DIY Gumball Machine Snow Globe

DIY Gumball Machine Snow Globe

This past week Mom and I spent one afternoon putting these adorable gumball machine snow globes together!  The one I made is shown in the above pics with Santa Kissing Mrs. Claus, while Mom’s has a completely different little scene of Santa with his elves and lots of colorful presents.  They both turned out just as cute as can be!

When Mom and I first started this project, we thought it was going to be easy-peazy, fast and easy…boy were we wrong!  (until we figured out a much easier way…lucky for you!)  Figuring this little part out took about 2 hours of trial and error by adding the snow first, then trying to (one-by-one) add the figures, only to have them fall sideways into the snow, LOL.

DIY Gumball Machine Snow Globe Tutorial

Supplies:

1. Gumball machine-I ordered one that came with a stand HERE, or you can order one without a stand HERE.
2. Various Christmas figurines to put into the globe (we bought all of ours at Micheals)
3. Bag of fake snow-my favorite snow to use for my globe is Buffalo Snow Flurries
4. White spray paint-for painting the middle pole
5. Red ribbon at 1/4 inches in diameter
6. Various tools that I used (scissors, small spoon, tongs, shop stick, white paper plate, scoop, funnel)
7. Hot glue gun
8. Flathead Screwdriver
9. Tape – to tape stem on gumball machine to protect from painting
10. Paper Towels

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assembly:

First, unscrew the top of the gumball machine.

Next, remove the top.

Now you can remove the grey retaining ring (at the top) by unscrewing the little nut holding it on.  You can discard this piece if you want but make sure to keep the little rubber ring!

Next, remove the glass.

To avoid any snow from getting into the innards of the machine, you can now cut a piece of paper plate or cardboard and stuff it into the hole.

Making the Striped Pole:

First, cover the whole machine with some paper towels or newspaper.  Also, wrap a piece of tape over the top threads of the pole sticking out.

Next, spray paint the pole white.  Make sure your machine is completely covered to avoid any over spray!

After it’s dry, add a dab of hot glue to the end of the red ribbon and secure it to the bottom of the pole.  Then spiral it up to the top, securing the ribbon with another dab of hot glue.  Cut off the excess.

Stabilizing Figurines:

Cut another piece of paper plate and hot glue the little figurines in the positions that you want them to look inside the snow globe.  Make sure the piece of paper plate is cut small enough to fit inside the globe.  The paper plate piece stabilizes your figurines, preventing them from falling after they are set up inside the globe.

Note: I found that the easiest way to assemble the figurines is by first putting them all in through the bottom of the globe, THEN adding the snow.  I literally dumped the snow on top of everything, then gently pulled each figurine up to the top of the snow, shaking them off a bit.  That was it!

For the finishing touches I put some snow in the funnel and poked it through with the chopstick to add a little snow to the areas I thought needed more.  The tongs helped with grabbing the figurines and moving them into position.

I put a dab of hot glue to the little gumball flap to keep it open.

Now, just add the rest of the figurines and decorations to the outside of the gumball machine.  Also, you can now screw on the top (don’t forget to place the little rubber ring on the top of the globe before screwing on the top).

Yay!  You are finished!  Now isn’t this adorable?

Merry Christmas!!!!

Feel free to comment!  I love to hear from you!

 

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DIY Gumball Machine Snow Globe

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