Saturday, December 27, 2008

Sock Snowmen Making Instructions

A few years ago some friends of my family taught us how to make snowmen (and ladies) out of tube-socks. We have made several "batches" of snowmen since then. We have found snowmen-making to be a fun craft. The last time we made snowmen (with Mike D.) on Saturday, December 20th, we took pictures throughout the process and I decided to put instructions on here about how to make them. Maybe one of you will enjoy this hobby also. Please let me know if you do!

Here are pictures of two of the "snowmen families" or "snowmen armies" we've made:
Our first-ever sock snow-person family:
Our most recent sock snow-person family:


When/if you ever decide to make sock snowmen, be sure to use your imagination and be creative!
(All photo captions are in red font.)

Instructions

Gather Supplies:
- 1 brand-new athletic tube sock for each snow-person (It is up to you as to whether or not the sock has stripes or color.)
- a canning funnel
-pretty much any kind of grain or dry beans (we prefer grain to beans.) (See instructions below for an idea of how much you will need.)
Beans

-string or heavy thread
-scissors
-measuring cups
-hot glue gun and sticks of glue (and paper plate or something to avoid a mess)
Decorations:
- 1 sculpy-clay carrot for a nose (instructions on making them are below)
Sculpy-clay carrots for noses
- 4-8 buttons of your choice to decorate snowman
- felt (optional)
- spray-can lid for a top-hat (optional)
Top-hat making "ingredients"
-sticks for hands (optional)
-fabric for a scarf
-rick-rack and/or ribbon (optional)
-crochet thread to decorate stocking-cap hat (optional)
(This is what the snowlady looks like when we crocheted on the hat, and the different cute arrangements that can be made.)

Make:
The first thing you need to do is to make sculpy-clay carrot noses. (We bought regular orange sculpy clay from Hobby Lobby, but you could get it at any craft store.) Make carrot shapes approximately 1 1/4 inches long. Use a toothpick or something like that to draw lines on the carrot. Bake according to directions on the sculpy clay package. Store baked carrots in a baggy. Note: one package will make more "carrots" than you'd think!
You need to choose how many body segments you want your snowman to have: 2, 3, or 4. "Normal" sock snowmen have three, but ones with two or four are cute too. I am going to write the remaining instructions as if you were going to make a snowmen with three segments. The amount of grain or beans you'll need will depend on your sock and how many segments you want. The snowmen we most recently made (the ones with 3 segments) had 2 cups of beans on the lowest segments, 1 1/2 cups on the second segment, and 3/4 cup on the top segment. Please make adjustments as necessary. Usually the difference between one segment and the other is about 1/2 or 1/4 cup of grain.
Before you begin filling your snow-person sock you may want to turn your sock inside-out to have the fuzzy side out (so as to look more like snow).
Use the funnel and measuring cups to put some of the grain or beans into the bottom level of the snowperson. Tie with a string (7 inches long) securely. Cut thread. (I usually tie it three times on one side and two times on the other side.)
Add more grain and tie securely. Cut thread. (This is your 2nd segment.) Add more grain and tie securely. Cut thread. (This is your 3rd segment.) Are you pleased with the sizes of the segments and the overall look? If not, you may want to undo the ties and experiment with more or less grain in the segments. Once you're satisfied, arrange the cuff or the sock to look like a stocking-cap or some other kind of hat.

Before decorating, decide which your snowperson will be, a snow-man or a snow-lady.

Use a hot glue gun to glue the decorations on. Careful!

The basic decorations are: button eyes, carrot nose, as many buttons down his front as you want, and a scarf around his neck.

Additional ideas that we have come up with are:
-using rickrack or ribbon to decorate the hat or body of the snow person. (I have just a caution on this idea, as I have done it twice: there is a possibility of the ribbon slacking when the grain moves. I don't know what to advise, but just be aware that this could be a frustration.)
-using crochet thread to crochet around the edge of the stocking cap
-using felt and a spray-can lid to make a top-hat instead of a snow cap (instructions below)
-adding buttons for ears
-using felt and buttons to make ear-muffs
-using some kind of decoration to make a mouth
-making arms/hands with popcicle sticks or twigs
-adding a walking stick or skis
-making glasses (made of pipe-cleaners or something like that)
Instructions on one way to make a top-hat:
Get a black spray-can lid and felt. Make a circle of black felt 3/4 inch bigger around than the lid. Make a 3/4-1 in. hole in the middle. Pull the sock cuff through the felt hole, fold down the sock, and place the spray-can lid on top.
Pulling the sock cuff through the felt circle.

Securing the felt at the base of the cuff.



Placing the spray-can lid on top of the felt.



As far as anything else, use your imagination and have fun!

Friday, December 26, 2008

the Snowmen Choir

Introducing to you, the Snowmen Choir... by Beth, Jason, and Emily Albertson.
We have been enjoying acting out plays and choirs with our collection of eight sock snowmen (five of whom are shown below). The plays are too long to put on Godtube.com, for which I'm sorry. I guess you can't see them unless you come see us and watch them on our computer. The plays are really funny though, and lots of fun to make.

The Snowmen Choir presents to you, "Silent Night". (Okay, so snowmen aren't the best singers, but they try.)

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Some more things for which I'm thankful and notes

In case my dear readers don't happen to look at my comments, I thought I'd just copy a friend's comment (on my last post) and share it:


"A = Answers to Prayer
R = Relatives
T = Training in godliness
U = Understanding parents
V = Victory over sin
W = Wisdom promised by God for the asking
X = hmm... Xylophone music?
Y = Yielded will to do God's will
Z = Zeal given from God for His service"

The only thing I'm not especially (maybe just a little instead) thankful for is the xylophone music... sure I like it, but it just doesn't affect my life on a daily basis as does our piano!

One thing I've been very thankful for this week (I thought of it a week or more ago, just haven't blogged since then) is my glasses. I'm thankful to God and to my parents for my glasses, because I can see what I didn't even know I was missing out on seeing before I had them! I got my first lenses in May 2006 and this year I got bifocols. (I am nearsighted.) Now if you've never been "blind" (to this degree) and now have 'specticles' you may understand why I am so thankful for GLASSES!

This past weekend Mother and I both got a stomach bug, which has clung pretty tightly with aches and such. Funny thing is Mother and I took turns (alternating days and hours) feeling terrible and feeling like we were recovering. Yesterday seemed to be the turning point for me and I've had a wonderful [feeling] day, while Mother has been feeling awful. I got it first, with Mother following by a day, so we're hoping and praying she'll be well tomorrow! The point of this paragraph is not to whine about the sickness, but to say that when you are sick you a far more thankful for usually being healthy! So I am thankful for the Lord's help to my recently ill body!

In my former thankfulness list I put on there "electricity". In many countries of course people have none, but it's enough to make me thankful for it when we have our electricity out for just a few hours. (This has happened repeatedly in the last year.)

Well, I better go night-night!