Plastic Lid Snowman – Ornaments or Little Dolls!
Craft a plastic lid snowman to turn into ornaments or just for fun! When you’re done, check out this incredible snow dough recipe too. This post contains affiliate links.
I’ve been wanting to try crafts that turn plastic lids into sort of buttons, and I figured that winter is the perfect time to give this a try with a plastic lid snowman craft!
This is such a fun and forgiving craft. It’s open-ended, leaving room for creativity. It’s really easy – no special skills required. It doesn’t require you to be precise or get it perfectly right. There are no measurements, there is no template because there is no need for one!
Tips for crafting a plastic lid snowman
Since this is so open-ended, I figured I’d share some general tips for crafting plastic lid snowmen, and some fun ideas I had in mind for them.
Dressing it up
One of the most creative parts of this is dressing up your plastic lid snowmen. This makes it actually a really fun workshop activity, since you can teach the basic process of creating the plastic lid snowmen, and then offer various odds n ends to decorate it.
I created two of these to show you two different ways you can finish them off.
On one, I added earmuffs using faux fur scraps. I used felt to connect the two muffs, but you can also use a chenille stem. That might look cooler as you can allow it to stand up a bit.
For the nose, I used a flat bit of felt but you can also see how I did the nose on my snowman peg dolls for another way to craft a carrot nose from felt.
On the other one, I decided to make a beanie using a scrap of wintry fabric. I cut it into shape and rolled up the bottom, gluing it in place for the turned up rim. Pom poms make this project shine. The carrot nose is a “front view” – I used a tiny orang pom pom for that.
I definitely recommend getting creative with these and dressing them up as you see fit. You can also use a swatch of fabric for the scarf and beads or buttons fly for the buttons. I didn’t add a face (I wanted to keep it simple) but you can make that by gluing on small beads or drawing it on with a fabric marker. You may want to test the marker for bleed first.
Finishing it off
There are so many different ways you can use plastic lid snowmen – and these are just a few.
Turn it into an ornament – glue on a folded over ribbon to the top back to turn it into an ornament.
Use it as a plush figure – I honestly had it in mind originally just as a little toy that kids can play with, kind of like a mini “pet snowman”.
Add it to a keychain – While it’s pretty large in size, I think it would make a fun addition to a backpack for the season. I’d probably add a keychain by gluing on a small loop made from felt to the top back and using that to connect to keychain hardware.
Put it in a winter sensory bin – I ended up using this as part of a sensory bin featuring 2-ingredient fake snow.
What you need to craft a plastic lid snowman
- Two sizes of plastic lids – I used one from a liter bottle of seltzer, and one from a Stonyfield yogurt smoothie.
- White cotton fabric
- Polyfil fiber
- Fabric scissors
- Washable fabric marker
- White thread and needle
- To decorate it – assorted fabric and felt scraps, buttons, pom poms, etc.
- Ribbon
- Hot glue gun (check out my best hot glue guns for crafts here)
How to make a plastic lid snowman
1. Place your plastic lid on white fabric and make a circle around it. Be generous. You want it to be larger than the cap all around by roughly the height of the cap.
2. Cut out your circles.
3. Create a running stitch all around the perimeter of your circle using a needle and thread.
4. Pull it slightly so that the circle cups.
5. Stuff some Polyfil into your bottle cap.
6. Place the cap open-side-down on the circle. Try to shove all that Polyfil under.
7. Gently pull your thread to fully cinch the edge of the circle around the cap.
8. Stitch in and out of the cinched threads a few times to secure the two sides together, knot and trim.
9. Repeat with the second bottle cap.
10. Glue the two bottle caps together, one on top of the other.
11. Tie a ribbon scarf around the neck. Glue to secure if you’d like (do this if it’ll be getting any real active use).
12. Dress your bottle cap snowman up! I cut a triangle of felt for a carrot nose, bits of faux fur and felt for earmuffs, and beads for buttons.
On the other, I made a beanie using corduroy scraps (roll up and glue on the bottom) and a pom pom, added a tiny pom pom nose, and buttons for buttons.
I hope you enjoyed making a bottle cap snowman! What’ll you be using yours for? Comment below!
How to Make a Bottle Cap Snowman
This adorable little bottle cap snowman is such a fun recycled craft to make for winter! Turn these into ornaments or little dolls for pretend play. They're easier than they look.
Materials
- Two sizes of plastic lids - I used one from a liter bottle of seltzer, and one from a Stonefield yogurt smoothie.
- White cotton fabric
- White Polyfil fiber
- Fabric scissors
- Washable fabric marker
- White thread and needle
- To decorate it - assorted fabric and felt scraps, buttons, pom poms, etc.
- Ribbon - 1/4 inch grossgrain ribbon is perfect - or get bundled scraps for projects like these, like I do!
- Hot glue gun (check out my best hot glue guns for crafts here)
Instructions
1. Place your plastic lid on white fabric and make a circle around it. Be generous. You want it to be larger than the cap all around by roughly the height of the cap.
2. Cut out your circles.
3. Create a running stitch all around the perimeter of your circle using a needle and thread.
4. Pull it slightly so that the circle cups.
5. Stuff some Polyfil into your bottle cap.
6. Place the cap open-side-down on the circle. Try to shove all that Polyfil under.
7. Gently pull your thread to fully cinch the edge of the circle around the cap.
8. Stitch in and out of the cinched threads a few times to secure the two sides together, knot and trim.
9. Repeat with the second bottle cap.
10. Glue the two bottle caps together, one on top of the other.
11. Tie a ribbon scarf around the neck. Glue to secure if you'd like (do this if it'll be getting any real active use).
12. Dress your bottle cap snowman up! I cut a triangle of felt for a carrot nose, bits of faux fur and felt for earmuffs, and beads for buttons.
On the other, I made a beanie using corduroy scraps (roll up and glue on the bottom) and a pom pom, added a tiny pom pom nose, and buttons for buttons.
Notes
There are so many different ways you can use plastic lid snowmen - and these are just a few.
- Turn it into an ornament - glue on a folded over ribbon to the top back to turn it into an ornament.
- Use it as a plush figure - I had it in mind originally just as a little toy that kids can play with, kind of like a mini "pet snowman".
- Add it to a keychain - While it's pretty large in size, I think it would make a fun addition to a backpack for the season. Add a keychain by gluing on a small loop made from felt to the top back and using that to connect to keychain hardware.
- Put it in a winter sensory bin - I ended up using this as part of a sensory bin featuring 2-ingredient fake snow.
