Craft Miniature Snow Scene Baubles

Paper mache bauble halves are perfect supplies
for this vintage bauble craft.

      Craft enthusiasts have been assembling miniature snow scenes inside of all kinds of baubles for more than 100 years. Sometimes you can find little snow scenes inside of: hollowed out eggs, recycled Altoid containers or any number of tiny boxes. I used both a plastic bauble half and three paper bauble halves that I purchased from my local hobby shop for this project.

      There is really very little work involved in the crafting of these sweet little snow scenes, especially if you have a stack of old Christmas cards on hand. Children ages nine and up will enjoy pasting in all of the elements and be overjoyed with the ease of crafting ornaments with such professional results. 

      Parents and teachers, however, must do a little leg work in order to make the craft transpire smoothly with minimal frustration. Take a quick peek at the cards you have on hand and make sure to collect or purchase miniatures that compliment the card's themes. Snow scenes are by far the easiest to collect for because miniature deer and trees are typically sold in hobby stores around Christmas time for these kinds of craft projects. 

      You will definitely have more success purchasing miniatures online than in finding these supplies inside shops. This is because crafts are trendy just like anything else and this project is considered a bit too old-fashioned by many folks. However, vintage is in and I predict that the supplies will become more varied and abundant within the next few years.

I made four snow scene baubles with three
 old Christmas cards. See how children can
recycle Christmas cards into window views.

My Supply List:

• translucent white glitter
• white school glue
• paper pulp (premix)
• tacky white glue
• tiny figurines (dear, carolers etc...)
• tiny bottle brush trees
• old Christmas cards (landscapes, city scenes)
• cotton balls 
• tiny stickers
• mica chips or miniature mirrors (for ground cover)
• wire for hooks
• hallow bauble halves (plastic or paper, I used both)
• acrylic paints; white and blue

      Here I have also made a tiny snowman for the plastic deer to romp around on my chilly evening view. Did you know that deer are most active during evening, night and twilight hours? The blanket of snow here is made from white paper pulp that anyone can purchase in a craft shop. It comes in a large bulky bag, but it goes far when sharing it with a whole classroom of students. To prevent your paper mache baubles form being misshapen during the drying time of this craft, give your little students each a bowl to keep the wet ornament in while they are working. Let the ornament dry inside the bowl overnight.

      This tiny snow scene is my favorite because it is so blue. It helps to cut a series of slashes on the edges of your card clippings in order to make then fit nicely inside of the bauble shape. Also the smaller the scene, the easier the fit.

      The success of this miniature view was sheer dumb luck! I just happened to have a tiny set of carolers in my old stash of holiday miniatures. When I came across this tossed Christmas card of a German village at Christmas time, I knew that it would make a perfect ornament vignette. I cut the card down and pasted in the scene, added white paper pulp, pressed in the caroling figures with a bit of glue and dusted my snow scene with glitter.

      I pasted in a larger clipping of a tree and painted a pale sky into the background of this little view. Then I added little penguin stickers a plastic tree and paper pulp for snow to the foreground. I pressed mica chips into the paper pulp for the pond (If you can not find mica chips, use a tiny mirror.) and added a final dusting of glitter to the entire interior.

      To apply cotton batting the the backside of a bauble half made from plastic, you will need to first rough it up with a bit of sandpaper, cover it with white school glue, unravel the cotton balls and press them into the glue. add another coat of glue and cotton then add a third final coat of glue. Press the glue into the cotton batting with your finger tips.

Here you can see the back sides of my snowball baubles.
 I applied glitter to three of them and cotton batting to one.

See More Snow Scenes Inside Ornaments:

• Winter Wonderland photo ornaments with friends and family inside from Debi's Design
• DIY: mini snow globe ornament from nobiggie
• Photo uploaded to Vintage Look Christmas Ornament Discussion