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Thursday, November 27, 2014

Clothespin Snowman Tree Ornaments


I stumbled upon these
sweet little
covered clothespin snowmen
and decided I'd make a few for our
annual church Bazaar.

Click here ,or on the photo, to go to that post.






I dug out a package of clothespins
from my stash of craft supplies,

some natural batting to cover them, 

and black felt for the hats....


But, hmm...
the whole time I was
working with them
I couldn't help thinking
they looked like
....uh..
um.....like,
well, 
    
like tampons. 
Sorry,
I just couldn't shake that thought.

So I did a little alteration
and redesign.

Wrapping a little Fiberfil or polyester batting
around the bottom half of the clothespin
before covering him with the natural batting
gives him a little fuller shape.





I like it!

To make them even more
"my own",
instead of the hand-stitching the
eyes, nose and buttons
as in the inspiration clothespin snowmen,
I used embroidery floss french knots
 for eyes and buttons.
and used the pointy end of a toothpick
painted orange for a nose.
A homespun scarf
and a jaunty little black felt hat.

Update:  To make the hat, I cut a piece of black felt
3" long and 2 1/4" wide.
Folded in half.
The Folded side is the top of the hat.
It is now 2 1/4" wide and 1 1/2" top to bottom.
To resemble the top-hat with brim shape, I trimmed  
with scissors at an angle on both sides.  The trimmed hat piece should measure the same 2 1/4" on the bottom and angle up from both sides to the folded top to measure 1 1/4", so there is 1/2" cut off of each top side and angled down to the full 2 1/4" bottom of the hat.
I hope that makes sense, I don't have a photo.
Run a thin bead of hot glue to close both sides of the hat.
Inserted a bit of fiber-fil stuffing.
Then hot glued around the snowman head 
and positioned the hat.
Tied on a piece of jute twine to cinch the hat a bit and knot.


A little dusting of glittery "snow" on the hat,
and he's all ready to go to the Bazaar.




I'll be showing more
handmade Christmas ornaments
at our next Tea Party
so please, do plan to attend won't you.


Warm hugs,
BettyJean



5 comments:

  1. BettyJean, you totally made me laugh! Yes, they did look like tampons...but only after you pointed it out!
    They turned out adorably!
    Erica :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. They totally did, Right? My daughter thought I was hilarious and Tweeted about me...."on my mom's snowmen she's making...aww, I wish I'd made them all like this, then they wouldn't look so much like tampons"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Betty Jean.. I just saw a tree decorated in sweet little snowmen .. bottle cap and wool and thread spools and thought I should give them a try ... I really like you cute tutorial.. and I wouldn't have noticed the ' tampon' unless you pointed it out ( ha ha)..Hugs

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love these, how did you do the hats?

    ReplyDelete
  5. yes, please tell us how you made the hats. These snowmen are beautiful. I am going to make some for my own Christmas tree and make the scarves out of the same material as my Christmas table runner because the Christmas tree is in our dining room. Its the biggest room in the house.

    ReplyDelete

Please comment so I know you've stopped by.
I'd love to return the visit. Hugs, BettyJean