Seems like FOR-EVAH since I've had a free minute for the computer - November totally got away from me somehow, but not because I haven't been getting my craft on! On the contrary, I stepped in to coordinate a craft booth for Sheep's newest activity . . . 4-H!
The Bay Area 4-H is a newly chartered (Read broke. Very, very broke!) chapter with three exciting "projects" for area youth: dog training, sewing and robotics. I wanted sewing of course, but Sheep chose dog training, so dog training it is for now. I guess she figures mama sews so she doesn't need to learn - ha!
Our dog training coordinator knows an awful lot about dogs, but didn't know diddly about prepping or participating in a craft show, and since this was supposed to be our big fundraiser . . . well, I am sure you know what happened next!
And thank heavens for Pinterest! As usual, I was able to find some easy and awesome projects for our sewers and non-sewers alike! These super sweet sock snowmen were just one of them!
These were showcased by Amy over at Then She Made . . . and you can get all the particulars on how-to by heading here. Aren't hers sweet?
So we gathered our little elves at another mom's house to get crafty for a day. It was a looong, busy day, but everyone had fun and when we left on Saturday night, we had an army of little snowmen to spiff up and sell the show - the following Saturday. ACK!!
Luckily, the little 4-H elves had some fairy godmothers (in the form of my friend and my MIL) who were able step in and help finish the job!
And here's what we learned along the way:
- Big Lots has cheap socks that are perfect for this project!
- It takes more rice than you might think to fill up the socks so that your snowmen bodies are taut!
- Tiny black buttons (like the ones on the pinspiration snowmen) are hard to find. If you look closely, you can see that our eyes ended up being somewhat bigger - but still adorable!
- It helps everything stay in place better if you tie your twine over the sock at the neck and adding a second piece of twine at the waist really secures everything well. After all ,people want to pick these cuties up and squish 'em, which can make all their clothes get rumpled and that's no good!
- Orange felt was an easy substitute for the toothpick noses in the pinspiration piece and it looks quite dashing if you ask me!
- By the time you've made and dressed a snowman, it has taken on a personality of its own, which made them very hard to part with so be prepared!
- These little guys make great paperweights, bookends, desktop friends and teacher gifts. We even added a place card with some tape to one and used them on a holiday table. You could just as easily attach a gift card for a super-special someone!
- This was a great fundraiser craft. Although decking out all the snowmen took lots of time, it was fun, and cost us less than $1 each, so our profit margin was significant!
So, if you're looking for an economical Christmas gift idea, an easy craft for your kids over the holidays or a simple fundraiser - these sock snowmen fit the bill. And you know what they say . . . If the sock fits, make snowmen! (Or something like that!)
Stay tuned for more Christmas craft ideas you still have plenty of time to make and enjoy this season!
