Owlies- A Free Owl Pattern and Tutorial!

I am one of those people blessed with great family members.  Not to say we don't have our issues, fight now and then like families do or have a weirdo or two (which I am convinced is NOT me).  But all in all, through thick and thin we love each other to pieces.

So imagine my delight at finding out that one of my nieces was expecting a baby.....and a girl at that!  You know, I do love all things girly.  And who can resist a sweet little baby?  Unfortunately, my niece is full-term and has been in the path of Irene, but baby stayed put (whew!) and the power is back on in their area.  You know how the end of your pregnancy is.  And you can imagine she was thinking "Seriously?!? A freakin' HURRICANE?"

Well, enough of that.....back to me.

I wanted to make something special for baby, and much to my delight the 'theme' was owls, and the color of the nursery was to be green and brown.  I had seen a cool mobile some time back and had been wanting to try one- I just knew it was the project for me!  Originally I was going to attach the owlies by ribbons to a wooden embroidery hoop, but soon became obsessed with making it musical as well.  I scoured all of the local thrifts for gently used baby mobiles to no avail.  I was running out of time when I stopped into a Kid to Kid store to see what they had.  And wouldn't you know it- amongst  the pink Care Bears  and blue Cars mobiles I found this:

The perfect base for my newest creation!  
Couldn't wait to cut those sports figures off!!


I could not find an owl pattern anywhere that was exactly what I needed, so I made my own.  Feel free to download and use it, but please give a link back or shout out-K?  

 


Download Full Size Pattern Here


Suitable materials for this project are felt (wool or poly), suede or leather (I upcycled some old jackets), suit weight woolens (once again, I upcycled), quilt weight cotton for the tummy, and whatever buttons, embroidery threads, ribbons, etc. you would like to add.  I stuffed mine with a high quality poly fluff filling and sewed it on the machine, but you could easily also sew these by hand with a blanket or back stitch.


Cut out the pattern pieces from whatever fabrics you have chosen.  I used fusible web on the back of my cotton tummy piece to hold it in place while I stitched it on, and used a decorative stitch, but that is your discretion. 

Why To Stop Feeding Your Kids Processed Foods

 I will let you in on something I am not proud of.......many, many years ago, I was a pack-a-day smoker.  I am not proud of it for a few reasons, but mostly because it showed my level of  naivete` in my younger years.  I knew on many levels smoking was bad for me, but it affected mostly me, and hey....that was my business, K??  

But, then came the allegations of how 'Big Tobacco' was purposely using additives to addict us, and the men that sat on the boards of those companies also sat on the boards of the cancer hospitals, and were shareholders in the companies that produced the chemo drugs.  Then, I got mad!  Then, I quit!  20 years ago or so, but in the back of my mind is the fact that all of my younger years I smoked, and I have forever increased my risk of cancer. 

So, now we are faced with information that is that huge once again....but this time it is 'Big Food'.  If you haven't heard, the additives and flavorings are alleged to be there for the direct purpose of 'addicting' us to the food that is unhealthy for our bodies, and contributing to the childhood obesity epidemic.  (Not to mention the rest of us)

You can 'google' this, but let me give you just one link I found on the subject:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/398587/why_food_manufacturers_put_additives.html

"You can never be too thin, too rich, or have too many books." Vogue

I love books!   

I'm not sure I will ever own a Kindle, or Nook, but if anyone wants to hook me up with a new iPad- I won't refuse.  I like the feel of books, the smell of old books, I like looking for antique books, and displaying books.  I even read them from time to time.  There are lots of 'good books', but only one *Good Book*.  One thing I do not like about books is propping them up on the shelves in my home.  I hate a shlummpy book.  There is only one shlummpy thing allowed and that is me, in my 'baglady' dress, happily spray painting something. 

Recently a good friend installed a cool patio with pavers.  Of course, there were leftovers, mere trash to her, but treasure to me!  The great heaviness of them.....I'm thinking.....Bookends!!

If you have small children, I do not recommend that you use these anywhere that they could pull it down on their heads.  Hopefully, your 'good' books are up high enough so they cannot be mistaken for coloring books.  These bookends will put a hurtin' on ya if they hit your foot.  Other than that, they are simple to make, totally customizable, and cheap very inexpensive to make.

So, let's do this thing!

Assemble the players:

2 square stone pavers (about .70/ea)

acrylic paint (on hand, or 2/$1)

Polyacrylic topcoat (on hand, or $3/pint)

Letter 'A' and Letter 'Z'

(i got one @ thrift, one for .50 @ Michaels)

I used spray paint on the letters, b/c I have

LOTS, but you could use acrylic

Cork scrap for base

General craft adhesive

foam brushes, foam stamp, toothpicks

A day earlier, I washed off the blocks w/ the hose.

My pavers are a tan-rust color, so I used black and white paint.

I found that the stamp looks better if you use the foam brush to load the paint onto the stamp, and vary the paint color over the stamp:

Stamp the blocks, and let them dry.

Mine looked like this:

After the paint is good and dry, add the polyacrylic top coat.  Coat all sides, front and back.  I did the face and edges first, and when they dried, I coated the back, and gave the front a 2nd coat, and let it sit on an edge to finish drying.  This makes it no longer scratchy to the touch, or to the books.

This stuff is smelly, so plan to do that part outside.

One small, fussy note:

My letter 'A' was made from plywood, and when I spray painted it, it showed the grain lines through the paint.  I smoothed it with spackle, let that dry and re-sanded and re-painted it, and it looked great.