Christmas Snowman: DIY Cotton Ball Wreath

I am still working on the Let it Snow – Donut Christmas Party, and needed something large to cover a couple of areas on the wall in our event venue. I had seen a couple of cute cotton ball wreaths on pinterest, and thought it would be an inexpensive way to cover a lot of wall space. Since I had some extra pool noodles from DIY Christmas Donut Ornaments – Using Pool Noodles, and had already done a snowman craft last year Buffalo Check DIY Snowman: Using Embroidery Hoops ….it was the perfect marriage. Welcome to Christmas Snowman: DIY Cotton Ball Wreath!!

Christmas Snowman: DIY Cotton Ball Wreath

***UPDATE*** You can now see how the Let It Snow – DONUT Christmas Party (Part 3: The Event) turned out!! See how the snowman looks on the wall at the Christmas party – it turned out adorable!!

***NOTE*** You can make this with 3 wreaths or just 2 wreaths (if you want a smaller snowman). The 3-wreath snowman will measure ~ 52″H when finished.

Christmas Snowman: DIY Cotton Ball Wreath

Supplies for 3 wreaths:

3 pool noodles – (1 full length 58″L, 1 mid length 42″L, 1 short length 32″L)
700 cotton balls – 4 bags (200 count)
60 glue sticks
glue gun
white spray paint
plastic or canvas painter’s cloth
wooden blocks
packing tape (or duct tape)
tape measure
knife (to cut noodle)
3/8″ white grois grain ribbon – 3 yds TOTAL (5 strips that are 18’L – 20’L each)
6″L upholstery needle
command strips to hang snowman

5 Step Tutorial for Christmas Snowman

STEP 1: CUT AND TAPE POOL NOODLES

CUT: Take first pool noodle, measure out 32″L, and cut with a knife.

Use a cutting board underneath so that you don’t scratch your floor or counter top. This will make the SMALL wreath.

Take the second pool noodle, measure out 42″L, and cut with a knife. This will make the MEDIUM wreath.

You will not need to cut the third pool noodle. This will make the LARGE wreath.

TAPE: Now, begin with the third (the long noodle that will make LARGE wreath) and bend it into a circle.

Use your packing tape and secure the ends together. Make sure to tape down with about 4 -6 pieces of packing tape.

This noodle is the easiest one to bend because of the length. It is the only one that will have ends that fit flush together (not pictured).

Next, do the same thing to your small & medium noodles. See picture to right.

***NOTE*** The medium and small wreaths will have a little gap so that they can make a circle. The smaller one will also not form a perfect circle….just thought I should mention that.

It will be the top part that goes under your santa hat, so it will be hidden.

***TIP*** I had my tape ready and attached to my counter top so that I could grab it quickly. Bending and taping the noodle together is a little tricky, so you can grab a helper if you need to. 😉

STEP 2: SPRAY PAINT ALL 3 NOODLES

Now, you will prep your area outside with plastic or canvas cloth. Put a couple of wooden blocks to lift noodles off the plastic.

Lightly spray TOP side of all 3 noodles with white spray paint or white primer.

Let dry 20 mins.

Flip them over and spray the BOTTOM side.

***TIP*** Make sure to spray the inside and outside parts of the noodles also.

I did a light spray so mine would have a baby blue color peeking through the cotton. If you want it solid white, just spray more paint.

STEP 3: HOT GLUE COTTON BALLS

I want to be upfront on this part…..this is VERY time consuming. But is sooooo worth it!!

Since I learned as I went along, this is my:

***BIG TIP*** Pull your cotton balls one day (into a rectangular shape), and hot glue the next day – for each wreath.

It helps with 3 things: less cotton balls to purchase, easier to line up to keep them straight, and makes the hot gluing stage go by so much faster.

But if you want to just hot glue as is (with ball shape cotton ball) go right ahead!! Both ways are adorable 🙂

FYI on time frame: I would pull cotton balls for about 45 minutes – 1 hour one evening, and then hot glue the next day for about 45 minutes- 1 hour.

Hot glue one layer at a time. I did one top layer, one inside layer, and then one outside layer to keep straight lines. I also offset each layer so that it wouldn’t look like one straight line.

In other words, start 2nd layer with cotton ball in between 2 cotton balls. See picture below left.

I hot glued cotton balls on the entire backside also, but you can leave unfinished if you want. It would look like picture below right.

TIMELINE/SUPPLIES STATUS for hot glue step:

Large wreath: 315 cotton balls, 25 glue sticks, 1 hour 45 mins -2 hours completion time.

Medium wreath: 225 cotton balls, 20 glue sticks, 1 hour 45 minutes completion time.

Small wreath: 165 cotton balls, 15 glue sticks, 1 hour 30 minutes completion time.

STEP 4: THREAD RIBBON THRU WREATHS

Take your 3/8″ wide white grois grain ribbon and thread through eye of needle. I used a 6″ upholstery needle, and ~ 18-20″L ribbon for each one (5 strips total).

Then poke your needle through the inside moving to outside of wreath, and pull the ribbon through.

Leave one part of the ribbon on outside of wreath and one part of ribbon on inside of wreath. Then take ends of ribbon and tie a knot.

Once that is done, you will make a second knot about an inch up. This second knot will be your loop to hang your snowman.

***NOTE***I showed it using an extra piece of pool noodle first – so you could see what it will look like better. See picture below. Then, I will show what it looks like with the cotton ball wreath.

Now, with the actual cotton ball wreath. This STEP is just for the TOP of the SMALL wreath. The “loop” is how you will hang the wreath onto the wall.

***TIP*** Remember the “not-so-perfect” circle for the small wreath? This is where you will poke your needle through.

This way you can hide that little cone-shape under your santa hat 😉

STEP 5: TIE WREATHS TOGETHER WITH RIBBON

You will now do the same STEPS 1-3: THREAD, PULL THROUGH, AND TIE to the bottom of the small wreath, top and bottom of the medium wreath, and top of the large wreath.

BUT…..instead of tying the loop, you will tie the bottom of the SMALL wreath to the top of the MEDIUM wreath. And tie the bottom of the MEDIUM wreath to the top of the LARGE wreath.

***NOTE*** You will not need to thread the bottom of the LARGE wreath because it doesn’t attach to the wall or another wreath.

My picture below left shows them with loops – sorry!! This was how I knew that I didn’t need to make the LOOPS for this part. I forgot to take another picture with them untied.

The picture below right is the small and medium wreaths tied together.