Emi's teacher asked each family to create a Snow Friend to contribute to the classroom's winter decorations. Instructions and expectations were frighteningly open-ended for this software programmer:
You can make it with bottles, cans, paper, white trash bags filled with cut up newspaper, paper plates (remember to make a stand of some sort please, boxes, anything. (The only exception is the use of food products…….bugs, etc) You can use paper, felt, wiggle eyes, pom poms, yarn, jewelry, bows, ties, ANY accessory. Have fun, do it together, make sure your child really gets involved.
My eyes crossed at the supply list. So, basically we need to create something out of anything and everything on the planet? I need a real specifications document! Who signed off on this thing?
So, panic-ridden, I actually dreamed about this Snow Friend for days before making my first foray to the craft store. One night, I imagined a Snow Friend made not out of snow, but balls of yarn, so I googled "Yarn Ball Snowman" and found "Happy Homemaker Me," a crafty genius mama who does every domestic thing I do not. However, I swear she has an engineer's mind, because her post detailing her yarn ball snowman project was so well-organized and intuitive, she made a crafter out of me.
Top three lessons learned from this:
1. Michael's is more effective than Target in separating me from my money. All I wanted to do was buy some styrofoam balls and some yarn, but I came out with over $50 worth of sewing supplies, ornaments, cardmaking materials, a dark chocolate Snickers bar, and a dozen wild ideas about how I'm going to quit my job and start scrapbooking, wreath-making, and quilting. HALP ME.
2. Apparently, if I was a smart consumer, I would have saved 50% with one of Michael's myriad of coupons. Ugh, forgive me Father, for I hath paid retail price.
3. All hail the mighty hot glue gun! A really good adhesive can change worlds! Seriously, somewhere between the trigger and the nozzle lies the secret to world peace, plus the searing pain you feel when you accidentally get some on your fingers satisfies my periodic yen for S&M. Hurts so good, baby!
And here are the results of about 4 hours of labor:
Hat sewn by yours truly; arms courtesy of our recently-pruned pomegranate tree; eyes made from fireplace remnants; embellishments, gift boxes, and buttons curated by Emi. Just look at the smile on her face! I'm hooked.
