Country Snowman Snowcone

Technique: No Sew Fabric

Materials
styrofoam cone
styrofoam ball of a complimentary size to the cone
scrabs of fabric
buttons or eyes for stuffed toys
coloured pencils
sandpaper
cotton bud
foam glue
white quilt batting
black embroidery floss
raffia
small cuphook

Tools
scissors
serrated kitchen knife
embroidery needle
hot glue gun

Isn't he adorable! He's really easy to make too.

Start with your foam pieces. You want the ball to be a good enough size that it proportionally looks like a scoop of ice cream when placed on top of the cone. Now take a serrated knife and cut off a third from the ball, this helps it sit better and makes it look like the scoop of icecream is sitting inside the cone, just like a real one. I also dug out a little bit from the top of the cone with a teaspoon to give a little cavity for the fabric to sit in, so that the ball would sit flush on top of the cone.

Starting with the head, no glue yet, drape a piece of batting over the ball and draw in the V shape for his mouth. Using the black embroidery floss backstitch in the detail of his mouth. Now you can use foam glue and glue the piece of batting onto the ball, smoothing over the surface and pulling the pleats underneath to get it as flat as possible around the ball.. Once smoothed over I used an elastic band to secure it underneath while I set it to dry for an hour.

Choose a fabric for the cone and glue to cover. You could use 2.5" squares that you have tattered slightly for a more country look if you wish. I used one piece and started by folding a corner over the bottom tip of the cone, and then wrapping around and securing with glue, kind of like wrapping a present. Trim the excess at the top to about half an inch, and secure the excess into the recess you made with foam glue.

Once the head is dry, trim the batting underneath the ball. Use hot glue to secure the head to the cone. Rub a pink coloured pencil against sand paper so that you get pink coloured dust. Rub over the snowman's cheeks for colour. I used 7.5mm black eyes with screw points designed for use in stuffed animals for the eyes, these are great as you can screw them into the foam and they sit securely. If you cannot get any of these, buttons will be fine, I used a red button for the nose attached with hot glue.

I tore a one inch strip of checkered fabric from an old shirt and wrapped this around the join between cone and head as a scarfe, together with some raffia. To hang, screw a small cuphook into the top of the head.

Distressed Gingerbread Cookie

Technique: Sewing, Painting

Materials:
calico fabric
acrylic paints
buttons
"jingle" bell
embroidery floss
scrap plaid fabric
wire
sandpaper
quilt batting
sea sponge
sandpaper

Tools:
sewing machine
sewing needle
hot glue gun
stippling or stencilling brush
thin paint brush
pinkingshears

Cut two 5" squares from the calico and one or two 5" squares from the batting (depending on thickness of batting and how thick you would like your cookie). Make a sandwich from the calico and batting so that you have one layer of calico, one or two layers of batting and then a layer of calico. Using a large glass or a circle template draw a circle onto the calico. Take 'sandwich' to sewing machine and sew along the drawn line. Cut circle out with pinkingshears.

Now that you have your base cookie, it's time to get creative. Using two or three different tones of brown and the sea sponge dapple over the cookie, being sure to get into the groove caused by the sewing and the edges. Allow to dry overnight. Using the sandpaper distress the top of the cookie, be light in some areas, firmer in others. Scrunch the cookie up to force creases and sand right over the top of the scrunched fabric. When you have finished sanding, wipe over the cookie with a damp sponge.

Using the stencilling brush and a little red paint, dry brush in high lights for the cheeks. Using the thin brush and white acrylic thinned down a little, draw the wavy line around the outside of the cookie. When dry sew on the buttons for eyes and the jingle bell for a nose. Use either black paint or black embroidery floss for the eye brows to give the cookie a worried look (she's a distressed cookie, get it?!)

Make a loop from the wire and push the ends into the top of the cookie between the layers of batting and calico, then bend the tips so that it doesn't just slip right out again. Cut a strip from the plaid fabric and form a bow, then adhere using hot glue.