Marshmallow Snowman Craft

Aside from all the sugar, I’m liking the edible crafts because I don’t have to find anywhere to store them! I think we’ve been inundated with crafts this month and I have no clue what I’m going to do with all of them! These little guys are super easy and a hit with all!

Supplies:

• Large Marshmallows (2 per snowman)
• Graham Crackers
• Royal Icing (We used the Martha Stewart Icing, it was nice for the small details)
• Chocolate chips for hat, or Hershey’s Kiss
• Red rope licorice for scarf (I forgot this!)
• Straight Pretzels for Arms (we were out of these!)
• Red hots for buttons, or sprinkles for extra embellishment (my kids didn’t like the red hots)
• Optional: Hershey’s bar

Directions:

 

1. Make the snowman body by stacking the 2 large marshmallows on top of each other. Secure them with the toothpick and “glue” the marshmallows together with a little icing. (See recipe at the bottom of this post)

2. Using icing glue the snowman to a graham cracker half. (optional: put a square of Hershey's chocolate bar between the snowman and graham cracker)

3. Use a dot of icing on the back of  red hots and glue them on the bottom marshmallow for buttons.

4. Cut a very small piece of the red licorice to make the marshmallow snowman’s mouth. Wrap a couple longer piece of string licorice for a scarf.

5. Glue the chocolate chips or chocolate kiss on top as a hat.

6. Break a stick pretzel in half, and push the stick in each side of the snowman for arms.

7. Let icing harden, and take pictures before eating!    

Here’s the professional version:

Royal Icing Recipe:

• 3 Tablespoons Meringue Powder
• 4 Cups (about 1lb) confectioners’ sugar
• 6 tablespoons warm water

Makes: About 3 cups of icing

Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks (7-10 minutes at low speed with a heavy-duty mixer, 10-12 minutes at high speed with a hand-held mixer).

NOTE: Keep all utensils completely grease-free for proper icing consistency.

* For stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water.

**When using large countertop mixer or for stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water.

Snowflake Craft

I found a fun snowflake craft today from Family Fun!



Supplies:

• Popsicle sticks (4 per snowflake)
• Craft Glue
• Fake Snow (I found sparkly snow and it looked great!)
• Paper plate (To catch the mess!)
  

Instructions:
1. Place a drop of glue in the center of one popsicle stick. Lay another one across the center of it at a 45 degree angle making a cross. Put another dab of glue in the center and put another stick lying at a 45 degree angle from the other sticks. Repeat for the last stick until your snowflake looks like this:

(I pre-made these as I didn't think my kids would want to wait for the glue to dry)

2. Once snowflakes are dry, add a thick layer of glue or modge podge to one whole side of the snowflake. Cover everything well.


3. Pour some fake snow onto a paper plate. Have the child place the snowflake, glue side down, into the snow, then pick it up and turn it over to allow to dry. (If you want a thicker layer of snow, repeat the process by adding more glue on top of the layer of snow, and dip it again in the snow.)

4. When the snowflake is completely dry, use a pipe cleaner to wrap a loop for hanging, on the top of one of the sticks. Wrap the pipe cleaner around the stick a few times, then form it into a small loop, and finish by wrapping the rest of the pipe cleaner around the stick once again. You can secure it with a little glue if necessary

5. Hang on your Christmas tree or in your windows!

Sweet Tortilla Snowflakes

I found this fun recipe on Family Fun and had to try it.  Ours didn’t quite look as cute, but they tasted great! I think I’m just obsessed with making snowflakes this year! Oh well, at least this one we can eat!

 

 Ingredients:

• Flour Tortillas (1 per flake, I made 8)
• Canola or vegetable oil
• Confectioners’ sugar
• Edible glitter, sprinkles etc (optional)

Instructions:

• Heat oven to 400 degrees.
• Microwave tortillas 15 sec til warm
• Individually fold the tortilla in half once, then again, then again so you have a small triangle shape. (It will be quite thick)
• Using kitchen scissors cut shapes such as triangles, squares or circles out of the edges just like if you were making a paper snowflake. Carefully unfold.
• Lightly brush tops of snowflakes with canola or vegetable oil and place them on a cookie sheet.
• Bake approximately 4 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and edible glitter. Enjoy!

Monogram Christmas Ornaments

One year for Christmas I made monogram Christmas ornaments for everyone in our family. I tied them to the outside of their presents as the name tag. They were so adorable! Before wrapping presents I’d put them all on the tree, and it was so cute, I sort of regret giving them all away!

They’re super easy to make, and I need to do one for our baby this year since she wasn’t around when I made them:

Supplies:

• Wooden letter (I got mine from Archivers, but they don’t sell them anymore, however I have seen them at Michael’s, JoAnn’s and Walmart, they’re fairly inexpensive!)
• Patterned Paper (Also found at Michael’s & JoAnn’s )
• Adhesive (I used a Xyron 900 9-Inch Creative Station )
• Pencil for tracing
• Hole punch
• Foam Nail File to sand edges
• Alphabet EZ Rub-On Transfers or stickers for names.
• Embellishments: patterned paper scraps and ribbon, whatever you like!

Instructions:

• Turn wooden letter upside down onto back side of pattern paper and trace around edges with a pencil.
• Cut out the letter and adhere it to the front of the wooden letter.
• Using foam emery board, file in downward motion to smooth edges of paper and make it look more like its part of the wooden letter.
• Cut small strips for name tag, punch one end with hole punch and put on alpha rub ons or stickers for name. (I also made a small paper strip for the year the ornament was made)
• Tie on paper strips using decorative ribbon (I also adhered the paper strip to the front of the letter so it wouldn’t move around, they were a tad unstable even when tied on with the ribbon)
• Tie another piece of ribbon for hanging on tree. (For some of the ornaments I used a small flat thumb tack to hold on the hanger ribbon )
• Whatever you do: KEEP THESE! You’ll regret giving them away!

The Crafty Corner

Hi everyone, I have some exciting news!



I'm going to be writing a monthly column for the Totally Tots blog called "The Crafty Corner"! Here you will be able to find TONS of great craft ideas from mom's all over the web-o-sphere, and at the main site, more ideas then you could ever possibly do!

I'm extremely honored to have been asked to participate in such a plethora of sheer awesomeness and pray that I can do my part to contribute!

If you're interested in being featured on Totally Tots email me at ericaattotallytots {at} gmail dot com, with your craft ideas!

Small Space Workboxes!

Someone on the Yahoo Workboxes group shared these cool wall hanging space organizers!

I've had lots of questions as to where I got my boxes (mine are from JoAnns) and lots of people saying they don't have a lot of space. I took a look at these and have to say that they look like a great alternative to regular workboxes and they're only $8.49 at Amazon! Check em out here! Space Place Classroom Organizer.


You'd need a seperate location for large items that wouldn't fit in these pockets, but you could easily make cards for the pockets, then have the item ready for kids to grab next to their desk.

For more info on my workboxes click here to see how ours are set up!

Beaded Snowflake Ornament

We made fun beaded snowflake ornaments today. They were fun, and we even made patterns with our beads so I felt like it was semi-educational ;o)

Supplies:

• Craft Glue
• Sparkly Fake Snow
• Beads
• Corsage Pins (Can be found at Michael’s)
• Small Styrofoam balls or corks

Instructions:

1. Making a fun pattern string beads onto 10 corsage pins leaving about 1/4” on the end. Set aside on angle so beads don’t fall off.

2. Paint glue onto the styrafoam ball and roll it in the sparkly fake snow

 

3. Dip tip of pin into glue and stick into Styrofoam ball. Finish by pinning in a ribbon to hang with.

 

More beaded snowflake ideas:

• Kid Friendly Pipe Cleaner Beaded Snowflake
• Better Homes Beaded Snowflakes