Turn scrap wood into the easiest and cutest wooden snowmen, perfect for Christmas or winter decorating! Complete with rusty junk features, rope scarves and more!

Someone asked me in passing if I could make a handmade wooden snowman for winter decorating.

Why yes, I think I will!

I LOVE creating winter decorating. Not only does it cover Christmas decorating as well, everything is still in season long after the Christmas trees come down.

I’ve been meaning to create some kind of DIY wood snowman project forever! Give me a challenge with scrap wood and I am SO in.

And I honestly couldn’t wait to get started. I’ve envisioned this DIY winter craft in my head for a while, but then I decided to add a few surprise elements at the end so I’d even pleasantly surprise myself!

The final outcome are adorable wooden snowmen, making the perfect Christmas decorations. They’d make affordable and unique gifts too!

But little did I know what divas these snowmen were about to become, as they simply could not make up their minds on which choice of scarf to wear…

I think I’ll let them chat it up this round… it’s all yours, divas snowmen.

Snowmen: “YES!! K guys… it’s story time… and put away your fancy wood slices this round, all you need are real wood handmade pieces of square chunks in whatever size!”

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The easiest DIY Wooden Snowmen

 

Craft supplies you’ll need:

 

Snowflake stencil – Winter Graphics from HERE

Square wood posts (bonus if they are chippy white!) or wood blocks

Miter saw

Orbital sander

Rusty junk hinges and random bolts

Burlap ribbon

Thick cotton rope

Stencil brush

Fusion Mineral Paint’s Coal Black paint
(find a local merchant HERE)

Once upon a time before we DIY Wooden Snowmen were born, we were reclaimed scrap wood posts.

Various sizes you know… and if the wood had some chippy white paint on it and they were all different sizes and sorda squarish, that was all fair game.

Preparing the wood

 

1. Gather up some squarish wood posts in different sizes.

They don’t have to be perfectly square, approximate sizes will do. However you may achieve a better experience if using same kind items, like if the wood comes from the same post.

And bonus points if the wood is already chippy white weathered wood that will mimic snow!

However you can also get this look by painting raw wood, then distressing it once dry with an orbital sander.

2. Cut down the posts into square cubes to create various sized blocks of wood that are stackable.

3. Lightly sand, leaving plenty of patina behind if they are already distressed white wood.

4. Stack the wood 2 or 3 blocks high, with the small blocks being the snowmen heads, and the larger blocks, their bodies.

Adding snowmen details

 

Creating buttons with bolts

 

5. Team up the right drill bit with big bolts that will become snowmen buttons.

Drill holes in the bodies where you desire the buttons to go, then insert the bolts.

I placed 2 bolts in a block of wood if they were small, and only 1 bolt if it was larger.

The bolts could also be attached using a hot glue gun, however I didn’t find that step required.

And while I used big ‘ol bolts, make sure you shop your own vintage treasures to see what you can come up with!

Use screws for eyes

 

4. To create snowmen eyes, screw in short black screws.

Add small branches for arms

 

5. For snowmen arms, gather up thin branches.

Team up a small drill to the branch size, then drill a small hole straight-on into the middle body block, remove drill bit, then drill once again on a sharp upwards angle.

Double drilling helps create a hole first so the drill bit doesn’t slip while on an angle.

6. Insert the branches into the drilled arm holes.

For the branches, a mix of evergreen branches and bare twigs made the snowmen arms extra unique!

Adding scarves 3 ways:

 

And here come the extra details! I came up with several different ways to add scarves…

Rusty hinge scarves

 

7. Attach old rusty hinges to the backs of the heads to create rusty junk scarves.

They turned out so cute! Especially when using different shaped and colored hinges.

And we DIY Wooden Snowmen were ready for the great outdoors! Look at us with scarves flapping away on a beautiful crisp windy winter day!

But then the wee one got chilly… ok, we ALL got chilly.

View Winter Graphics stencil HERE / Other Christmas stencils HERE

Using a winter stencil for snowflake details

 

Winter Graphics to the rescue!

Winter Graphics is a winter-themed stencil with 3 different sized snowflakes, a cup of hot cocoa, two arrows and 25 cents.

The snowflakes were perfect to use for these scarves! Here’s how:

View burlap ribbon options HERE

Burlap ribbon scarves

 

1. Cut strips of thick burlap ribbon to desired length. (leave extra so you can trim down)
2. Position the Winter Graphics stencil in random areas, then stencil in black.
3. Tie around the snowmen’s necks, then trim the length as desired.

Stencil – Winter Graphics from HERE

Paint – Fusion Mineral Paint’s Coal Black

Learn how to stencil HERE

Rope scarves

 

And then we were outfitted with cozy full-on burlap scarves!

But some of us chose rope instead. Because, why not?

1. Cut some cotton heavy rope into lengths desired.
2. Tie rope around necks, knot, then trim the length.
3. Slightly fray the ends to create tassels.

I actually think any kind of scarf would look cute on them! Think of black and red Buffalo Checked scarves too!

Other recommendations to decorate with:

 

• Add glitter or metallic paint to add a little shimmer to mimic white snow
• Stage with faux snow
• Drill holes in the heads and insert real or faux votives to become candles
• Stain raw wood instead of paint for different effects
• Add hats made out of baby socks as toques or sew your own
• Insert mini smoking pipe into a drilled hole for the mouth
• Craft black top hats by cutting the heads longer then paint top part black with a small horizontal plank added for a hat rim
• Add a tiny string of fairy lights around the bases

Allow your own creativity to make these DIY Wooden Snowmen yours!

See ready-made wooden snowmen on Amazon HERE

 View lots of mini snowmen decorations on Amazon HERE

“Ya know, I love these rope scarves, but…”

“I know. I’m with ya. Ok, SHUFFLE everyone!”

And boy did we! We became a taller dad, a cute mom, and a wee one!

How’s that for unique gift ideas that are not only adorable, but affordable too?

Snowmen video how-to:

 

Click above to watch how the drilling step worked! It was rather tricky to explain.

The finished snowmen!

 

We are now so ready to adventure to all these unknown destinations! Wherever will we land as Christmas or winter decorating?

Consider placing them on window sills, a fireplace mantel, on an outdoor patio or front porch! Craft them for a gift or keep them for yourself!

Oh, and we will totally live happily ever after because we will never melt either!

Until we are needed to make something else of course…

The End.

.

Back to the designer…

K, thanks guys! Great job! I may hire you again at some point…

Think you’ll make a few?

Other wood scrap Christmas projects to make:

 

Scrap wood Christmas trees in present bases

 

Industrial gear Christmas trees

 

Scrap wood Christmas and winter trees

 

Visit many other unique Christmas decorating ideas HERE