In our neck of the woods, we don’t get a lot of snow each winter. That means that we don’t see too many snowmen gathering on the neighborhood lawns, and those who do don’t tend to last very long. I love snowmen, though, so I like to incorporate them into my Christmas decorations when possible. For example, I made a cute snowman ornament for our tree this year out of two items that you might not think go well together — sequins and Styrofoam. As odd as that may sound, this is a really easy project that kids will enjoy. (As long as they are old enough to be careful with pins.)

For the base of this ornament, you’ll need a 3″ Styrofoam ball. You could use smaller or larger if that’s what you’ve got, but I find the 3″ size to be just right for this project. You’ll also need some white, orange, and black sequins. I happened to have a big pack of assorted sequins that already had plenty of those colors, but if you’re making a lot of these, you may want to buy the orange and white sequins in bulk. Since you don’t need very many black ones, you can actually save some money by painting sequins with glossy black craft paint like I did!

Finally, you’ll need some thin wire and a bunch of straight pins. Make sure to get the pins that are really tiny and have a little metal head (not the giant plastic head). They are sometimes labeled as “silk pins”.

Take one of the pins and put it through the hole on a white sequin, then push it into the Styrofoam ball, as far in as it will go.

Did you like that? I hope so, because you’re going to do it some more. A LOT more!

Eventually you’ll cover the entire ball with white sequins. Isn’t that the prettiest snowball you’ve seen in a while?

Next you’ll make the iconic carrot nose for your snowman. Start by threading one orange sequin onto a piece of thin wire that’s about 6″ long. Bend the wire in half.

Now squeeze the wire together on the end so that it’s as thin as you can get it. This sequin is going to be kind of like a “knot” that will keep the others from falling off. As for the others, you’re going to need lots of orange sequins here. I happened to have two different sizes in my stash, so I used both.

Thread about 10 or 15 of the smaller sequins (if you’re using two sizes) onto the wire, then follow with the larger ones until the snowman nose is as long as you want it to be.

Push the wire into the ball to attach the nose to the snowman head. Then take some black sequins to add the coal-like eyes and mouth. You might think the pins for the black sequins must go in the gaps between the white ones, but unless you are using super, heavy-duty, crazy sequins, you should be able to push the pin for the black sequins right through the white sequin and put your coal exactly where you want it.

To create a hanger for the ornament, just take a piece of wire about 6 or 8 inches long and bend it in half, then twist the ends to make a loop. Shove it in the top of the snowman’s head (ow!) and you’re good to go.

This snowman looks so happy hanging on my tree!