I have loved the real deal, honest to goodness, 6 sided snowflakes since I can remember. When I was a kid I would take the bus downtown to Z.C.M.I. and one day I found a book about how to fold and cut real six sided snowflakes and I had to get it, none of those square or circle snowflakes for me! I love to cut them out, each one being unique from the next. What can I say, they make me happy! So, it was no surprise to my family when I decided to make these fun and easy clothespin snowflake ornaments! I hope you will love them as much as I do!
What you will need:
1 pkg regular sized clothespins (the craft section at Walmart had them, but if you head over to the laundry area they are half the price)
1 pkg mini clothespins ( these are actually medium sized)
1 pkg mini (they are truly the mini :))
white acrylic paint
foam brush
extra fine white glitter
glue gun or E6000 glue
Elmers Spray Adhesive or Modge Podge
beading wire
*Just keep in mind that you need 6 of each size of clothespins for each snowflake, so 18 total. Make sure you purchase enough for how many you plan to make 🙂
Begin by removing the springs from the clothespins. You basically just twist them apart. My toddler was probably best at this part of the project, so good at breaking things 😉 Save the springs for later, there are a few fun crafts I saw on Pinterest you could use them for!
I put some paint on a paper plate and let my kids go at it. We painted all sides and then allowed it to dry on the flat side as that side is glued and we don’t need it to look especially great.
We used a glue gun to glue each of the flat sides together, you don’t need much as you want them to glue tight and not have gaps in them. We did have a few come apart and need to be re-glued so the E6000 glue may be a better option. Once all the flat sides are glued together you can then piece the large snowflake together. I glued 3 of the sides first, and then one by one added the others, 6 in total. Then add the medium sized clothespins by gluing them in the middle of the large ones like the picture above.
Once the medium sized clothespins are glued down the center you will glue the mini clothespins down the center of the medium clothespins. Because my littles were painting these, the perfectionist in me came out and I did a quick extra paint coat 🙂
After letting it dry about 10 minutes I sprayed this Elmers Spray Adhesive all over the front of the snowflake. You could do Modge Podge as well but I wanted something really quick.
Immediately sprinkle a good amount of glitter on top of the snowflake. I let it sit for a minute or two before lifting it up and lightly tapping to remove the excess glitter off.
This is the wire I used to thread through. Cut about 16 inches off.
Fold the wire in half, at the center thread through the small hole that is formed by the clothespins, going from the back to the front, forming a loop.
Pull the loop that you formed from the front up and towards the back, the loop will fit over the top of the snowflake. Pull the two ends up through the loop as well, pulling them tight and forming a knot around the snowflake. With the two ends tie a knot and snip the top. This will allow you to hang the snowflakes anywhere.
And there you have it! I love these because we can put them on our tree, add them to a wreath, or even use them for Winter decorating throughout January!
Hope you love these, if you want some more fun ideas, check out these other 30 days of Homemade Ornaments my sister and I were a part of!
See the Happy!
These are so cute! I will have to look for the medium and mini clothespins and make these! My girls will think it’s fun to put together their own snowflakes.
Thanks so much Aliza! I am sure your girls will love it, days later my littles are still thrilled with their work. They love them so much they hung them on their bedroom door rather than the Christmas tree 🙂
I love this ornament! I can’t believe I have thrown away clothespins when the spring pulls apart. You have inspired me to come up with other crafts for broken clothespins. Thank you for participating in the series.
I appreciate it Kim! Clothespins can be used for so many things! Thanks so much for allowing us to be a part of your series!
LOVE THESE Kirsten- so very cute- I can see why you and the kids had so much fun making them 🙂
Thanks Terrie Lou! It was a fun time together 🙂
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I am totally going to make these this week with my kids! LOVE how simple they are!!
We would love to see them and hear about the fun! Thanks so much for stopping by Kendra!
These are adorable!
Super adorable and I have everything to make these. Shared and will be using this in a round-up with a link back.
Thanks so much Erlene! I hope you have as much fun as we did making them!
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When gluing the float sides of your clothespins together place one with the spring intact on each end and leave it there until the glue is dry. Your clothes pins will not have any gaps where they are joined together.
Good idea Gloria! After I had used a glue gun for these snowflakes I went back and used the E6000 – they have stayed together way better!!
Girl, we were totally thinking along the same lines this month! So fun! I love how you used a variety of sizes of clothespins to create yours! I’m still cleaning glitter off everything! 😉
Thanks so much Missy! We had lots of fun making these, but I must say I love yours in a frame. Having ours as ornaments has been rough with little hands who like to touch. Being in a frame I bet they last a long time!