DIY - Building Olaf

I needed to make a free-standing snowman for my granddaughters' "Frozen" Birthday Party. The "Olaf" poster snowman that I found online was $34.99, so I made a 3-D Olaf with materials I had and a piece of foam-board from Dollar Tree! Cost = $1.00

The first step was to do a "freehand" drawing of Olaf. I drew Olaf in pencil directly on the foam-board, and then I traced over my drawing with a wide permanent marker. There was not enough room for one of his "stick" hands, but I remedied that later.

I wanted Olaf to be "touchy-feely 3-D", so the next step was to trace key features such as his eyes, nose, tooth, buttons, etc. onto tissue paper.

I used the tissue paper drawings as patterns to cut out eyebrows, eyes, pupils, and carrot nose shapes from felt. I used Tacky Glue to glue the felt shapes to Olaf's face.

Olaf's mouth was colored using Cray-pas Oil Pastels. A napkin was used to blend the color, creating texture. The white felt tooth adds the perfect touch! 

Large pieces of black felt were cut and glued on to resemble pieces of coal. Shading was added to the carrot nose with a permanent marker.

A serrated knife was used to cut free-form shapes from the background. Pieces were glued to the hand and head areas, and reinforced with an additional scrap pieces of foam-board glued to the back. "Stick" shapes were drawn on, and brown and black markers were used to "scribble color" the stick shapes, making them resemble sticks.

The background was shaded with markers in 2 shades of blue and gray.

To make Olaf stand on his own, I folded a  piece of poster board and cut a stand about 5-1/2 inches tall and the width of the poster board. I "rounded" the top of both ends of the stand (see 2nd photo below). I cut slits halfway down (about 2-2/4 inches) on each end about 5 inches from the ends. I then cut 2 slits on the base of Olaf about 2-3/4 inches high. I slid the poster-board onto Olaf, matching the slits. It worked! Now he can stand on his own!

The large window/stage area was the perfect place for Olaf!

Batting was added around Olaf's base and behind him to resemble snow. Light blue decorative open-weave material was hung over the windows.

Nancy's Notes:

• Check out the "Frozen Birthday Party" for many activities, treats, and more!
• Art Foam could be used instead of the felt for Olaf's features. Features could also be painted or colored with markers.
• I thought about using real sticks for the arms, hands and head sticks, but I decided against it for safety!
• Cray-Pas are a combination crayon and pastel, and are fun to use. Unlike regular pastels, they are more vibrant and do not require a fixative. They are available at craft stores. 
• Olaf was quite a hit with the birthday girls and the other kids at the party. They loved posing for pictures with him, and granddaughter Aleyna even used Olaf as her dancing partner!

Granddaughter Aleyna poses with Olaf.