Winter Crafts and Recipes 2014 by Mia

☃Winter Crafts and Recipes 2014☃
By Mia M. Burkholder

Is your holiday spirit low? Boost it up with some winter crafts that will really let it snow!

GLITTER SNOW CENTERPIECES

Let’s make some decorations that sparkle in the light!

You will need: Mason jars, glitter snow, winter themed sparkly ribbon, a glue gun, and some winter-themed figurines(you can find them at craft stores, like Joann’s or Michael’s)

STEP 1 Take your mason jar and fill it ⅓ of the way with glitter snow. STEP 2 Take your figurines and put them on top of the glitter snow. Make sure they are really in there. It should cover some of the bottom of the figurine, so it is really dug in. It is okay if your figurines fall over. You can just screw off the top and prop them back up. STEP 3 Cut a strand of winter-themed (possibly sparkly) ribbon, long enough so that you can tie a bow around the cap. If it keeps falling off, or if you want to prevent it from slipping then use some hot glue to keep it in place. You can put extra figurines on top of the jar. You’ve finished! Now go put that in the center of your table!

MELTED SNOWMAN COOKIES

Sorry Mr. Snowman, but we just MUST eat your melted friends!

You will need: A cookie mix (any type of cookie you prefer) and all supplies needed for the mix, large marshmallows, and decorating gel. If you would like, you can also get some nonpareils (the little sprinkle decorating balls) for fun.

STEP 1 Make and bake your cookies. Then let cool. STEP 2 While your cookies are cooling, place frosting on them. Make sure you let it drip over the edges so it looks like melting snow. It’s best to do it while the cookies are warm, so it naturally drips a bit. If it doesn’t seem to want to go over the edges, layer it on more or help it by pushing some over the edge. STEP 3 Grease a small microwave-safe plate. Put a single marshmallow onto it. STEP 4 Microwave the marshmallow until it begins to puff up, 5-15 seconds. STEP 5 Immediately place the marshmallow on the edge of a cookie. Make sure that the frosting is still wet. STEP 6 With our black decorating gel, pipe on eyes, arms and mouth. With the orange pipe on the carrot nose, and with colors of your choice you can pipe on scarves, bow ties, hats, etc. STEP 7 With nonpareils, you can put on his buttons. If you don’t have nonpareils then you can just use black decorating gel to blop some buttons  on. STEP 8 Allow your cookies to fully dry for about one hour before serving. Now you can munch on some snowmen!

SCRABBLE ORNAMENTS

If you like scrabble, you will love these 5-step ornaments!

You will need: scrabble tiles, a hot glue gun, ribbon, glitter snow or ornament flakes, glue, and white paint.

STEP 1 Pick out a winter word or words to spell out with scrabble tiles. FInd the tiles and lay them out. If they are multiple words than put them on separate lines. STEP 2 Hot glue the tiles together so they stay in place. STEP 3 Glue a loop at the top out of ribbon so that you can hang it. STEP 4 Mix the glue and white paint together. Once the hot glue has dried, glop on some white paint/glue mixture wherever there is space on the tiles. Make sure that it is glopped on and messy, like it was snowed on. STEP 5 Quickly dust the areas that have paint on them before they dry with the glitter snow or ornament flakes, so they look like, well, glittery snow. Let that dry and then hang it where you please! Beautiful and fun!

SNOWMAN CUPS

These snowmen are very tasty and fun to make, everyone can add their own personality!

You will need: 2 packages of instant pudding, 2 cups of thawed cool whip topping, 6-7 ounce paper or plastic cups, assorted decorating gels in different colors, any decorations you would like (mini m and ms, nonpareils, anything you’d like!), and 2 cups of oreo cookies, crushed (optional)

STEP 1 Follow the instructions to make the instant pudding. Let sit for 5 minutes. STEP 2 If you would like, add in 1 cup of the crushed oreos to the mix. STEP 3 With the remaining cookie crumbs, put them on the bottom of the paper or plastic cups you plan to put the pudding in. Put an even amount in each. STEP 4 Pour the pudding into each cup evenly. STEP 5 Plop scoops of cool whip on top of the pudding cups so that they resemble snowman shapes. STEP 6 Decorate the snowmen with decorating gel to add eyes, noses, mouths, scarves, hats, whatever you want your snowman to wear. And you’re done! If you want to make these ahead of time, store them in the fridge until you want to serve them.

POM POM SNOWMEN

These simple crafts are adorable, yet can be made in less than 5 minutes!

You will need: white or cream pom poms (if you want though, you can make your own pom poms out of yarn if you want that homemade touch. You can easily find how to do it by searching on google or youtube)a hot glue gun, and to decorate your snowman you can use whatever you want, pipecleaners, gems, buttons, ribbon, beads, felt, sequins, etc.

STEP 1 Hot glue 2 or 3 different-sized pom poms together so they resemble a snowman. STEP 2 Decorate your snowman! Go crazy, add a personal touch. This is YOUR snowman, make it how you want! Some ideas you can do are adding ear-muffs out of pipe-cleaners, tying a ribbon around his neck as a scarf, or making a beanie hat for him out of a pipe-cleaner coiled up. The rest is up to your imagination!