Q-tip Snowflakes!

Do you have a big box of Qtips in your house that need to be used up in places other than ears?  I ran across this craft in my Disney Family Fun magazine that I received this month and was intrigued.  In the least, it got Alexandria to use some new craft tools and items in addition to teaching me a lesson to read directions!!!

Things you'll need:
 - Q-tips
 - Glitter Glue (or regular glue and glitter separate)
 - Paper (or plastic wrap if you want to follow Disney's directions)

Using the pattern for a snowflake that you can see in the picture to the right, start in the middle by putting a big circle of glue in the middle of the paper or plastic wrap.  I chose to create my snowflake on paper because I didn't read the directions, but Disney tells you to create the snowflake on the plastic wrap.  The advantage of paper is that it's more sturdy and you can cut around the edge of the snowflakes to get rid of the extra paper around the outside; the advantage of plastic wrap is that at the end you can peel the snowflake off and easily hang/display it without any paper in between the q-tips.  To each is own...whichever you'd like to proceed with is fine.

OK, so back to the big circle of glue in the middle of whatever medium you've chosen to create your snowflake on.  I trialed a few ways to place the q-tips in the glue.  One way was just by setting them in and adding more glue on top; the other was by placing the q-tip in the glue and rolling it around so that it was then covered with glue on all sides.  I ended up sticking with the rolling method and then adding glue on top as needed when there wasn't enough coverage.  Add the q-tips to the middle placed in the appropriate direction and then continue outward with your design by adding more circles of glue at the new 'joints' or 'junctures' until you finish the pattern.

If you used regular glue, then you'll need to sprinkle the glitter on the spots where there is glue; if you used glitter glue then you're done!  I'd suggest leaving the excess glitter on the paper/plastic until it is dried and then shaking it off to put away once the design is more stable.  I added an extra line of glitter glue to both sides of all of the q-tips to add some more color to the design.

After it's dried (I'd give it overnight at least), if you used paper you can either leave it as is or trim around the edge of the snowflake with your scissors to cut it out.  I considered using a exact o-blade to cut out in the middle of the designs, but I felt it would make it too flimsy.

So there you have it, a beautiful quick and cheap snowflake decoration for the winter! 

Here's a picture of the original snowflake craft from the Disney Family Fun magazine.  They used the plastic wrap as a backing and different colors of glitter & glue to hold the q-tips together.  This would be neat to hang with string from a light or the ceiling for the holidays!

Or if you have younger children who are not quite ready to follow these types of directions, you have a beautiful glitter glue, q-tip, and glitter pom-pom piece of artwork! :)