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I adore snowmen, and every year I try to make at least one new snowman ornament. This year I made these snowmen from corrugated cardboard and paint. I was inspired by a dollar store ornament that caught my eye on a blog post.
I had pinned this to my “Inspiration for Knock Offs” board. The post is from Today’s Fabulous Finds and it’s a tutorial for her adorable “Frame for Every Season“, so be sure to check that out! That’s when I saw the cute ornaments she bought at the dollar store. I’m not sure what they are made of, but I’m guessing like a tin material? At any rate, as soon as I saw them I knew I could make them using corrugated cardboard.
I could have used hot glue to make these, but last week I received a box of Aleene’s Dry Adhesives to play with. If you’ve been to Michael’s lately you’ve probably seen these. They are also available online at Ilovetocreate.com
I knew that the Tacky Dot Rolls would be perfect for this! I was a little unsure as to how well they would hold the cardboard together considering it’s wavy texture, but they worked beautifully! So much easier than glue, and no mess. Totally love that!
I used the large dots and the small dots. This worked perfectly because there were some tiny areas (tip of the snowman’s nose for example) that the large dots were just too big for, but the small dots were ideal. I’ll show you exactly how I put this together, ready?
I tried to match the paint colors to the photo as best I could. I used Americana acrylics in the following colors:
Sand (snowman faces)
Honey Brown (noses)
Deep Burgundy (Santa hat, black hat band, holly berries)
Hauser Dark Green (holly leaves)
Baby Pink (cheeks)
Lamp Black (Top hat, eyes, mouths)
Sand + White (Santa cap’s pom pom and brim)
White (splatter)
First I drew the shapes for the ornaments, using the photo as a guide. I’ve created a pattern for you if you’d like to try these too. I had just received a book in the mail and it came in this corrugated cardboard mailer. Nice! After cutting out all the ornament shapes, I practiced painting on a scrap piece of the cardboard. I wanted the paint to look like aged wood, just like the ornaments I was drawing inspiration from. So I used some strokes with the brush loaded, and then I dried the brush on a dry cloth before lightly brushing the creases.
Once I was comfortable with the paint, I went ahead and painted all the pieces. While they were drying, I cut the holly leaves from an old silk plant I had laying around. You could use felt or fabric too. I placed the holly leaves on a scrap piece of cardboard and painted them green.
I almost forgot add the hat band, so after the black hat dried I painted that on as well. After everything was painted it was time to splatter. If you’ve never splattered before, there’s nothing to it. Just thin some white paint with water, dip a toothbrush in it, dab off excess on a soft cloth, then drag your finger across the bristles. You should always do a practice run on something before hitting your actual project. I wasn’t sure what to use for the smiles, then I remember the floral wire I had on the shelf. I shaped them into two smiles and painted them black.
Now to put it all together! The dots come in a roll, so you just cut off a section with a dot so you can work with it by itself. Don’t touch the sticky dot, instead press the dot using the plastic backing, onto the surface where you want the dot to stay. Apply some pressure, then peel the plastic backing off and the dot will stay in place. Then you can press the item onto whatever you want it to adhere to. In the picture above, you can see that I used two different sizes on the nose.
After you’d put everything together using the dots, add the final details. You can add the holly berries using the handle end of a paintbrush.
To add the smiles, squeeze some instant grab glue onto your scrap cardboard, then dip both ends of the smile into the glue. Then place it on the snowman’s face. Use a small scruffy paintbrush to dab on the pink cheeks. Use the handle end of the paintbrush dipped in black paint to dot on the eyes. The eyes didn’t come out round like I thought because of the ridge in the cardboard, but they’re still cute :)
For the hangers I used that same floral wire, but because of the shapes of the ornaments, I made two different types of hangers. The first one I just created a loop, twisting the ends and rolled that twisted end in instant grab glue. Then I inserted that into the cardboard at the top of the snowman’s black hat.
I didn’t want to put the hanger in the small pom pom of the red hat as I didn’t think there was enough stability. So for this hanger I made a twist higher up so that I would have two ends to work with. After dipping those two ends in instant grab glue I inserted the ends into the cardboard on both sides of the top of the hat.
That’s it. All done! I am really pleased with the way that these dots from Aleene’s worked. I really wasn’t sure what kind of both they would have but I am really impressed. They are holding up really well and I didn’t have to wait for glue to dry or clean up any hot glue strings. Awesome stuff. :)
This is a CraftsbyAmanda.com sponsored post. I was compensated for my time and provided with free product with which to create. However, even though I was compensated, all opinions are truthful and 100% mine.
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Very cool! Thanks for including so much detail. I’ll be on the hunt for suitable cardboard now!
Thanks!
Adorable!! Great tutorial, Amanda. These would make cute gift tags, too. Pinning! :)
These are so adorable!!! I just love snowmen, and these look so easy! Thanks for sharing!!
what a fun project. pinning this to remember it.
So simple, yet I’ll bet they wouldn’t look as good if I made them. ;)
Really CUTE!♥♫
Wow Amanda! Your ornaments are spot on to the one’s that I bought, I’m so impressed! Thanks for the link to my frame. :)
Thanks Janet!
Amanda!!! I LOVE these snowmen! they are tooo darn cute! great job girl!
gail
Thank you Gail!!
Looking back at these they look like tin a little ,any way look tin or cardboard they are darling Another great one Amanda,,Thank’s
CRAZY CUTE!!!!!!!!!! LOVE EM!!!!! Thank you for such a cute idea!!!! Merry Christmas!!
When I first looked at your ornaments, I thought they were corrugated metal. I might have to rip through a few old boxes and give them a whirl.
These are adorable!
fun fun fun project…love it!! thanks for sharing
This project turned out so cute and you did a great job with your tutorial. The project is a hit on our FB page :) Please like us and check it out if you haven’t already! facebook.com/lovetocreate
How fun thanks so much!
I love these! I just Pinned these to my Xmas Pinterest Board. Thanks for such cuteness!
http://pinterest.com/pin/112027109450501931/
Thanks so much Lori!
Amanda, You b=never cease to amaze with your creations! TY for this super share!
Thank you so much!
i love your project i would love to have your patterns i am not good at drawing things could i use like cardboard boxes and just peel off the box part i did this last year for a orement and it work good hope to hear from you please
Hi janet!
There’s a link to the pattern in the post so you can print it off from there. :) I’m sure what you are describing would work!
I adore these!!! I am with you, I enjoy making something new every year, and I think I shall have to give these a try!
Amanda…these are the cutest! I love snowmen and will try these soon. Thanks for the detailed directions! Merry Christmas to you!
Oh my, the corrugated card really looks great! What a fabulous effect!
Thank you for linking to Kids Get Crafty.
Maggy
These are totally cute! Love them. I featured them today at somedaycrafts.blogspot.com.
Oh thanks so much for the feature!!
These are SO CUTE! You did a great job.
I love how these came out! I’ll have to make them for next year. Super cute!!!
I’d love for you to link up and share: http://tutusandteaparties.blogspot.com/2011/12/pinteresting-party-with-christmas.html
These are adorable … thanks for the tutorial. Merry Christmas
THese are adorable! I would love to feature them on Reduce, Reuse, Upcycle. Feel free to stop by and grab a featured button. Thanks!
Those are so cute! I love using cardboard for projects. Great tutorial
Love it, thanks! I made a snowman and a Christmas tree, but what did you do on the back side?? Mine look terrible. :-(
I really didn’t do anything on the back Rebecca. In fact you can see the back in the last step-by-step photo in this post. You could paint the backs, but since these were just for me, I didn’t. If I had made these to give as a gift I would have painted the backs, probably just white. You could splatter the back with black too :)
Thanks!
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These are adorable, Amanda. I am just starting a tradition with my nieces and daughter where we make ornaments with one snowman being the star of our production. This year we turned eye glasses into snowmen.
Next year we will use your pattern! I am off to look more on your site to see if you have posted other snowman ideas.
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Susan, that’s so nice of you to say. And what a wonderful tradition to share with your girls!
[...] 1- Con papel. [...]
Just adorable and making some for next year! Thanks for your tutorial.