Toilet Paper Tube Snowflakes {tutorial}

I am in LOVE with these snowflakes... in fact, I'm a little obsessed.  Last year I came across toilet paper tube snowflakes on Pinterest.  I thought they were awesome... so I started saving my trash... toilet paper tubes, paper towel tubes, empty wrapping paper tubes (along with my glass jars, tin canes, etc... I love to collect trash).    I had my students make some snowflakes, and my aide made some really awesome ones, then I found some time to make some... and now I can't stop making them.

So, here's a little tutorial....

1.  Gather your supplies.  Toilet paper tubes, scissors, hot glue and hot glue gun.

2.  flatten the tubes and cut them into 1/4" pieces.

 3.  Here are some of the basic shapes that I used in my snowflakes...  I created these shapes by folding the tube strips.  I also cut some of the strips for a few of the projects.

 4.  I started most of my snowflakes by taking 6 (yes, all snowflakes have 6 sides, not 4, not 5, not 8... kind of a pet peeve of mine) of the basic flattened oval shape and making my center.

5.  From there I tried to get creative.  I folded the shapes in different ways and hot glued them together.

 Some of the shapes were cut open to overlap each other.

 I kept adding to get the look I was looking for.  I found a lot of my ideas by looking on Pinterest and doing google searches.   Some of my favorite snowflakes were these snowflakes from The Crafty Sisters. I even searched for pictures of actual snowflakes and tried to copy those.

Here are some of the different snowflakes I made.

I then spray painted them turquoise and added a little glitter.  They also look awesome white or silver... and glitter is the best finishing touch!

I hung mine in my living room window.

Now, start saving your trash and have fun!  But don't get too obsessed:)