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DIY Snowman with Glitter and Lights: Easy Fishbowl Snowman!

A glitter DIY snowman is such an easy and cute way to add to your Christmas decor!  Your friends and family will never know this light-up snowman is actually a fishbowl snowman.

Hello Friends!! Are you ready for the holiday season?? I know we have a couple of months, but I absolutely love Christmas decor.

I wish I could decorate my house now! I have been satisfying the decorating itch with some new crafts.

I have to admit I’m a little in love with this guy – he makes me smile every time I see him! I wanted to share this happiness by showing you how to make this super easy DIY snowman with lights and glitter.  He goes perfectly with all my other DIY Christmas decor!

Isn’t he so cute?? Plus he cost under $5 to make – you got to love the Dollar Tree!  You’d never guess he was a fish bowl snowman;)

DIY snowman

This is a really easy and quick project that you could make without any fancy machines. You could use stickers, glue and glitter, pom poms, contact paper, etc for the embellishments.

If you are a big Dollar Tree lover like I am make sure to check out a roundup of great Dollar Store Christmas crafts to make.

Materials for DIY Snowman with Lights

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links from Amazon, Dollar Tree and/or Cricut.com. I receive a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using my links.

DIY light up snowman
  • 2 glass fish bowls – I used two slightly different sizes (3.5 inch and 3.8 inch I think!). They were both fish bowls from the Dollar Tree
  • glitter – I used two different kinds and mixed them together. One was this one found here (or from Walmart) and one was package from Dollar Tree
  • Mod Podge
  • Cricut Explore Air™and vinyl. If you’d like to learn more about a Cricut, click here for my Guide of Cricut Ideas!
  • Fairy Lights – This is a great pack so you can use for other projects!
  • glue gun, paint brush, fabric/felt for scarf, embellishments

Instructions for Light Up Snowman

You can use two glass fish bowls that are the same size or use the two different sizes. I used the two different sizes.

Clean both bowls out with some rubbing alcohol and paper towel and let dry.

Have your glitter ready. You can use just the extra fine glitter if you want. I liked adding the larger rainbow pieces since it gave him a bit more texture and extra sparkling!

I just poured a little bit of both in a bowl and mixed them together.

DIY glitter snowman with lights

Dip a paintbrush in some mod podge and then coat the whole inside of one of the bowls.

applying mod podge to glass dollar tree fish bowl

Pour some of the glitter mixture into the fish bowl and start swirling it around so it covers everywhere.

It’s easiest to put a bowl or plate underneath and roll the glass bowl while some of the glitter is falling out the top. This helps get the glitter all the way to the top.

DIY glitter snowman with lights

This is the same method we used when making the glitter floating Christmas ornaments.

adding glitter to glass bowl
DIY glitter snowman with lights

The entire bowl should be covered with glitter. Do both bowls the same way. Let the glittered glass bowls dry for about 24 hours.

mod podge and glitter inside glass bowl

I’d love it if you come craft with me on Instagram!  Click here or below to follow.  Also, if you make any of my crafts I’d love to see them!!  Tag me @leapoffaithcrafting.

instagram follow

Now you get to start decorating and putting together the fish bowl snowman! If you have a Cricut or other cutting machine you can download my FREE snowman SVG file, size it, and cut them out on vinyl.

I love using my Cricut during the holiday season!  I have a ton of Cricut projects if you want more inspiration.

Also if you like budget crafting, make sure to check out my Dollar Tree Cricut project ideas.

Snowman SVG FREE File

As with all my files, these are for personal use only. If you would like to purchase a commercial use license, click here.

Sometimes the file will look blurry when you first open it, but once you download it, the SVG will open up clearly.

If it doesn’t automatically download, you might need to right-click on it and Save As. If you need additional help, make sure to check out my post on how to download and upload files to CDS.

Or check out my Cricut Design Space 101 series for even more tutorials.

snowman SVG Free

Click HERE to Download FREE SVG Snowman Face File!

Putting Together the Glass Glitter Snowman

Clean the outside of the glitter bowls with alcohol and paper towels and let dry.

Cut out your snowman face and buttons of adhesive vinyl. If you don’t have a cutting machine, you can always use stickers or glue and glitter or hand-cut vinyl or contact paper to decorate your DIY snowman.

making a glass snowman

Then you’ll apply the vinyl with transfer paper (or you can freehand if you want with a Sharpie paint pen!) to the smaller bowl.

applying vinyl eyes to glass snowman

I found this adorable Snowman hat at the Dollar Tree! There were two different kinds and they are ornaments.

I just took the metal top hook off of it. Grab your glue gun and glue that puppy on!

applying hot glue to top of snowman
DIY snowman dollar tree hat

Make Your Homemade Fish Bowl Snowman Light Up!

Now the cool part. Add half of the fairy lights to the bottom of your Dollar Tree DIY snowman and the other half to the top. The tail with the switch on it will hang out between the two bowls on the back.

I added a little bit of hot glue to two spots on the bowl and attached them together. If the lights go out, it will be easy to cut the glue attachment since it’s pretty small on both sides.

adding lights inside glass bowls

Now all you have left is the scarf. I used a spare piece of red felt.

I cut it about an inch wide by 24 inches long. I folded it in half (so the part around the neck was 1/2 inch) and wrapped it in between the two bowls.

I just tied it in a double knot and cut the ends off where I wanted them. I used a dot of hot glue to hold it in place but that’s optional.

You could add arms and legs if you want to. I’ve seen some with ornament mittens that were used. Maybe for my next one!

DIY fish bowl snowman with lights
handmade snowman with light battery pack

That’s it. Now sit back and enjoy your glittery glowing DIY snowman! If you have kids in the house, you can put their Elf on the shelf next to the snowman with the “Do you wanna build a snowman?” free elf note we have.

If you’d like to watch a video tutorial, of how I used the same method to make Grinch decorations, click on the link.

Make a matching fish bowl buddy with this cute DIY penguin Christmas decoration I made.  Plus grab another FREE cut file for the penguin face.

penguin christmas decoration diy

If you want a DIY nightlight for the Spring, make sure to check out how to make a bunny one using the same supplies and also have a free bunny face SVG file too.

how to make a bunny

To find out how to make this wrapped DIY light up canvas Christmas decor, check out my tutorial on Cricut Christmas projects here!

DIY snowman that lights up with fairy lights
DIY snowman

He’s even cute with the lights off!
glitter snowman

You can see the extra rainbow sparkles when you’re up close! If you like glitter as much as I do, check out how to make personalized glitter ornaments here and DIY Santa cam ornaments here.

grinch decor and craft

Here’s how my glitter Grinch came out.  Make sure to hop on over to the tutorial to grab the FREE Grinch face SVG file.

grinch decorations diy

If you’d like to check out a whole bunch more Christmas crafts click here! Or if you love your Cricut as much as I do and want to get inspired by a roundup of Cricut Christmas ideas from around the blogosphere, click on the link!

If you’d like to save this tutorial for later, simply hover over the top left of the image below and PIN It now!

DIY snowman

Here are some printable directions for the cute DIY snowman.

DIY light up snowman

DIY Snowman with Glitter and Lights!

Yield: 1 cute snowman
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Active Time: 15 minutes
Drying Time: 1 day
Total Time: 1 day 20 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Estimated Cost: Under $3

Make a super cute light up snowman out of mostly Dollar Tree supplies. This dollar tree fish bowl snowman is perfect as decor, nightlight, or gift!

Materials

Instructions

  1. Clean out the bowls with rubbing alcohol.
  2. Apply a thin layer of mod podge to entire inside of bowl with flat paint brush.
  3. Add some glitter. Rotate the bowl around so the glitter covers the entire bowl. Dump out any extra.
  4. Repeat for other bowl. Let dry 24 hours.
  5. Clean off outside of small bowl with rubbing alcohol.
  6. Cut out Snowman face SVG file (free on my blog post). Weed off extra vinyl and apply to small bowl with transfer tape.
  7. Hot glue on a hat.
  8. If you want it to light up, add fairy lights inside both bowls (half in each with switch hanging out back).
  9. Apply hot glue to top rim of large bowl and adhere two bowls together.
  10. Add a cute ribbon or felt as a scarf.
  11. Enjoy your light up snowman!

Notes

See post for FREE snowman SVG file.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Did you make this project?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

DIY Snowman FREE SVG Cut file cricut

Thanks for stopping by and have a creative day!

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Marty

Tuesday 5th of December 2023

I love this tutorial. It is easy for follow. Love the snowman. Thank you!

Charlie

Monday 18th of July 2022

What is the size of the hat you used? Thnx

Leap of Faith Crafting

Tuesday 26th of July 2022

It's a dollar store ornament. The base is about 3.5 inches

Elaine

Monday 29th of November 2021

I am trying to download the sag and it’s not letting me any suggestions

Leap of Faith Crafting

Saturday 4th of December 2021

It should automatically download. have you checked your folders to make sure it didn't download already? Not sure what could be going on... it downloaded when I tried it. If you still can't email me and I'll send it to you... leapoffaithcrafting@gmail.com

Karen Warton

Sunday 28th of November 2021

Just brilliant, he has such a cute face. I have been wondering how people have been doing glitter ball ornaments! Thank you so much for sharing your time and talent xx God bless 🙏

Leap of Faith Crafting

Saturday 4th of December 2021

Isn't he so cute?? I just love him! Thanks so much!

Judy Wood

Tuesday 8th of December 2020

I can't find the hat ornament at any of my Dollar Tree stores in town. I even looked on the store website.

Leap of Faith Crafting

Wednesday 9th of December 2020

Oh no! Do you have a 99Cent store or other Dollar type stores? Sometimes they will have something similar.

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