Cheerful and patriotic, this is an excellent craft for recycling your burned out light bulbs.
For supplies, you will need the following:1 - standard light bulb
1 - empty paper towel or toilet paper roll
1 - 3" x 3" piece of red craft foam
1 - 3" x 3" piece of red fabric
1 - 4" x 6" piece of red and white striped fabric
1 - 6 1/2" piece of 1/2"-wide blue ribbon with white stars
1 - 2" x 6" piece of white felt
1 - 6" length of 1/8"-wide red ribbon
For tools, you will need sharp scissors, pinking shears (optional,) a pencil, a black sharpie marker, and white glue. Also, you will need flesh-colored paint for the light bulb.
First, paint the light bulb and set it aside to dry. This might take several coats, so you might want to do it ahead of time, especially if you're needing to do more than one.
Trace two circles each on the red craft foam and the red fabric. The outer circle should measure 7cm and the inner circle should measure 4cm. If you're doing several, it's helpful to create a template.
For the craft foam, cut the outer and inner circle, creating a doughnut.
For the red fabric circle, cut the outer circle, then cut multiple darts from the outer edge to the inner circle.
Cut the cardboard tube to 2 1/4" long. Try not to crease the tube any more than necessary, as it should be round for the hat. Run a line of white glue along one end about 1/4" from the edge.
Place the red fabric over the end of the tube and fold over the slit edges, pressing the darts into the line of glue.
Fold the piece of red ribbon in half and glue the cut ends to the side of the tube.
Fold the piece of red and white-striped fabric in half and finger press the fold.
Apply glue liberally to the cardboard tube. Line up the folded edge of the striped fabric with the top edge of the cardboard tube and wrap it around the tube, gluing securely.
Overlap the edges and glue in place.
Apply a line of glue around the bottom edge of the tube about 1/4" from the edge. Line up the piece of blue ribbon along the bottom edge, positioning the closing seam to match the seam of the red/white fabric seam.
Run a line of glue around the edge of the center circle of the red craft foam.
Position the bottom of the tube onto the line of glue and set aside to dry.
Trim 1/2" of felt from the end of the white felt and set aside (for the next step.) Using the pinking shears or regular scissors, cut slits into the large piece of while felt, cutting to within 1/4-1/2" of the edge.
From the smaller piece, cut a beard using a similar technique, and two small pieces for eyebrows.
Run a line of glue two-thirds of the way around the light bulb where the bulb begins to curve. Optionally, put a line of glue near the top edge of the piece of felt. Position onto the light bulb and press in place.
Put a line of glue around the center of the tube of the hat, being careful not to get glue on the brim of the hat.
Put the hat onto the top of the light bulb overlaying the felt.
Use a pencil to lightly sketch a face onto the front of the light bulb.
Use the black sharpie marker to draw the eyes, nose, and mouth. Position and glue the beard and eye brows. To dry, set the light bulb upside-down to encourage tight contact between the hat and the hair.That's it! If you like this craft, leave a comment. Thanks for reading!
