Crafty kids: Friendly scarecrow
This cute scarecrow may not scare anyone, but he's a fun way to celebrate fall.
THERE ARE SO MANY reasons to love autumn. The season comes alive with brilliant colors as the leaves on the trees change from green to fiery reds, oranges and yellows.
Autumn nights bring cooler temperatures. Pumpkins and bright mums are other signs of autumn you might see in your neighborhood. But to my mind, there is nothing more fall-like than scarecrows dotting garden landscapes.
I used a photo of a not-so-scary scarecrow I found at familycorner.com to make this friendly fellow.
Supplies you will need
* 1 3 1/2-inch clay pot
* Light-blue acrylic paint
* Black fine-tip marker
* Denim fabric
* Natural muslin fabric
* Plaid fabric
* Polyester fiberfill
* Raffia
* Fast-grab tacky glue
* Cotton swab
* Pink blush
* Scissors
* Paintbrush
* Purchased straw hat (optional)
How to make it
Paint the outside of the pot blue and set aside to dry. Cut out a 10-inch circle of muslin. Place a fist-size piece of fiberfill into the center of the circle and gather the edges to form a ball. Tie a piece of raffia under the ball into a bow. Using the photo as a guide, make facial details with a fine-tip marker. Use a cotton swab to make two pink circles on the scarecrow's cheeks with blush.
Cut two 3-by-6-inch strips of plaid fabric for the arms. Place two lines of glue along the long, plain side of the fabric. Carefully fold the top of the fabric over the glue to create a tube. Hold in place until it sticks together. Make a second tube.
Cut small amounts of raffia and place inside the ends of the tubes. Wrap another thin piece of raffia around the tubes to hold the raffia inside and tie. Make two 3-by-8-inch tubes out of denim fabric and raffia for the legs using the same technique.
After the pot is dry, cut a 2 1/2- by-10-inch strip of plaid fabric and glue it around the narrow end of the pot, keeping the seam in the back. Fold 1/2-inch of fabric over the bottom of the pot and glue to hold.
Paint a blue bib on the front of the fabric to make it look like your scarecrow is wearing bib overalls. When dry, use a black fine-tip marker to draw stitch marks on the jeans. Glue the arms on top of the fabric and glue the head on top of the arms.
Cut raffia into 2 1/2-inch pieces and glue to the top of the scarecrow's head. Glue a hat on top of the raffia "hair."
Glue the legs to the inside of the front of the pot.