Submitted by: Amanda Formaro, WebMom at FamilyCorner.com Magazine.

Objectives:

What You Need:

• Empty glass condiment bottle with lid
• 4-6 sheets of printer scrap paper
• empty film canister
• 2 tiny black pom poms
• small plastic carrot or orange felt
• 2 juice box straws
• 4" x 4" scrap of colorful fabric
• tiny fabric scraps
• small strips of fun fur
• 3/4" wide strip red felt
• red and white glitter glue
• 3 colored buttons
• 6" strip of red satin ribbon
• scissors
• hot glue or craft glue

What You Do:

Prep
Peel all labels from empty condiment bottle, wash and dry. You may need to soak the bottle in warm water to help lift the sticker "goo". Using white (used) paper from your printer, roll up and cut into small pieces. Fill the bottle with the paper scraps until full, use a pencil (eraser end) to push down the paper to compact it. Fit in as much paper as you can to make the bottle look white.

Hat
If the lid from the condiment bottle is not black, paint it with tempera paint or color it with black permanent marker. Glue the film canister to the condiment lid. Glue strip of red satin ribbon around brim. Trim excess.

Body
Glue 2 tiny black pom poms onto face for eyes. If you don't have pom poms, draw eyes on with black permanent marker. Glue on plastic carrot for nose. If you do not have a plastic carrot, simply cut a small triangle from orange felt and glue on. Glue three colorful buttons onto belly area. Fringe both ends of red felt strip by cutting small slits with scissors. Wrap red felt around neck as scarf and glue in place.

Mittens
Fold the 4" x 4" fabric scrap in half. At the fold, cut out two oval shaped mittens. Using tiny fabric scraps (oddball sock scraps were used in this craft) stuff the mitten to give it a little height (see Figure 2). Fold over and glue together, leaving a small opening at the base of the mitten. Carefully cut out thumbs. Cut small strips of fun fur (substitute with cotton balls or cotton batting if necessary) to line the edges of the mittens. Glue in place.

Arms
Using 2 bendable juice box straws, cut one end on each straw about 1 inch short of the bend. Next, at the short end, cut a few slits up the straw to allow the slits to spread out (see Figure 1). Insert long end of straws into mittens. Add a bit of glue to adhere. Doing one arm at a time, allowing glue to dry on the first arm before beginning the next, spread out slits and glue onto side of body. If using craft glue, you may need to use small scraps of white paper over the top of the straw slits to help adhere them to the bottle.

Finishing Touches
Using red glitter glue, fill in gaps of hat brim. Add a small Christmas tree or red flower to the hat. Carefully fill in holes of buttons with red glitter glue. Spread a blob of white (or gold) glitter glue onto your finger. Carefully spread onto the red felt scarf. Use red glitter glue on fringed ends. Add a small present or ornament (present button is used in this craft) to one of the mittens.

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