Day 3 - 12 Days of Christmas Celebration - Snowman Nodder Tutorial

Good morning everyone!

Thank you for returning again today for 

Day 3 of my

12 Days of Christmas Celebration

I've been working hard on this tutorial and I hope you will enjoy this 

FREE PATTERN

for my 

Snowman Nodder

The supply list is below

1/4 yard white or cream colored felt - it doesn't need to be wool felt

1/8 yard of heavy black fleece

a rusty old bed spring

black and white/cream pearl cotton or heavy embroidery thread

orange paint

off white or tan carpet thread

Pattern pieces on PDF - find it HERE

powder blush

1 1/2" x 25" scrap of plain homespun fabric in Christmas colors

Hot glue gun

You will also need

tacky glue

Diamond Dust or other fine clear glitter

small old paint brush

heavy gauge black craft wire

twine

faux pine and berries

wooden tag or kraft tag

black stamp pad

"Merry Christmas" and snowflake stamps or whatever stamps you chose

Okay, this is a long post, so let's get started!

Instructions for making your

Snowman Nodder

1.  Print out the pattern piece on the PDF which I have provided for you.  Please read and respect the rules for using this pattern.  Cut out the pattern pieces.

Head assembly

2.   Take the Snowman Nodder head pattern and cut 6 of this piece out of your white or cream felt.

Next, cut your hat brim piece out of heavy black fleece; also cut your hat top piece (see measurements on the PDF).

3.  Sew your head pieces together, first in pairs, then add each pair to another until you have completed the head.  See below.  You should have an opening in the bottom for stuffing.

Turn the completed head piece right side out.

4.  Stuff the head firmly with fiberfill.  Keep the head as round as possible.  You can roll it in the palms of your hand if it seems mis-shaped, until you get a nice round head.  Once your head is firmly stuffed, take your white/cream pearl cotton or embroidery thread and make a running stitch around the opening.  Pull as tight as possible and knot.  You may wish at this point, to stick a bit more stuffing into the hole.  I like to use a dowel for this.  You want the head firmly stuffed.  Set the head aside for a few minutes.

5.  Take a long length of your black pearl cotton or embroidery thread and a long doll needle, and knot one end.   Starting at the top of your snowman's head, stitch your eyes onto the snowman head.  Stick the needle into the head, and out to where you wish to have your eyes.  Run the needle in and out to make the eyes and back to the top of the head.  Now, come back down through the head with your threaded needle to where you wish to start the mouth.  I used French knots to make my mouth, but you can use a line of stitching if you prefer.  Come back to the top of your head and take a few small stitches.  Secure the thread with a dot of hot glue and cut.  There will be ends showing from where you started and stopped, but the hat will cover these when you are done.  Your snowman head should look something like this...

Hat Assembly

6.   Take your hat brim piece and cut out the center as indicated on the PDF pattern.  Set aside.

Take your hat top piece and sew the long sides together.  Fold the hat in half, so that the seam you just sewed is to the middle back and stitch across the top of the hat. Turn hat top right side out.  Stick the open end of hat top into the cut out in the hat brim.  Pull through so about 1/2 inch is showing.  Take your scissors and snip around the hat top, as pictured.  Do this every 1/2 inch or so.

7.  Work the snipped edges of the hat top around the hat brim, as shown.  Using your glue gun, glue each section to the bottom of the brim, making sure it lays as flat as possible.  Once glue is cooled, trim any extra ends back to the glue.  That's your hat.  Because I used a heavy fleece for the hat, no stuffing is necessary.  It stands up on it's own.  You can add a little stuffing into the hat top if you wish.

8.  From your white/cream felt (or you can use warm and natural batting), cut a 1/2" x 20" piece.  This will eventually be your nose.

9.  Head to the kitchen now, as we will be painting and staining!

10.  Take your orange paint and mix up a batch of paint and coffee stain.  You can find a recipe for my coffee stain in my Prim How-to's tab at the top of my blog or click Here.  DO NOT USE CINNAMON IN YOUR MIXTURE THIS TIME.  The paint/stain mixture should be quite thin.  Paint your strip of white/cream felt with the mixture.  Paint BOTH sides.  Lay on foil and set aside for a moment.

11.  Place your snowman head and his hat onto a piece of foil.  I keep my coffee stain mixture (NO CINNAMON) in an old spray bottle.  Spray (or 'paint') your coffee mixture on them both, making sure they are covered well.  You will not need to spray the orange felt, because we mixed the paint with the coffee mixture already.  Place the orange painted felt piece, the head and the hat into a 150 degree oven until they are dry.  The orange piece will not take long, so keep an eye on it.  I have a convection oven that I use to dry my items, and it helps to speed up the process.  If you feel that your head is going to be too dark, blot it with paper towels to remove some of the excess coffee mixture.

Once these pieces are all dry, head on back to your craft room to finish the project.

Nose Assembly

12.  Take your orange felt and your heavy black craft wire.  Cut a 12" piece of your wire, fold in half and twist it tightly together.  Take one end of your orange felt and starting at the folded edge of the wire, tack the felt to the wire with a little hot glue.  See pictures below for reference before starting your nose.  You will need to start it at an angle to your wire, as shown.

 Continue to wrap and glue every so often, until your nose is about 4" long (or whatever length you wish).  Cut your excess felt from the nose and glue the end down to secure.  Trim off all but approximately 1-2 inches of the exposed wire.

13.  With small sharp scissors or other tool, poke a hole in your snowman's face where you wish the nose to be.  Make the hole deep enough to accommodate the extra wire at the end of your nose.  Stick your hot glue gun into the hole and add a good amount of glue.  Stick the wire/nose into the hole and hold in place until the glue has cooled.  The nose is now bendable, so bend it down or to the side a little for added character. Now your snowman has a nose!  Isn't he starting to look cute? 

Take a little bit of your powder blush and blush his cheeks a bit (see final picture for reference).

14.  Time to attach the head to the spring base. 

Cut a long length of your heavy carpet thread and double over.  Take the two loose ends and put them through the eye of your needle. 

Place the snowman head on your spring and hold securely in place with one hand.

 Make one stitch in the bottom of the snowman head and catching the loop at the end of your thread, pull tightly.  Make stitches all the way around the base of your head, pulling tightly against the spring with each stitch.  When you have gone all the way around, tie tightly and secure with a dot of hot glue. Trim thread ends.

15.  Using your glue gun, glue the hat to the top of your snowman head, covering the exposed threads.  Tip it a little bit to the side for extra character!  Trim the hat with some twine, faux pine and a red berry or rusty jingle bell.

16.  If you wish to include a tag on your snowman nodder, you can use a paper kraft tag or use a wooden one, like I did.  Using Christmas stamps, stamp your tag as desired.  Next, hold the edges of your tag against the stamp pad and ink up the sides a bit by lightly pushing into the pad.  See the picture below.  Attach the tag with a piece of twine to your spring base where it meets the snowman's head.

17.  Two more steps and we're done!

Take your piece of homespun and wrap around the base of the head where it meets the spring for the scarf.  Tie is off as desired and tack in place with little dots of hot glue. Cut any long ends.

18.  Using your tacky glue and old paintbrush, brush some glue onto the hat top, hat base, nose and scarf...wherever you wish.  Holding over a basket or newspaper, dust the tacky glue spots with your Diamond Dust or fine glitter.  Shake off excess.

Sit your Snowman Nodder in front of you and ADMIRE your handwork!

I'd LOVE to see pictures of your completed project.  I'll post a collage of any that you send to me.  You may use the email address on the right side of my blog under my Contact Button to send me your pictures.

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Tomorrow I will be featuring a wonderful tutorial from a fellow blogger, so come on back tomorrow for more fun!