowman body over the peaks. Have fun decorating each snowman in his or her own outfit.
Mary Welling-Bonney - I am a crafter from as early as I can remember. I attended Central Michigan University where I studied painting, drawing, sculpting and ...
