Thursday, December 18, 2008

How cute is that

Snowman Ornament Tutorial




Trust me when I say this is an easy project. And fun! Have you ever worked with Model Magic? It’s a lot like sculpting with marshmallow creme. Not that I have ever tried that…

What you’ll need for these ornaments are a Styrofoam ball (I used a 3 inch, but it’s your choice), white Model Magic by Crayola, black and orange acrylic paint, and pink chalk or your own blush (for the snowman’s cheeks). You'll also need something like a round paperclip (what I used) or an eye pin to stick into the top of the snowman so that you can add ribbon to hang it.

Start by grabbing a chunk of the Model Magic. I just take a handful to start, maybe a third of what's in the package. Stretch it out until it’s flat like a pancake and begin to cover your Styrofoam ball. Continue to work it until the ball is all covered, adding more Model Magic if necessary. You don’t want any holes and you'll want to keep it a pretty consistent thickness all around. I roll mine around on a hard surface to eliminate some of the fingerprints, but really, you don’t have to get too particular, it will look cute no matter what!

Next is the nose. I pinch off a bit of the Model Magic and form it into a log, with a slight taper on the end. I stick it on my ball and give it a twist. Here’s where you can have fun with your snowman’s personality. You can turn his nose up, down, make it short, or make it long. Whatever you want to do!

Once it’s completely dry, I go back and paint the nose orange and add two small dots with the black paint for his eyes. To make perfect little dots, I dip the end of a stylus into black paint and dot the eyes on. I re-dip each time for perfect little circles. Next, I take a cotton ball or Q-tip and rub it in my blush or chalk and make little circles on the snowman for cheeks.

To make the hanger, I inserted a round paperclip right into the top of the ball. The ribbon hanger is a piece of Pure Poppy ribbon that I stamped with New Canvas Palette ink. Tie a knot at the top, and you’re done! Let it snow!




There you have it! One thing I want to point out is that the nose can be somewhat fragile, so be careful how you store these. I've had more than one little nose pop off. Hmmm...I'm sure having a curious four year old around had nothing to do with it.

4 comments:

Stacey said...

Those are so cute and sound pretty easy. I bet they would even make cute gifts! Thanks for the tips, I may have to give it a try.

Anonymous said...

Just so happens I have styrofoam balls left over from my most recent cake...this might be the perfect use for them!!! The boys will be home next week, maybe we can do this as a fun project... you never can tell. I'm tryin to figure out a way to get them up to the snow.

OneHappyfamily said...

We are heading up to Strawberry week after next. Have fun if you get to go.

Natalie said...

That is cute! You have lots of fun crafty things for Christmas!

Hey! We still haven't heard from you about the swap. Do you need me to pick up your cards? I haven't received them in the mail.. ??