DIY Beach Cottage "Snowmen"

I know I said I was going to post this several days ago, but then the entire family came down with the flu, and I have been too sick to post.  So pin this for next year if you want some awesome little beach "snowmen" for your house. 

 Here is how I made these awesome "snowmen" and everything I would do differently next time:

Supplies 

1. Round styrofoam balls 2 for each snowmen one larger than the other. I used a 10in round and a 7 in round for each. 

2. Spray adhesive- I would buy styrofoam spray adhesive next time.

3. Wooden dowels - I bought a 36in long dowel that was 5/8 inch thick and cut it for my two snowmen

4. Play sand- you can find this at home depot.

5. DecoArt Platercraft Acrylic Matte Spray Finish. 

6.Seashells, glass marbles, sticks, buckets, shovels, pinwheels, or anything else you want to decorate your snowmen with. 

7. Newspaper.

8. Foam board for the surfboard. One made out of wood would be best as I have to bring this one in every night. 

9. Tape- to make the white stripe down the surfboard.

10. Acrylic paint for surfboard.

11. Stencils for the words on the surfboard which you obviously don't need to do this project.
12.X-acto knife.

This is the tacky spray that I used to glue the two styrofoam balls together and to glue the sand to the styrofoam.  It got the job done, but next time I would try styrofoam spray. I would also put the dowel through both styrofoam balls so that the "snowmen" weren't as fragile. As for adhering the sand to the styrofoam, it took many layers of spraying adhesive and sprinkling sand. When I made the first one, I glued the styrofoam balls together before putting the sand on, for the second one, I covered them in sand and then attached them and that worked much better.  I then sprayed them with DecoArt Plastercraft acrylic matte spray finish to protect them against the elements. 

 The styrofoam balls attached to one another. I then sprayed the adhesive in small areas and poured sand over it. This took a long time. I also had to pat the sand down. You have to be patient with this. I am hopeful the styrofoam adhesive would work better. I almost gave up on this project at this point, but if you keep at it, it does work.

After they were dry, I took the wooden dowel and inserted into the bottom of the styrofoam ball to stake them into the ground. I would put this through both styrofoam balls next time. I also sharpened the end so they would stake into the ground easier. 

After they were put together, I staked them into the ground where I wanted them, surrounded them with newspaper and poured play sand on top of the newspaper around the snowmen. I then glued shells, and glass marbles onto them for eyes, noses, and buttons. I also found sticks for their arms and then added beach toys around them. 

For the surfboard, I drew the shape of a surfboard onto foam board and then cut it out with an X-acto knife.  The shape wasn't perfect, and it probably would be smartest to make this out of wood to hold up against the elements as I said earlier I had to take this in every night.

I placed tape down the center of the surfboard to create a white stripe, painted the surfboard red and then placed stencils on it with the words peace, believe, joy to create a Christmas surfboard.

and this is what the finished surfboard looked like.

Bean and I sick 

 

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