By CraftingStepByStepPublished
Based on a video by The Crafty Blog Stalker.
This paper snowman is made from plain white cardstock strips, a few brass paper fasteners and some glue dots. The strips fan out into three round balls, he wears a rolled top hat and red mittens, and he stands up on his own boots. Katie from The Crafty Blog Stalker designed it, and she offers a free printable instruction sheet on her blog, thecraftyblogstalker.com, with the hat, boot and mitten shapes to trace.
Plan on about 45 minutes for one snowman. Kids from about seven can do most of it themselves. An adult should handle the hole punch.
The strips have to hold a curve without folding flat. Cardstock around 65 to 80 lb does that well. Katie has not tested construction paper and thinks it would be floppier, which matches what happens with most strip crafts: thin paper creases instead of bending, and the balls come out lumpy. Copy paper is worse. If cardstock is all you have in colours, a pale blue or silver snowman looks great too.
Every strip is half an inch wide. The printable lists each length. The ones Katie calls out are eight strips at 6 1/4 inches, eight at 4 3/4 inches, and one long strip at 8 1/2 inches for the arms. A paper trimmer makes this fast and keeps the strips even. Scissors work, but mark your lines with a ruler first. A strip that is a little crooked is fine. A strip that is a quarter inch too long makes one side of the ball bulge.
This is a good winter break or last-day-before-holidays project, because the prep splits neatly. Cut all the strips and punch the holes ahead of time, then bag one set per child. The kids trace, cut, build the hat, fan the balls and draw the face. Tracing does not need to be tidy. Wobbly boots and uneven mittens give each snowman some personality.
No Crop-A-Dile? A standard 1/8 inch hand punch works on single strips. Punch each strip on its own and line the holes up when you stack them.
Cut circles from coloured paper for buttons, or use small self-adhesive rhinestones. Swap the top hat for a scarf made from a strip of patterned paper. A thread loop through the top fastener turns him into a hanging ornament for the tree, next to your paper snowflakes and a paper star. Make three in different sizes for a snowman family on a shelf, or string several along a Christmas garland.
He falls over. The boots are the fix. Glue him down, check which way he leans, and add one more glue dot on the opposite side to pull him upright.
The top ball will not open. The shortest strips stick together. Pull them apart one at a time and space them by eye before you let go.
Glue dots are not holding. Press the paper onto the dot while it is still on the backing. Picking dots up with your fingers leaves skin oil on them.
Want the outdoor version too? Here is how to build a real snowman that lasts.
10 steps · about 11 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
Trim a sheet of white cardstock to 6 1/4 inches, then slice it into half-inch strips until you have eight. Turn the paper and do the same at 4 3/4 inches for another eight. Cut one long 8 1/2 inch strip for the arms and mark its centre at 4 1/4 inches with a pencil dot. Use the printable for any other lengths.
Tip
Keep each length in its own pile. Mixing them up is the easiest way to end up with a lopsided ball.
Cut the shapes off the bottom of the instruction sheet and snip them apart. Lay them on black cardstock and trace round each one with a pencil: the hat rectangle with tabs, the brim, the hat top and the boots. Trace the mittens onto patterned or red paper. Then cut everything out with scissors.
Tip
Fold the red paper in half before you trace the mittens and you cut two at once.
Pull the hat rectangle over the edge of a table a few times so it starts to curl. Run double-sided tape along one short edge and roll it into a tube, tabs at the bottom. Add a strip of tape to the red paper band and wrap it round the tube, starting at the back seam and keeping it close to the bottom edge.
Tip
Plain glue works here too if you have no tape runner. Hold the seam for a minute while it grabs.
Fold the little tabs at the bottom of the tube inward and put a glue dot on each one. Centre the tube on the large black circle and press the tabs down to make the brim. Do the same at the other end with the small circle for the top of the hat.
Tip
The hat top is the fiddly bit. If it will not stay, leave it off. Nobody looks inside a snowman's hat.
Punch a 1/8 inch hole at the centre mark on the long arm strip. Stack each pile of strips with the edges lined up and punch a hole through both ends of every stack. The holes are where the paper fasteners go, so keep them close to the ends and in the middle of the strip width.
Tip
This is the step to give to an adult. The punch needs a firm squeeze through a full stack.
Curl the long arm strip over the table edge the way you did the hat. Put a glue dot on each mitten and press one onto each end of the strip. If you cut four mittens, put one on each side of both ends so they look right from the back too. Point both thumbs the same way.
Tip
Lay the mitten onto the glue dot while the dot is still on its backing. It sticks much better.
Push a brad through the holes at one end of the bottom stack and on through the next stack up, so the balls share a fastener where they meet. Keep going up the snowman. Slide the arm strip on through its centre hole, then the top stack. Open each fastener flat at the back as you go.
Tip
Lay the pieces out in snowman order before you start. It is much easier to see which hole goes where.
Start at the bottom. Take about half the strips in that section and rotate them round the fastener, then pull the rest apart. As the strips spread they bow out into a ball. Space them evenly and repeat for the middle and the head. Katie has the arm strip running through the middle ball, so the mittens hang at the sides.
Tip
The head is the hardest, because short strips want to stick together. Separate them one by one.
Put a glue dot on each side of the top fastener and press the hat on. Stick glue dots on the boots a little out from the centre, with the mitten thumbs facing front. Set the snowman down and check he stands straight. If he tips forward, add a dot at the back to pull him upright.
Tip
Space the bottom strips evenly before they touch the boots. Once they are glued they will not move.
Use a black Sharpie to dot on buttons down the middle ball, plus two eyes and a smile on the head. An orange marker makes the carrot nose. That is him done. Stand him on a windowsill or a shelf, or give him to someone who needs a little winter cheer.
Tip
Draw on the strip that faces front, the same side as the thumbs, so the face lines up with the mittens.
Keep going
How to Make a Paper Popper - Loud Snap From One Sheet of Paper
9 steps · about 9 minutes
How to Make Paper Snowmen
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OLFA
OLFA 18" x 24" Self-Healing Cutting Mat
The pro-standard cutting surface. Gridlines for square cuts, self-healing so blades never leave grooves, and big enough for paper, fabric, and leather.
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