Three Winter Crafts

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a crafty person. And anyone who reads this blog knows that if I'm doing a crafty post, it's probably Kristy from Theresa Free Library doing all the talking. Here she is, with her latest projects:

I wanted to share with you some photos and directions for a cute, easy, and practically free winter themed craft that any library can do this winter! 

Shredded paper snowman

I found it on Pinterest (of course!) 

The only item I had to buy was blue bristol board.    I used white bristol board circles instead of small paper plates, but only because I didn't have small paper plates on hand, and they didn't have any at the local dollar store.

Just make sure that there are no shredded library cards (or credit cards!) mixed in with your shredded paper.  Shredded plastic is sharp!

I also added a few trays of cotton balls, in case anyone did not want to use shredded paper.

Cupcake liner tree ornaments

I could not find seasonal cupcake liners at Walmart, so I went to the Christmas Tree Shop, where they were $1.00 per package (anywhere from 25 to 75 per package.)

Attached is a photo of the finished project, and a box of the materials I used.  The only thing not pictured is the white school glue.  The glitter glue is taking a while to dry, so I think that I will  have paper plates handy for kids to put their ornaments on to take home.

At the bottom of the box is a stack of cupcake liners that I already had in my craft drawer, in case anyone doesn't want Santa or upside-down elves on their ornament.

Gingerbread men

I did this one last year, and still have a small pile of cardboard gingerbread men in the storeroom, so I'm doing it again!

All you need is a gingerbread man (or lady) template - there are oodles on Pinterest - cardboard for the figures, and plenty of glitter and other bits to decorate them.  I happened to have bags of cake decorating sugar at home, so we used that.  Glitter glue works well because it minimizes the amount of powder glitter that will be flying around your library and grinding into your carpet.

Corrugated cardboard can be hard on your hands to cut, so it's best not to leave all the cutting on this one until the night before or the morning of.  (Not that I have EVER done that.)

Alternatively, you could cut your figures out of Kraft paper, and just leave them to dry for longer.