Deck the Halls: Twine Snowman with Twine and Burlap Trees

He is probably my favorite and I love him all finished on my mantle

On one of my normal trips to one of my routine weekly stops, I spotted this adorable twine snowman all decked out and ready for Christmas. The store’s merchandiser, who happens to know me well, said, “you should make it instead of buying it.” She knows I love crafts and I do patron her store frequently so it was not as if she would be losing a lot of business.

That was all the encouragement I needed given I was already looking for ideas on rustic Christmas décor that I could recreate or draw inspiration from. As it turned out the display snowman and some cute curly willow and burlap trees served as inspiration for both of the reinvented projects featured in today’s post.

Twine Snowman

Supplies

1 six inch Styrofoam ball

1 three inch Styrofoam ball

Twine

Hot glue and gun

Two solid and sturdy toothpicks

3 small black buttons

Craft paint brushes

Craft paints – black, iridescent, orange Decorative hat and nose (you can also make one with corn husk)

Ribbon for scarf

Serrated knife

Steps

1. Cut the bottom of the larger Styrofoam ball to create a flat base.
2. Stick the two toothpicks into the bottom of the small Styrofoam ball. Holding them securely in place in the small ball, poke coordinating holes in the top of the large ball. Put hot glue at the holes and in the middle gap they form. Push the two balls together and hold in place until dry.
3. Starting on the bottom ball, wrap the ball in twine using the same technique as in the twine ball ornaments. Allow to fully dry before proceeding.
4. Repeat step three with the top ball.
5. Glue on the nose (if making, see optional step below), hat, buttons and scarf. Be sure to secure the ends of the scarf in place with glue.
6. Using black craft paint, dot on eyes.
7. To give some shimmer, brush on iridescent craft paint using a flat head brush and dry brush technique over the entire snowman body and head being careful of his eyes.

OPTIONAL:   I made my snowman’s nose using scrap corn husk from another project. To do so, I wet the scraps and formed a cone. I snipped the larger base end to form a flat end. I filled the interior of the cone with hot glue to make it solid and hard. Once completely dry, I hot glued the nose in place and painted it orange.

I think he came out pretty cute! He took me a while but I just love him.

Create a flat base for the Snowman to stand up right with bottom ball

Create coordinating holes in both balls with toothpicks

Secure together with hot glue and allow to completely dry

Cover with twine starting with bottom ball at the center, then repeat with top

Add decorative elements

Burlap and Twine Trees

I love how they look on the mantle with my little pinecone hedgehog from Michael’s craft store

Of all my projects, these were by far the easiest. I found inspiration in some curly willow trees I saw while exploring Home Goods one day and thought to myself if I use some of the remnant supplies of some of my other projects, I could make some small trees to adorn my mantle – yes I really do talk to myself that way sometimes, goofy I know.

Supplies

Cones of various sizes

Burlap strips

Twine

Hot glue

Steps

1. Hot glue a strip of burlap to the top of the cone. Make sure the strip is large enough to cover and overlap the top.
2. Wrap the burlap around the cone pulling tightly as you go. The angle should form. This is based on the width getting larger as you go down the cone.
3. Secure with hot glue as you wrap by placing a vertical bead of glue along the backside of the cone. Be careful as touching the hot glue is almost inevitable.
4. Glue the end underneath the cone.

If you pull tight as you go, the burlap will automatically go around the cone at an angle

Let the finishing flap of burlap cross under the bottom of the cone and secure with glue

For the twine trees, repeat step one. Wrap the tree in the same manner as the twine ball ornaments. To secure twine at the bottom, poke a small hole into the base of the cone. Fill the hole with hot glue and insert the end. Hold end in place until dry enough that it will not poke back out. Let completely dry.

As a tip, hide the beginning of the burlap underneath the strip that wraps and covers the top of the cone

Then use the twine to secure the burlap ends to the cone by wrapping the twine over the burlap ends

To secure the end, put a small hole in the base and then stick the end in and fill with hot glue

As I said, pretty simple but pretty décor as well. If only all my projects were that easy. See you next post for more ornaments.