Tips and How To Create A Magical Snowman Wreath
Alas, this was supposed to be done earlier this week, but dealing with painters and an extremely mobile toddler waylaid much progress. Anyway, here are Tips and How To Create A Magical Snowman Wreath for your own front door!
The 'snowman head' began with this block of Styrofoam. The dimensions are 1-15/16 inch X 11-7/8 inch X 17- 7/8 inch. (This type of foam would work better than the kind with the little-compressed balls.)
There were some round and half-round foam balls at the craft store, which were tempting, but I did not want a perfectly shaped round head.
It is relatively easy to shave this with a sharp knife. This type of foam also has some shine to it, which will ultimately glisten like snow.
The plan was to make a wreath about 36-inches long. With that in mind, the head needed to be about 9-inches long.
So, the first step was to cut the foam in half, creating a piece about 9" X 12".
A marker was used to mark a cutting line right on the plastic. The knife was used to cut through and across the marked line. This is one of those times when you need to be patient, letting the knife do the work and not forcing it. Repeatedly, pull the knife a little at a time across where the first cut was made until you have cut entirely through the foam. PATIENCE. You don't want to break off a big chunk!
Draw a rounded shape for the snowman head right on the plastic covering the Styrofoam.
(I didn't want to have to worry about removing marker from the actual foam. The plastic made a pretty good template.)
The last corner I cut was one where the plastic still covered intersecting sides. By supporting the plastic on the top with my left hand, it held perfectly.
Using your knife at an angle, shave down and outward from the marked circle, a little at a time.
After the left and right sides are rounded, slightly round the top edge and the bottom edge. Both of these edges will be covered by the hat and ribbons.
So, I pondered what to use for the snowman eyes and mouth. I knew I wanted his mouth to be black and an imperfect curved line. We probably all have some of these vase fillers, or vase gems, in our craft stash. The ones I had were a blue color. Not a problem, black spray paint took care of that!
Searching for some craft items, I came across this tape-covered wire and with the same black paint, it became the mouth Frosty needed!
Then there was the carrot nose. The thought of carving his nose from a stick was entertained, but couldn't find the right stick.
At the craft store, this Sculpey clay was half-priced. Sold!! It has been awhile since I have used clay but this was a breeze!
Half of the block was used to shape this carrot. The end is 1-inch thick and the whole carrot ended up being 3-3/4 inches long. It was bent slightly to give it more character. Some lines were added to look a little more realistic.
In order to attach the carrot to the foam, a hole about 3/4" deep was made with a wooden skewer in the thicker end of the carrot. The skewer was cut and forced into the hole after baking.
The directions said to bake the clay at 275° for 15-minutes per each quarter-inch. Since the thickest part was 1-inch, the clay was baked for one hour.
After it cooled down, some watered down antiquing medium was used to accent the lines and deepen the color a little here and there.
Next, the foam head was bedazzled with glitter. Three different crystal glitters, fine cut, Jumbo cut, and a regular cut, were used to cover the front and sides of his head. Mod Podge exterior glue was applied, a section at a time, and the glitter was sprinkled over the glue.
Another skewer was inserted through the top for attaching to the wreath. Not sure how others attach the styrofoam to a wreath, but after puzzling over this, it made sense to me. Lol!
The taped painted wire was shaped into a big grin. Then ends were bent back and used to attach the smile to the foam. Both ends were simply forced into the foam. Three straight pins were pushed through the tape covering the wire and forced through the foam securing the rest of the mouth to the foam.
The carrot was inserted into the foam and the black painted vase gems were glued to the foam to finish Frosty's face. I made the felt hat, but you could easily buy one and use it.
Oh, my gosh! Isn't this the cutest thing? Just imagine the flood lights hitting the glitter on his smiling face this winter!
Part 2 will be adding this 'Frosty' to an evergreen wreath for the front door.
Have these Tips and How To Create A Magical Snowman Wreath inspired you to create something special for your front door?
