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Everyone has extra keys lying around that are of no use anymore. Don’t add them to our growing landfills, turn them into festive snowman ornaments to keep or give as gifts!
My daughter’s boyfriend works at a hardware store that has one of those key cutting machines. One day he brought me a 2-liter bottle full of discarded keys and asked if I wanted them for crafts. Smart lad.
With the holidays here, I thought this was a good time to turn some of those discards into something cute and useful.
There are full printable instructions below, but here the basic rundown. Make hangers from floral wire, you can add beads too if you like. Attach the hangers to the keys. I had already spray painted mine white.
Embellish time! Pom-poms and pipe cleaners make great earmuffs, and fabric scraps and yarn are perfect for scarves. Some pink paint for cheeks and black for facial features and bam. You have snowman keys. Woot!
What you need:
- Recycled keys
- White spray paint
- Floral wire
- Beads
- Poms poms
- Pipe cleaners
- Fabric
- Yarn
- Hot glue gun
- Wire snips
- Scissors
- Pink
- Black
- Orange glitter paint (I used DecoArt Glamour Dust)
What you do:
- Spray paint keys white on both sides, two coats should be sufficient.
- Create hangers using floral wire. Bend the wire in half to create a loops and twist to secure. You can leave your wire plain or add beads before twisting to secure through the hole in the top of the key.
- Add earmuffs by hot gluing pieces of pipe cleaner across the top of the key, covering up the wire. Add a pom pom to each side.
- Create scarves using fabric, yarn, pipe cleaners or even old t-shirts. Use hot glue to secure.
- Dab pink paint onto a scruffy paintbrush and dab off the excess onto a rag. Lightly tap onto the key to add rosy cheeks.
- Use a toothpick dipped in black paint to add eyes and mouths, then use a toothpick dipped in orange glitter paint to add noses.
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These are just toooooooo cute….
These are just to cute and will make them with the grand children. Great Idea. Thank you.
These would be cute for “Santa’s Key”. (For those who don’t have a chimney.)
thank you for these great instructions and cute idea. I’m in the process of making these rright now :-)
How sweet are these snowman keys!! I can’t get over the cuteness!!!
what other glue will work besides the hot glue gun? I don’thhave a hot glue gun
Hi Megan. There’s something called instant grab glue, Beacons makes it, you can see it here http://www.beaconadhesives.com/cgthree.html and you can get it at any craft store :)
ok I appreciate your help :-) I’m making these for our Yankee swap . Every year we all makea gift & do a Yankee swap. that way the gifts are more sentimental than a gift card. I am excited to see if whoever gets mine likes it :-) thank you!
Where can you find receycled keys??
Hi Kristin! Check your local hardware store (if they have a key cutting machine) or Home Depot. I got mine from the hardware store, another reader told me she got hers from Home Depot. :)
[...] around? I spotted a great way to use them up over at the M&T Spotlight by recycling them into snowman ornaments from Crafty Amanda, so cute and a great way to get your kiddos in on the [...]
Tooooo cute! I am an Activity Director at a nursing home – I’m going to do these with string “hangers” instead of wire so my ladies can wear them as necklaces – they love any jewelry project.
I go into baby talk mode when I see these. I wuv ‘dem!
a really cool idea!!
I linked to your tutorial on my blog – thanks for sharing!
doro K.
[...] Do you remember this snowman craft from a couple months ago? I made snowmen from recycled keys. [...]