I know you can find a gaggle of geese, a pride of lions or a murder of crows. But what do you call a group of snowmen? I suppose it could be a team, a family or even an army. (That makes me think of the old Calvin and Hobbes cartoons where Calvin's dad would come home from work to find rows of monster snowmen in the front yard.) Well whatever the proper collective noun is, I wanted to share the snowmen ornaments I made this year:
Aren't they cute? I have to say I was pretty pleased with the way they turned out. And I think all the recipients liked them, too. I don't have an official supply list, but I can give you a brief rundown of how I made them.
For the ornament bases I bought packages of birch rounds. I painted a rough coat of white acrylic paint on one side of each round to create the look of snow on the ground.
For the snowman bodies I used three different sizes of wooden beads/balls adhered together with hot glue; some of the ornaments used all three sizes, and others used just the small and medium or medium and large. I painted the beads with two coats of white paint, dry brushed on a bit of tan or light gray, used the end of a paintbrush to add the black buttons, eyes and mouths, and finished with a coat of matte sealer.
The noses are made with Simply Pressed Clay (Stampin' Up!), which I formed into carrot shapes, let air dry for a bit, painted orange and glued on the heads.
To make the hats I used a variety of buttons; three smaller ones for the top (two black and one colored) and a larger one for the brim. I tied the buttons together with baker's twine. For the smaller ornaments I left a loop of twine at the top so the ornaments can be hung. The larger ornaments are a bit too heavy to hang, so I left off the loop to make them standing decorations.
I used different colors and types of ribbons for the snowmen's scarves. My favorite was the Gumball Green sweater trim, which Stampin' Up! sold a couple of years ago.
Once the snowmen were glued onto the bases, I added a few embellishments: paper candy canes, red birds and/or signposts. I found the embellishments at Michael's in a section of holiday miniatures, and they were perfect. To attach the candy canes, I rolled a small ball of Simply Pressed Clay, pushed the end of the candy cane in the middle and flattened the bottom. Once it was partially dry (just enough so the candy cane was secure and wouldn't fall off) I glued the clay to the base of the ornament.
The little plastic birds (which are my favorite) and the signposts are attached with hot glue. The signposts are metal and a bit heavy, so I only used those for the larger ornaments that wouldn't be hanging.
I finished off the ornaments with "snow." I used a combination of glitters and buffalo snow adhered with clear liquid glue. I used a few different kinds of glue; I just made sure that it would dry clear. I applied a liberal amount of glue over the base of each ornament, sprinkled on the buffalo snow, gently pressed it into the glue and then shook off the extra. I followed up with some glitter on the base and also glued glitter on the bodies and/or hats of the snowmen. I love the effect of the "snow," but I'm sure I'll be finding evidence of it in my craft area for months to come.
I'm almost finished posting my Christmas creations; I just have one more card design to share. Better late than never, I suppose. Sadly I just realized that I didn't take a picture of my last and favorite card design. And of course I don't have any of those cards left, either. Sigh. I guess I'll just have to recreate it.
Well, thanks for stopping by. And I wish you and yours a wonderful new year!
