Snowman Crafts

Tie a bit of yarn, felt or ribbon around the neck for a scarf all snowmen seem to don. Draw facial features and buttons down the front with a fine-tipped permanent marker. Long bugle beads are just the right size for arms, and don’t forget a dab of orange dimensional paint for a carrot nose.

Use smaller bells for a pin (glue on pin back) or earrings (slip onto wire earring findings). Larger bells make a jingling necklace (slip satin cord through hole in hat bell) or ornament (loop a short ribbon through the hole in the bell hat or use an ornament hanger). They'll also add a bit of charm and music to a gift bag or package.

To make the hat, cut a circle of stiff felt large enough to be the brim. Cut a circle out of the inside large enough to rest on the snowman's head. Trim until the brim is the proper size. Cut a strip of the felt as wide as you want the hat to be tall; wrap it in a tube until it's the right size for the brim and secure with glue. Cut a top for the hat out of the same felt and attach with glue.

To make a snowlady instead: Give her a bow instead of a scarf, or make a scarf with prettier fabric. Add beads or trim if you like. Make her face the same; brush on a little pink paint for rosy cheeks, and make her hat in a softer, more rounded shape. Embellish her hat with ribbon, a sparkly button, or tiny holly.

Use dimensional paint to detail their faces; add a hat made of felt or clay, use a ready-made doll hat, or do like folks do when building real snowmen and use whatever you have handy. This snowman’s hat is a glass lid that has lost its jar, found at a yard sale. These snowmen can be made in a variety of sizes, or make several for an entire snow family. Place them on white cotton batting or paper shred to create a charming tablescape or mantel display.

The arms on the larger snowman were made from wire floral stems that the blooms had been cut from, then sprinkled with glitter for a fresh dusting of snow. These are easily cut with wire cutters. Insert them into the wax body of the snowman and secure with a little hot glue.

The little guy's had was made with two strips of felt. Cut one about 2 inches wide and long enough to wrap around his head and overlap about 1/4 inch to glue. Wrap and glue in a tube shape, then glue to his head. Cut another felt strip about 1/2 inch wide and long enough to wrap around the brim of the other one. Fold in half and glue in place. Run a bead of glue around the top inside of the hat and pinch together to make his toboggan.

Snowman Nose Tip:
Orange dimensional paint makes a great carrot nose for the snowmen, but it can take a lot of coats and drying time in between to build up a good-sized nose on a larger snowman. Use a small piece of wire, inserted into the candle, foam, or whatever you're making the snowman from, and use it as a form to cover with orange paint. It gives instant body and stiffness to the liquid paint.

Glue the snowman to the lid of the box. Fold a brown pipe cleaner into a tree trunk, and add shredded green paper, yarn, felt, etc. to be the ‘green’ in an evergreen tree. (I used paper shred formed into a tree shape by rubbing it between my palms until the tree shape was formed.) Glue the tree in place and paint around the base of the tree and the snowman with snow paint. Fill the box with cookies or other treats.

You can also recycle face-powder compact mirrors for this project; carefully remove the mirrors from used compacts (heat them with a heat gun or hair dryer to soften the glue) and glue two of the same size back to back. Embellish the face with paint or buttons.

If you're making an ornament, remember to glue a loop of ribbon in between for a hanger and consider decorating both sides. For a pin, glue a pin back to the back of one mirror and only decorate the front.

The large flat glass marble is backed with a piece of self-adhesive mirror cut from a sheet. The gift tag is a simple white tag from an office supply store, and the little man and woman magnets (which can also be earrings or holiday pins) are small pre-cut mosaic tiles.