Melted Snowman

Ok, first of all, I live in Florida. So the idea of even having a snowman is a little crazy. Maybe a snowman built out of sand?

Yeah, that might work. But in all seriousness, it gets cold down here, but not that cold. We think it's cool when there's ice on the ground from an overnight freeze. And I might break out the credit card once a year to scrap that icy stuff off my windshield. Otherwise, it's mainly wet and windy. I think that's why I love to incorporate snowmen into my Christmas decorating. Makes me feel like I'm celebrating the winter months like everyone else up north.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand...

Melted snowmen.

While visiting my mom the other weekend, I noticed she had an ornament laying on her kitchen counter with what looked like salt & peppercorns in it. Now, I learned a long time ago that my mom is a little on the odd side and comes up with some of the wackiest ideas. When I asked her what it was, she told me it was a melted snowman. I guess she got the idea from a coworker of hers who saw it on Pinterest (examples here and here).

I told her that it didn't quite resemble a snowman. Her reply? "That's because I'm still missing the nose!" But of course! A little bit of orange would convince me that it was a snowman! But, you know what? She was right. All it was missing was the nose...

She used sea salt instead of table salt to make the ornament. The sea salt helped the peppercorns and clay stay more towards the top. Plus I think it looks a little more like snow, don't you? We both agreed that filling it up about a third of the way looked the best. As mentioned, peppercorns were used to represent the coal that you use to make the eyes and mouth. Mom bought a little bit of orange clay and made it into a carrot shape before dropping it into the ornament. I love the simplicity of it! Sure, you could add buttons, a scarf, twigs for arms, and a top hat. I think if I were going to add anything, it'd be the twigs. It might help it look more like a snowman. The other stuff? I think it would just clutter the ornament.

Mom loved the ornament so much, she even decided to make a miniature version:

Isn't the baby snowman cute?

I swear my mom comes up with some of the wackiest projects, but they almost always turn out looking great!

Are you crafting any ornaments this year? Or maybe you're making the gifts this year from scratch? I'm looking into mason jar gifts this year. Anyone else have a love for snowmen? Even the melted kind?