Paper Roll Turkey

GOBBLE, GOBBLE!
Yes, I'm afraid I've been at it again. I can't really explain the appeal.

I mean, I don't believe I spend anymore time in the "supply room" than anyone else, if you get my drift. I just can't help it! Certainly part of it is because it's uber cheap. Part of it is because it's a trash-to-treasure project. I don't know....

... but I just can't stay away.
Okay, here we go. You know the routine -- cut your tubes into 1/2 inch strips. This time, you'll want to paint them mixed fall colors.
I used red, orange, and brown. It's what I had. It works.
Shape one strip into a circle. Arrange a variety of colored strips around it. You'll want to leave a gap on one section. I used 9 strips and it seemed to fit well.

Glue the strips together and to the circle. I found it easy to glue the strips to each other first, then to the circle. They seem to just fan out nicely and arrange well for easy attachment to the center.

Now for the feet. We did this same shape for the paper roll puppy. First, invert one of the folds and place a small drop of glue in the crease. Push the fold to the other side and glue the fold to the center of the opposite side.

Add a crease to the outer edges of the loops created.

Flatten out the edge between the corners.


Glue the feet into the gap left between the feathers on the body. The feet will need to set flat so you might need to adjust your feathers slightly.

Next you'll want to shape the head and neck. It's basically just a figure eight, or a two-part snowman.

Glue the neck onto the bottom of the body just above the feet.

This is an awkward step. I haven't layered my projects before and this is the reason. It's really difficult to glue the "edge" of one piece onto the edge of another. So I have a suggestion for you. When you're cutting you're strips, leave two strips not completely separated, maybe with a 1/2 inch section uncut. Then you can simply shape the two pieces as needed while already connected to each other.

From a piece of red felt, cut a long wattle. What's a wattle, you say? It's that red thing on a turkey that hangs from the side of it's nose. There's a little trivia for you to take to work/school!

It's time to assemble a face. There's no real scientific method to this. I used a little yellow felt and two tiny black poms for eyes, then glued them all together with the wattle hanging down the side.


Glue the face to the paper roll turkey. Since there really isn't a place on the head to glue the face, I had to get a little creative. I just glued the wattle to the edge and the face is sort of just floating. It's surprisingly stable.

And that's all there is to it!

Care to give it a try?

What would Thanksgiving be without a turkey?


I'd love to see yours. You know you want to try it!

Thanks for visiting! Be sure to check back because I have 2 more paper roll tutorials coming up shortly that I think you'll really like for the Christmas holidays!

And be sure to check out the endless list of inspirational ideas at my home page childmade.com.



I'll be linking to some of the fabulous link parties listed on the right sidebar ... but really, that's a LOT of parties! I probably won't get to them all, but you should stop in and visit a few yourself. While you're at it, stop by my home page and add a few links there too!

Burlap Message Board Chore Chart

I'm not sure if any of you other moms have the same struggle that I do with getting the kiddos to do their chores, but I suspect there are certainly some of you out there. I've tried a number of ways to make them more fun, including fun ways to chart them. They've all worked wonderfully, at least for a time, but as the kiddos grow, the responsibilities need to change, as do the chore charts.

Since my little guy isn't so "little" anymore, he doesn't need the entertaining chore charts anymore. And his rewards are much different too. Now he basically just wants money so he can buy things that I won't buy for him. And that's good because we're getting into the stage where he needs to learn how to manage money, and that money isn't "free."

I've also learned that if I'm going to expect him to do his chores every week, then I have to remember to pay him every week. With today's electronic financial payments, I don't always have cash on hand. So though I intend to pay him, I confess that I sometimes forget. Then when I finally catch up, I over-compensate his allowance because I can't remember how long it's been since I paid him. Hopefully, he'll learn money management better than me!


So I came up with this version of his "big boy" chore chart. It's really for both of us. It has his list of responsibilities with little magnet markers, and for me, it has pockets where I can keep and distribute cash. So at the end of each week, I can pull money out of the "Bank of Mom" pocket and distribute his allowance accordingly. He also does extra chores, like mow the law, that he gets paid for, and that will come out of here, too. I have pockets for the bank, tithings, savings, and "spendings."

I plan to keep a bit of actual cash in the Bank of Mom, because it's just niftier for my son to be able to have access to "his own money." I'll also have some play money that I plan to print with my son's picture on it, in case I run short of cash on hand. Luckily, I have no difficulty with my son being dishonest (at least at this point, thank God!), so I don't have to worry about him shuffling money on his own. I realize this won't work for everyone or for every age.

I had this uber-cool message center on the fridge that I got some time back, at the Goodwill store, I think (bargain!) It's a Dayrunner brand, which I think is sold at Target or Walmart.

I thought it would be great to add the chore chart to the existing setup. So follow along and I'll show you how I did it.


The first thing I needed to do was pick up some materials. Usually I have enough supplies in my stash that I can make do with what I have, but since I was trying to match the pre-existing message board, it required a trip to the fabric store. Which really for me is soooo not a problem! I just LOVE going there. The colors and textures and prints, oh my! Anyway, I brought the purchased project to the store with me and found some burlap and muslin that very closely matched.

I also needed a piece of sheet metal. Home Depot has little squares for 69 cents! Perfect! I was afraid I would need to buy a big roll.

While I was there, I grabbed an empty box for the pieces of cardboard I would need.

Begin by tracing the size and shape of the purchased board onto the cardboard, and cut two pieces. Your cardboard should be pretty thick and sturdy.

Next, cut the burlap and muslin about 4" larger than the purchased board, to allow excess fabric for positioning and securing.

The muslin piece will be used for backing to the chart, and to cover the cardboard. But the burlap piece is the frame. Cut out a rectangle slightly smaller than the final frame. Fold back about a half-inch of the burlap inside the rectangle to make a finished edge.

Use the muslin to make pockets. I used my embroidery machine to stitch the title onto the fabric before making the pockets, but this is entirely optional.

Layer the pockets and stitch together.

For my chart, I had pockets on one side and clear vinyl on the other side. Ultimately, I'll slip a chore list behind the vinyl that can be changed as needed.

It's important to check your alignment with the burlap frame to make sure you're not covering something you didn't intend to, and covering what you did.

Stitch the pockets and clear vinyl to the piece of muslin. Cut a slit into the vinyl near the top to allow insertion of the chore list.

Draw a line of fabric glue down the seam between the pockets and the vinyl.

Apply a strip of ribbon to cover the seam.

Align the burlap frame onto the chore chart and stitch just along the edge of the burlap, securing the burlap to the muslin. (I pinned everything!)

Now set the chart aside to work on assembling.

The sheet metal is used to create a background for the magnets to be used on the chore chart. Cut the metal to the desired size.

Place the metal onto one of the sheets of cardboard, ...

... checking the alignment with the vinyl window in the fabric piece. When you're satisfied with the alignment, glue the sheet metal in place.

Next, being careful about the alignment of the fabric chart, flip the piece of cardboard with the fabric and secure the fabric to the cardboard, thinning out extra fabric at the corners. Basically, this process is just like upholstering a seat cushion.

When you flip the cardboard back over, everything should be securely placed.

Using the other piece of cardboard, apply a layer of muslin and burlap in the same manner as the previous step, creating a backing for your message board.

If you're making multiple boards and want to tie them together, create a zig-zag of ribbon between the two message boards, covering the ends of the ribbons inside the front and back pieces. Glue the backing piece onto the back of the message board, placing the unfinished sides together.

The message board that I was replicating actually had stitching all the way around the edge, that went through both cardboard pieces. I gave this a shot and it didn't turn out too badly (yes, a sewing machine can sew through cardboard) but it was awkward to do and I think a little tough on my ancient little singer. Probably better suited for a commercial machine, but it's up to you if you want to give it a try.

And lastly, I created a chore chart list with boxes for each chore and each day of the week. I mounted the list on a piece of cardstock that was printed like burlap and slide it into the vinyl slot. There's a store of magnets at the bottom that can be shifted as needed.

If you wanted to do the calendar and the bulletin board, it's the same process without the chore chart part.

There you have it!



Good luck if you give it a try! I'd love to see your finished work. And I love comments, too!

And be sure to check out the endless list of inspirational ideas at my home page childmade.com.



I'll be linking to some of the fabulous link parties listed on the right sidebar ... but really, that's a LOT of parties! I probably won't get to them all, but you should stop in and visit a few yourself. While you're at it, stop by my home page and add a few links there too!

Linking here

Fleece Bomber Hat

Well it's certainly been a while since I posted! I wish it was because I was off in the Carribean for a long, sunny vacation like the rich and famous, but I'm afraid not. Other more important (albeit less fun) aspects of life have simply overridden my opportunities to craft. Thankfully, with the weather getting colder, I've had the opportunity to put together a couple of things, with tutorials to share. Watch for them in the next couple of days.

The first is this cozy bomber-style fleece hat that I made for the little neighbor boy.

I made a scarf to match, and you can find the tutorial for the scarf here. But now, let's get on with the hat!

You'll need 2 pieces of coordinating fleece. For my hat, I used solid black for the cuff, and a sports print for the body of the hat. I have an embroidery machine, so I stitched his name onto the black fleece before I started assembling the hat. You can do the same or something similar, or simply ignore the instructions about the embroidery.

The fleece for the body of the hat should measure about 22" wide by 12 inches tall. This will vary depending upon the size head you're trying to fit. I've found that 20-21" is about right for young children. If the head you want to fit is readily available, just measure it and add about 2" for working space.

The fleece for the cuff should measure about the same 22" wide, by 7 inches tall. If you're embroidering a name, the name should be stitched about 2-3 inches from the bottom edge of the fleece.

You'll also need two pads of fleece for the ear pads, measuring 3x5" each, and you'll need matching "fluff" for the ear-side of the cuff. I used a modern terrycloth, like what they often use sometimes for women's bathrobes. It's heavenly. I want to live in it.

Let's begin with the cuff. Fold the smaller piece of fleece to form a cuff the size you want the finished cuff on the hat. This step is especially important if you're stitching a name so that you have the name aligned properly; not so much if there's no name to align, but you still want a properly-sized cuff. To make a cuff, fold in half longways, and then fold again, so you have four layers of fleece. Secure the folded edge.

Next, flip the fleece over and trim both edges longways to a width about 2/3 as wide as the cuff. This will ultimately be the alignment of the seam (with stitch allowance) making the seam invisible behind the cuff.

This cut is also the edge to which you'll align the fabric for the body of the hat.

Set the cuff aside while we work on the ear pads.

Cut the shape you'd like for the earmuffs from a piece of scrap paper. I just rounded mine, but you you can make them any shape (triangular, square, etc.)

Trace the pattern onto the back of one of the earmuff fabrics. Either one will work, but for mine, the black was too dark so I went with the white. I used a disappearing marker so the lines wouldn't show after I stitched it.

Place the right side of the fleece and the right side of the fluff together, and stitch through both layers on the tracing line, leaving the top edge open.

Trim the fabric around the stitch line, leaving about 3/8" of fabric allowance.

Turn the earmuffs right-side-out.

Now it's time to assemble for stitching.

Unfold the cuff and place the cuff onto the wrong side of the body fleece. Honestly, most fleece is difficult to determine which is the right or wrong side, but if you happen to have one like mine that it does make a difference, you want to position the wrong side up. If you stitched the name, place the name down, facing the wrong side of the body fabric. Don't over-pin as you still need to place the earmuffs.

Next, place the earmuff between the cuff and the body fabric, with the fluff side facing down. The alignment of the earmuffs should centered on the cuff, with the center edges spaced about 6" from each other. Again, this will vary depending upon the size of the hat.

So you should have from bottom up: body fleece, wrong-side up; earmuffs, fluff-side down; cuff, with stitched name facing down. Also, if you have a body fleece that has a top and bottom (not right-side vs. wrong side), you want the bottom edge of the fabric aligned with the cuff.

Now stitch the raw edge of the fabric, with a 3/8" seam allowance.

When finished, remove the pins and open the project.

Fold back the body fabric, positioning the stitch line behind the cuff. Hand press to flatten.

Fold the cuff in half, aligning the earmuffs, right sides together.

Secure the edges of the cuff. Since this part will be visible on the finished project, it's important for these edges to align.

Then secure the rest of the raw edge. Stitch the edge with a 3/8-1/2" seam allowance. As with everything, you can always make the hat smaller, but it's hard to make it larger. So sew it once, try it on, then adjust as necessary. (**Hint: I find it difficult to fit the cuff end under the foot of my sewing machine. It's easier to start at the top of the hat where there's only 2 layers of fleece, sewing down toward the cuff.)

After you're content with the size of the body, trim the excess with pinking shears.

Turn the hat right-side-out.

Now it's time to finish the top. This can be done in any number of ways. The simplest is to just gather the fabric in a clump. For that effect, just gather the fabric and secure it with a rubberband and fleece tie (see below.)

Or you can trim the top into a tassel. For that, just measure the available excess at the top.

Then flatten the fabric and cut narrow strips to the length of the excess. With the original measurements, you should have about 3" for the tassel.

Gather the fabric at the end of the strips and secure with a rubberband.

Tie a strip of coordinating fleece over the rubberband.
And there you have it!

I'd love to see your version of this project! Let me know if you give it a try!


Thanks for visiting!

And be sure to check out the endless list of inspirational ideas at my home page childmade.com.


I'll be linking to some of the fabulous link parties listed on the right sidebar ... but really, that's a LOT of parties! I probably won't get to them all, but you should stop in and visit a few yourself.
While you're at it, stop by my home page and add a few links there too!