Saturday, January 25, 2014

It's the 25th... of January!

Every year we create family craft ornaments for the Christmas tree.  I started well before Christmas.  Like 2 weeks.  We completed the task on January 8th.  It is now January 25th, and entire month past Christmas, and I am sharing how to do this fun craft.  

Hey, it's never too early to plan for next year.  Right?

I present to you our lovely snowman family:
Left to right: daddy, mommy, brother, other brother, & baby sister.
Cute, huh?  (the ugly orange 'feet' is actually silly putty I used to make these rolly guys stand up)

List of supplies:
  • Styrofoam balls in 3 sizes (1", 1.5", & 2")
  • Hot glue gun w/ glue
  • Sticks - walk outside!
  • Toothpicks & orange paint
  • Glitter gems
  • Tube of strong glue (not hot glue gun - we don't want to burn our fingers!)
  • Scrap fabric, doll clothes, craft embellishments, etc.
  • Snow paint (recipe below)
  • paintbrush
Easy peasy snow paint recipe: 
  • School glue (white is best, but I used both clear & white)
  • Can of shaving cream
  • Mix equal parts.  Done!
Pictures of the progress:


   
(I'm not really sure what's happening here.  The file keeps turning upside down.  Just turn your head over to read.  You can do that, right?)

Experiment with paint recipe until you get a fluffy, "gummy" mixture.  It needs to feel almost too thick.  We started out thinner, but I liked the result of the thicker mixture better.  

Find a creative way to stand snowmen up for drying.  The snow paint will appear lumpy (middle 3).  It smooths as it dries.

Paint a toothpick orange and cut off for the carrot nose.

Gems for eyes, mouth, and buttons.  Strong glue.  Tweezers so I didn't glue myself to, well, everything.
 a basic hat pattern


My finished snowmommy! 
(handstitch a loop of thin ribbon on back of scarf for hanging as an ornament)

The boys got creative with black feathers as hair.  
Never mind the fact that I am the only one in the house with dark hair and everyone else is a towhead.  
For an end-result paint comparison, note that Madalyn's (pink) was done with thinner paint and C's (back) was done with thicker paint.

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