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Make a Snowman with Shredded Paper

YolandaLacar by YolandaLacar

A Snowman Made of Shredded Paper? What?

It sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?

The last Christmas party I attended at my last job was at a college library and I was in charge of decorations.

A few years before another floor had come up with a giant snowman made with, you guessed it, all the shredded paper from the offices in the library! It filled two large frosty white garbage bags. They were piled atop of one another, to create the head and body of the snowman and attached with tape. And the eyes, nose and mouth were made with construction paper and various office supplies that were never used (there are many of these in a library!). It was almost three feet tall and I loved that snowman. I was inspired...

So when I was in charge of decorations my last year, I decided to do the same except I was so busy with other things-the party was my last official day of work, that I ended up making four smaller shredded paper snowmen with the help of my co-workers (my elves as I called them).

“What do you get when you take shredded paper and stuff it into a plastic bag? A snowman!”

What Do You Need?

All the supplies I used for the snowman was found in the office I worked in and yes I used things that we had tons of and couldn't get rid of fast enough, like old bright orange dot stickers. If you aren't making these for the office then look around the house for things that's laying around. The beauty about this project is that you can use scraps.
  1. Shredded paper. Diamond or long strips, it doesn't matter. But preferably white because we're making a white snowman.
  2. Plastic bag. I used a clear bag, the kind you use when making a gift basket or gift baggy. You can find them at the store. I had extras at my office for some bake sale and used those. If you have a large white plastic bag, that could work too! It needs to be big enough to be split into two parts with shredded paper.
  3. Colored dot stickers
  4. Construction paper or different kinds of paper, I even used index cards because they were stiff. Left over scrapbook paper would look fabulous on these snowmen.
  5. Tape
  6. Twisty Tie

Twisty Ties

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Stickers

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Paper

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Make me a Snowman!

Are you ready?

Easy Peasy! Here are the steps:

1. Put a bunch of shredded paper into the plastic bag. Puff it out and shape it, leave enough plastic left to make the head. Put enough paper in the bag to make it nice and round.

2. Tie off with twisty tie. If you don't have a twisty tie, string would be good enough.

3. Now fill the top of the plastic bag with shredded paper also, try to make the head and body proportionate to one another. Tape the plastic on top so that the head is complete. Now you have your head and body. I did add tape between the head and body so the snowman wouldn't topple over too much. Plus it keeps the head from wobbling.

4. Here's the fun part: decorate your snowman or woman! Use the stickers for the eyes, the mouth and the buttons. Use construction paper to make a hat, scarf, mittens, eyebrows, nose, clothing or whatever you want! Be creative.

Picture: I made the top hat for this snowman inspired by The Cat in the Hat. I cut the shape of the scarf and drew in the black lines. This little guy was so fun to make!

Mr. Peri

I'm not sure why, but my co-workers had fun naming the snowmen. This one they called Peri. Not sure why....he's a rustic fella with twigs for hands and a floppy green hat!

Lady Priscilla

Once I put the salmon colored polka dot scarf on her, I knew I would love her. My girls (co-workers) insisted she have eye lashes so I told them to get on with it and make her lashes. I made her hat and they decorated it with dots. They called her Lady Priscilla.

Brutus E. Beefcake

And what happens when you let two young library assistant decorate a snowman of their own? Madness! I made the snowman and made the nose, but the girls did the rest and had a grand 'ol time! They name this fella Brutus E. Beefcake after a dog on the cover of a pet magazine. The nose ring is a green paper clip. The mohawk? A coffee filter colored with green highlighter. His shirt? Part of a trash bag. Nothing is trash in the library!

If we could do it...

SO CAN YOU! It took us only one morning to make these and the party commenced at noon. It was easy, fun and made us laugh A LOT! They were also the star of the party.

Group photo op!

At the end of the party people were taking pictures with the snowmen. They were a hit! It was sad saying goodbye to them.

Can you see that someone added a flower to Lady Priscilla's bonnet? HA!

Prediction

YolandaLacar predicts:

I predict people that read this lens will attempt to make a snowman!

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Sandra predicts:

This is awesome, very creative and cute! Love it, I hope to make it some time =)

 
 
 

Who can do this?

Anyone with an imagination! Make it with the kids, make it with your office co-workers, make it by yourself. It's fun, fun, fun!

A Snowman Friend?

A co-worker from another floor loved our snowmen so much she went back to her floor, found a regular plastic bag from the store (hence why his head is small) and stuffed it. But she added a furry nose and eye balls, a tall hat and a tinsel scarf! Amazing! See how inspirational these are and you can put anything on them. How cute is that? Give it a try, you won't regret it!

By the way, doesn't it look like a polar bear or koala? Just saying... it's cute!

What do you think?

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Do you "like"?

I'd love to know what you think of these snowmen! And please "like" my lens if you think this is a fun idea. Thanks so much! Or as we say in Hawaii, MAHALO!

  • sheezie77 Jan 21, 2012 @ 6:22 am | delete
    Great lens! Keep up the good work!
  • kimark421 Dec 27, 2011 @ 11:41 am | delete
    Very cool. Well put together so that even a child (or worse yet, me) could do this! Thanks!
  • mumsgather Dec 20, 2011 @ 12:08 am | delete
    Very nice step by step pictorial instructions. Liked and Blessed.
  • acekyle Dec 14, 2011 @ 5:20 pm | delete
    Very cool and creative, I love the idea!
  • YolandaLacar Dec 14, 2011 @ 9:12 pm | delete
    Thanks!
  • acekyle Dec 14, 2011 @ 5:20 pm | delete
    Very cool and creative, I love the idea!
  • SereneSea Dec 10, 2011 @ 6:33 am | delete
    This is really creative and it looks so good with all the shredded paper, brilliant idea. Where there is a will there is certainly a way.
  • YolandaLacar Dec 10, 2011 @ 1:09 pm | delete
    Thank you!
  • alwaysjules Dec 5, 2011 @ 10:31 am | delete
    What a fabulous idea for schools or the office! Love it! Well done! Happy Holidays!!! Great Addition to the Happy Snowman Magazine!
  • YolandaLacar Dec 5, 2011 @ 1:05 pm | delete
    Thank you!
  • JoshK47 Dec 5, 2011 @ 9:09 am | delete
    What a wonderful, cute idea to creatively use trash from work to make a little holiday friend! Blessed by a SquidAngel!
  • YolandaLacar Dec 5, 2011 @ 1:05 pm | delete
    Thanks Josh!
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This Happy Snowman page written by

YolandaLacar

Book lover, dog lover, Life lover.

My name is Yolanda and I live in Hawaii. I've found a new passion in blogging.
Enjoy my Squidoos!

Seasons Greetings from the Wonderland

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