(Every week until December 1st we will be making a small Christmas ornament that can be used in our Pocket Advent Calendar. Join us in making all 24 or just pick and choose your favorites.)

This week we are making snowball ornaments. A textured medium called Snow-Tex painted on Christmas balls gives them the look of a glittery snowball.

These are a little messy, but really easy to make. They would be a great project with kids especially if you use plastic instead of glass balls. The Snow-Tex dries hard and solid, so there is no flaking off on the final ornament.

Snowball Ornament

Supplies:

• glass or plastic Christmas ball
• vinyl stick-on letters My letters were 1″, anything bigger will have a hard time with the shape of the ball
• white acrylic paint
• Glistening Snow-Tex

Tools:

• paintbrush
• Something to hang the ornament from while painting it and letting it dry. I used a jewelry holder.

1. Stick the letters on the clean ball to spell out a word or just do an initial. (A clean ball will help the letters stick better).

I used scrapbooking letters. I liked that they were puffy because that made them easier to get off, but they didn’t stick to the curve as well as I had hoped. I think vinyl letters from the hardware store might have stuck better.

2. Paint the ball with the acrylic paint and let dry.

I did this step because I was afraid the Snow-Tex wouldn’t cover completely. I was right, there are some spots where it is thin and you see white paint instead. Now, you could skip this step and just make sure to put the Snow-Tex on thick.

3. Cover the ball in Snow-Tex. Try not to cover the letters.

This stuff is thick and goopy. I used a paintbrush to apply it, but I’m not sure that is the best tool. A small knife might have been a little easier. You can thin it with some water to make it spread a little better, but I was afraid then it wouldn’t cover as well or give the texture I was looking for. I still have half a bottle or so to experiment with though.

4. Snow-tex takes about 24 hours to completely harden. I removed two of my letters before it completely hardened. It is easy to mess the “snow” up around them, so be very careful. WIth the last letter I waited until it was completely dry, it was a little harder to get the letter off and it took a bit of the snow around it off too. I just went back with a small paintbrush and touched up with more snow. Because the letters are surrounded by a texture medium you won’t get perfectly crisp, clean lines.

If like me, you get a little paint or snow under the letters, it is really easy to scrape off, especially on the glass balls. I used the head of a straight pin to do it on mine.

I thought about going in and painted the letter with red glitter paint afterwards, but decided I liked the icier look of the clear glass.