School Room Snowmen

This year, I had 70 ornaments to make

for the classmates of my children.

Since my 11-year-old had already

specifically requested a particular ornament,

which would be difficult and time-consuming

to make for his 14 classmates,

I knew I had to find something super

quick and easy to make for the remaining

56 children in my other kids' classes.

I decided to make
School Room Snowmen!!

(or Ruler Snowmen)

whichever of those names you prefer

For every FOUR ornaments, you will

need one wooden ruler 
(look for a ruler without pre-drilled holes)

acrylic paint in white, black, red, and gold.

Extreme Glitter in Black,

and Plaid Dimensional Paint in orange.

Also, mini craft sticks for hat brims,
wooden birds for the school mascot,
red ribbons for hanging and

a permanent black marker for outlining.

Use the Midwest Products Easy Cutter Ultimate
to trim each ruler into four 3" lengths,
and trim the mini craft sticks to just a hair
wider than the ruler, so the hat
brim hangs over just a bit on either side
of the snowman's head.

Use Aleene's® Tacky Glue®
to adhere hat brims to each ruler segment.

I attached my hat brims
towards the top of the segments,
rather than directly in the center.
However, I've made many of these types
of ornaments, and attaching the brim
a little lower makes for a totally different look:
a really tall hat and a small face,
versus the small top hat and the larger face.
I wanted to date these ornaments,
so I made the hats smaller.

Paint the craft stick and the
top half of the ruler segments with
black acrylic paint.
Brush Plaid's Extreme Glitter Black
over the hats for extra shine.

Paint the bottoms of the ruler segments
with white acrylic paint.
Leave the backs unpainted;
to keep the "School Room" feel of
these ruler ornaments.

I use a cotton swab and pink
powder blush to blush the cheeks of
each snowman's face.

Use a stylus dipped in black paint
to dot the eyes and the mouths.

Dip the stylus before each dot
for same-sized dots ...
dotting two or three times before
re-dipping into the paint
gives you descending-sized dots.

I used my Crop-o-Dile to
make a hole in the top center of
each snowman's hat,
so I could thread some ribbon
through for hanging.

NOTE:
For step-by-step photos
of how to paint dots and carrot
noses, please click here.

Because I am making these ornaments
for the classmates of my children,
I want to add our school mascot,
the cardinal.

Here is a quick tip I found for painting
small wooden pieces, such as these 
bird cut-outs:

Spread out a piece of GLAD®
Press'n Seal® sealing wrap,
sticky side up,
and press the birds onto the paper.
This holds them in place while
you use a paint roller dipped in red
acrylic paint to base coat the birds
quickly and easily.

A quick way to make the triangle
shape on the cardinal's head,
is to use a small flat brush dipped
in black paint; lightly press the brush
diagonally across the bird's head.
Ta Daa!!!

Allow to dry before dotting the
eyes first with white paint,
and then with black paint.
Brush on a coat of Plaid Extreme Glitter
in Red for extra shine.

Use a detail brush dipped in
gold or yellow paint to highlight the
bird's beaks.

I threaded the ribbon through
each hole in the hat before I attached
the birds ... I thought it was
easier than waiting to thread the ribbons
and possibly running into a hat
whose hole was covered by a bird.
;)

There we go!
56 School Room Ornaments!!
As a final touch,
I used a black permanent marker
to outline the snowman faces,
define each bird's wing,
and add the year to the bottom.

* Peace and Snowmen *