The Sweetie-Pie Snowman Guy!

Snowmen melt my heart!

Wow and Holy SMOKES, I can't believe it has been so long since I posted. Ironically, I have been snapping  pics and completing projects left and right but have not had the time to sit down, write and post! So here I am now, it's 11:00 at night, the family is sound asleep and I'm sharing with you one of my favorite crafts from this holiday season. The snowmen pictured above are nothing more then a man's tube sock filled with rice, rubber band together and garnished with adorable accessories thanks to my good friend, the glue gun.

My 9 year old daughter made one of these guys at her 3rd grade winter party. I immediately fell in love! They are super cute and cheap to make! Who could ask for a better home made present from the kids? I decided right then and there that my daughters would be making and gifting these little guys for Christmas. So the first day of winter break we set off to the dollar store (Dollar Tree to be specific). I adore the dollar store! There are so many fun and awesome things you can find or you may find you can make. There is an amazing website with dollar store ideas that you can check out here http://dollarstorecrafts.com/ (I will be posting another craft I did from this site soon). Now, I didn't find this particular craft there but I have seen this little snowman made in many different ways online. This is just my version. 

Supplies:

1. Men's, white tube socks (I got a pack of 3 pair from The Dollar Tree, thus yielding 6 socks)
2. White Rice or Bird Seed (I bought White Rice as it was a little cheaper and didn't smell weird like the bird seed used in my daughter's class project)
3. Googly eyes (had these at home in my craft supplies)
4. Assorted Buttons (again these were already at home)
5. Pipe Cleaners of all sizes for the scarf and or mustache (already owned these little buggers)
6. Pom Poms (again, these were in stock at my house)
7. Hot Glue Gun (use caution if making this with small kids, mine has a low and high setting, I had it on low so my kids could do more of this project on their own with only my guidance)
8. Rubberbands
9. Measuring cups
10. Funnel or a paper cup with the bottom cut off to act as a funnel for filling your socks

**** Note: I bought 2 packages of tube socks (12 socks total) and 10 pounds of white rice from Walmart (roughly $2.98 for one 5 lb bag). This made 11 completed snowmen. ****

Instructions:

First, you will want to fill one sock with a cup and a half of rice/bird seed. When I helped the 3rd grade class I had a funnel, however at home I could not find such a miraculous device so I took a paper cup and cut off the bottom of it. Then I slipped it into the top of the sock thus achieving funnel functioning. :) 

After filling the sock with a cup and a half of rice/bird seed, use a rubberband to close off the first "snow ball".  In other words, wrap the rubberband around the sock at the very top of your snow ball like you are putting hair in a pony tail. This will conclude the bottom of your snowman. 

Next fill the sock with 1 cup of rice/bird seed, then wrap a rubberband around this section. This completes the head of the snowman. 

Now you will notice you have an extremely long top to your snowman (the top of the tube sock). You will begin to fold down the sock until it meets the head of your snowman to make the hat.

Next you are ready to decorate and bring your little guy to life! I glued a pom pom on top of the hat for decoration, used googly eyes, a pom pom for the nose, buttons down the front and a pipe cleaner for the scarf.  There are so many different things you can do to decorate your snowman. 

I hope you enjoy making your snowmen as much as we did. They were such a hit with the people that received them as gifts. AND, we have an entire family of Snowmen living out their winter days in our living room. I couldn't be any happier with this project.  It is amazingly adorable, incredibly cheap and so so soooo easy! 

P.S.  The 'Stache......

So I almost forgot the 'Stache-man. How in the world could I have forgot about the 'Stache-man?! The 'stache was inspired by one such snowman from my daughter's 3rd grade class. One boy that I was helping told me he didn't want his to have a scarf but rather a mustache. He proceeded to bend his pipe cleaner into a rather awesome fu-manchu and then asked me to hot glue that baby on! So the 'Stache-man was born! What an awesome idea! I Love kids!