How To Make Snowballs: An Easy Christmas Craft!

I am a blog slacker.  I know it and I’m sorry, but I have really good excuses.  Like:  I have kids to take care of, I have to go to work, I have housework, I can’t decide what to write about, I’m too tired to take pictures, I’m lazy!!

Actually, my best excuse is that I spent four days in Atlanta with my best friend at Market.  She owns a boutique and invited me to go help her shop.  It was my first trip to Market and my first trip away from my kids for more than two nights in YEARS.  We had an absolute blast!  I was completely exhausted.  There is nothing to prepare you for the sheer volume of “stuff” you will see.  And no shoes comfortable enough to keep your feet from hurting at the end of the day.  Also, I got really sick of jewelry.  It was a wonderful trip and we were both thrilled to come home to our babies…and it took days to recuperate!

At any rate, I’m back now and ready to get my Christmas on!  I finished decorating the open area in my hallway yesterday and it is so incredibly cute.  I keep going back just to look at it.  I usually do a primitive theme in that particular area, but I wanted to change things up this year.  I went with red, white, and blue (more of a turquoise/robin’s egg hue).  I tried to use decorations I already had, but I bought some plastic ornaments for filler and some turquoise ribbon.  I made a garland, some pom-poms, ornaments out of old light bulbs, and you guessed it, SNOWBALLS!!!

The snowballs were so easy and a lot of fun.  They were a little messy, but not anything like I had imagined.  And did I say they were easy??

First, gather your materials:  I used four bags of assorted small size styrofoam balls from the Dollar Tree, Mod Podge, Toothpicks, and fake snow (mine says Buffalo Snow/Frosty Snow on the bag).  I also had two plastic cups and an egg carton.  These are optional!  (I also used an old towel to protect my table, but if you have your own crafting space you won’t need that!)

Next, I cut one of the plastic cups almost in half and poured Mod Podge into it.  Don’t fill it too full!

Take one of the toothpicks and roll the ball around until it’s completely coated.

Then you can skewer the ball with the toothpick and use it to pick it up.  Let some of the excess Mod Podge drip off of it before you move on to the next step.  Pour a decent amount of fake snow onto a paper plate and put the ball on top of it.  (The first time I did it, I just laid the ball on a plate while I was getting the cup of flakes and some of the glue came off.  If there is some “snow” on the plate, it will at least have something to adhere to.  Once you get into a rhythm, you may not need to lay it down at all!)  Pour snow on the styrofoam ball as you rotate it around.  I held them up to do this, but pour the flakes slowly or they will get everywhere!!!

You can use whatever you want to put the snowballs on to dry, but I found the egg carton very convenient!  The toothpicks go in easily and you can put a lot on there at one time! You will probably do a lot, because these are so very simple.  I did four bags in not much more than 20 minutes and that was even with stopping to take pictures!

Let the snowballs dry for several hours (overnight is great if you have the time).  And voila…you have your own snowballs to decorate with!!!

Whether you take the toothpicks out or not is completely up to you.  I left mine in some of them and took them out of others.  It really depends on what you want to use them for.

I put my snowballs in a bucket and made a sign out of a mini-canvas and some scrapbook stickers.  My Momma made the snowman and the printable was a free one courtesy of Laura at Eye Candy Creative Studio (http://www.eyecandycreativestudio.com/2011/12/free-christmas-subway-art-print-for.html).  Thanks so much Laura!!!

I also used some of the snowballs as filler.  This basket was a gift from my best friend (the one who just took me to market).  She got it as part of a set (it also has a chalkboard–so cute) that was made by Jessica at Mom4Real.com.  I just filled it up with ornaments and snowballs and put scrapbook stickers on the chalkboard tag.  I love it!!!

It seems like the more I decorate and the more crafts I make, the more excited I get about Christmas!  Hope you’re getting excited too!!