Decorating Vintage Bottle Snowmen // Tutorial

It's been awhile since we've done anything crafty on this Blog, so I decided to share this snowman project with you!
A friend gave me a decorated snowman a couple of Winters ago, and I thought it was such a unique idea, so I began making some of my own each year.
The credit goes to my friend for this idea, but I'm here to share it with you!

Supplies:

• Small bottles of various shapes. I got a few from JoAnn's, but I like to keep an eye out for old bottles at thrift and antique stores too!
• Styrofoam balls. You can get different sizes depending on what will look good on the size of bottle you have.
• Hot glue. It's the fastest option. For a sturdier option, you could go with E6000.
• Orange clay. For the carrot noses. :)
• Something for snowman eyes and mouths. You can draw them on, or you could use little bling dot stickers, or glitter glue, or paint. It's up to you. I used little black dot stickers. 

o~o

Decorations:

• Various ribbons and laces of your choice. I like to keep with the same color scheme (gold/ivory/silver, occasionally pink), but you could dress your snowman up really fun with some loud colors!
• Buttons, pearls, small brooches, decorative pins, charms, chains, and anything else small and decorative. Use your imagination! You can buy lots of embellishments from craft stores, or you can collect small things from antique shops. It's up to you!
• You will also need some 'fillers' for your snowmen. Something small and decorative to put inside of your bottle to look pretty. I have chosen some cellophane glitter and some pearls for mine.

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First you will need to put your 'fillers' in your bottle. Whether you chose pearls, beads, glitter, or anything else, fill your bottle about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way with it. Or more, if you like.

Glue the Styrofoam ball to the top to secure the insides.

Now is the fun part! You can start decorating your snowman anyway you like! If your bottle has a long skinny neck, you might try tying some lace ribbon around it to look like a tie, or a lady's fluffy collar.

You also have a great opportunity to play around with some decorative snowman hats. I had a little crown charm that was too big for a bracelet, so I put it on one of my snowmen! For this one, I have a ruffle-y piece of tulle that I'm using for a hat. It turned out pretty cute!

Don't forget to also put something around the bottom of your snowman! It really pulls the look together.

For that snowman on the left, I used a metal flower charm stacked on top of some paper flowers.

When all of your decorations are glued on the way you like it, follow the directions on the polymer clay package to shape and bake some carrot noses. Be sure not to make them too big! You can also use the drying type of clay; I just used my sister's polymer clay that bakes at 275.
When your carrot is cool, glue it onto your snowman, as well as some eyes an a mouth. Or you can draw them on, whatever you decided to do.

Looks like a fine lady snowman to me. :)

And there you have it!
I love this idea. It's the perfect Winter craft when I don't want to spend too much time on a project, but still want something cute. It's also a great gift!
Well, I hope you enjoyed this change of pace for The Storybook Journal. I'm sorry I haven't done a craft post in a long time! Unfortunately, crafts are not something I have a lot of time for these days. :P

Anyways, let me know if you make any snowmen!
I hope you guys are enjoying your winter.
-Amaris

p.s. The snowman on the far left was the one my friend gave me. She used a feather-y boa and some charms for her collar!