Easy, Cute, and Fun Snowguy Craft

In December, my son and I go into "make it" mode. We have a great time trying out all sorts of crafts. Some are successful and some are, well, fun to try but that's about as far as it goes. One of our successes was our Snowguy Doorstop. We made one for ourselves and a few for other people. Of course we used ours as a decoration, not a doorstop. But they turned out so cute I thought I'd share it.

This is a really easy craft that can be done, with a little help, by all ages.

Gather your supplies:

Keystone Paver

Pick up a few keystone pavers at the hardware store: opt for the pewter color ones
White acrylic paint and a paintbrush (a 1 inch should do)
Black Sharpie or black acrylic paint
A wee bit of orange acrylic paint and maybe some pinkish color for the cheeks if you like.
Glitter (optional)
Glue
Small felt piece for the bottom of your snowguy
Small piece of polar fleece or whatever type of material you like for a scarf
2 puffs for the earmuffs (for each snowguy you are making)
1 Chenille stem (pipe cleaner) for each snowguy

*optional - some type of sealer
hot glue

Lay out some newspaper or something to protect your work surface. Paint each paver using the white acrylic paint - one surface at a time - allowing for drying time in between (only about 20 minutes). I found it took about 3-4 coats of paint for complete coverage.
*You may want to seal your paver before you paint it -- it would probably help so you wouldn't have to paint so many coats of white. The pavers just suck up the paint. But it's a good painting experience for little hands.
Let it dry.

Next comes the fun part. Get out your Sharpie or black paint and go to town. Outline or don't outline - whatever you like. You can have any words you like or none at all. Color in some eyes and some coal pieces for a mouth. We drew the outline for the nose. Use your orange paint and paint in the nose. If you want cheek color, use a spot of pinkish acrylic paint. I didn't have any so I used a dab of my Benefit Benetint rose colored cheek and lip stain. :o) Whatever works, right?

After all the painting and designing is done, get your glue out and just smear (I hate that word) a little bit where you want your glitter - and then let your little ones glitter to their hearts content. Let dry.

Time for some hot glue now - so this is a mommy job. Cut your pipe cleaner to a good length that goes over the head of your snowman and down to the ears. Hot glue in place at the ears. Glue a puff ball (ear muffs) over this. He's looking pretty snappy already! Now get your fabric or knit something to a good length to make a scarf for your handsome snowguy! Tie it on.

Last, but no least, cut a square of felt to fit the bottom and glue it on. This just to protect any surface he will sit on.

Sit back and enjoy your creation without having to actually go out in the cold snow!

~ Of course your snow guy can be a snow girl as well. I would just add some cute "hair" and maybe a cute little tutu!

Enjoy!


* I saw this craft a few years ago on Family.com and just changed things to make it my own.

The Chair of Cheer

Many years ago when my daughter was young, we took her to McDonalds Play Place. There were a lot of kids there and some others were really too old to be playing in there. But, for the most part, everyone was well behaved. There was this one older boy old who was a wee bit on the wild side. His Dad was there keeping careful watch over him though.  Every so often, the Dad would shout at the kid in a thick German accent, “Eric”. And the kid would settle down a bit. This went on several times until the Dad finally stood up and shouted, “Eric – STRUDEL”.  The kid stood still and said, “Yes Dad, I’ll be good”. That was obviously their word for – YOU’D BETTER BEHAVE OR YOU ARE IN MAJOR TROUBLE. Eric obviously understood the severity of the word because that boy behaved like an angel the rest of the time. I always felt bad for him though as he probably would never truly be able to enjoy a good strudel!

We never had a “magic” word in our house.  My daughter was so well behaved; you’d just have to talk to her calmly and most of the time she would be able to behave better. Flash forward many years - we have a son now, that isn’t as easy as my daughter. No surprise! I had seen many people, like Super Nanny, use a “naughty spot” for time out. I had even seen some cute chairs that had “naughty spot” painted right on them. I knew I needed one of those.

I found a stool and put a base coat on it. But when it came time to actually paint the words “Naughty Spot” or “Time Out” – I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I started thinking – I don’t want my son to think ‘he’s’ naughty. Neither do I want to him or myself to view discipline as something bad. So I switched gears, repainted the stool and happy red color and painted hearts all around the edge. I didn’t paint any words on it but instead, decided to call it the “Chair of Cheer” (ok, so it’s actually a stool of cheer, but you get what I mean).

We call it the Chair of Cheer because, in the long run, wise discipline is going to make my son a better and happier person and we all know it will make Mama a happier person!

The Chair of Cheer (please pay no attention to the disgusting baseboards ;))

Job 5:17 Happy is the man whom the Lord corrects.

Seven Lies About Homeschoolers

If you haven't seen this YouTube Video about Homeschoolers - you are missing out! Hilarious!

Give it a Rest, Would Ya!

Give it a Rest, Would Ya! And, I did – give it a rest I mean, as far as blogging is concerned. When I first started blogging, it was more of an experiment. But before long, I felt pigeon-holed. I had joined so many Terrific Tuesdays and Five Minute Fridays and what not, that I felt burdened to churn out something witty far too often. And believe me, no one is that witty – especially not me! It was all good for learning though and I’m glad I did it. However, my blogging adventures were not what I had wanted it to be so I deleted it all.

I’m not one of those pack rat kinds of people and no one would ever accuse me of being a hoarder. In fact, in my house, if you don’t use it, wear it, or play with it for a year – it’s gone! Sayonara baby! Perhaps I’m a little too fastidious in keeping things clear. I live in a small house, so keeping stuff around just for the sake of it, isn’t a benefit to any of us. I suppose it’s carried over to my online life as well. I regularly delete all my old posts in Facebook etc.  So when it came time to say goodbye to my blog – it was an easy decision.  

So here I am again – ready to start and hoping not to box myself in to ideas, time, and space.  I'm looking forward to sharing with you and learning from you as well. Welcome.

Have you ever had to take a step back from your blog?