If you have a total owl crush on our newest little family members, we totally understand. Because we do too, LOVE THEM! Remember when we mentioned HERE how much we love and adore little felt animals? We knew we wanted to DIY some felt animals for our little man but we just weren't sure what we wanted to make. When I landed on THIS tutorial for these adorable felt owls, I knew I had found precisely what I was searching for...and Walt was totally smitten too.
Granted, the tutorial and print-out HERE from Juicy Bits were for ornament sized owls and we wanted something 10" or more. So we had to really plan it all out and make sure we were superbly organized before trekking it to Michael's for our supply list. Read below for some of the glitches in the process and and how to also make some felt owls for your little monkeys. These totally would be adorable ornaments for the wee ones in your life too, so keep that in mind!
We just have to note that after days of pricing out felt animals all over the internet, we can't believe we can DIY three huge 10 inchers for under $30. Oh the power of DIY'ing, saving a pretty penny and giving our boy something we both made together. There's beauty in that, for sure. And one more thing, stay tuned for another owl post later this week. We'll reveal what area of the little Bub's nursery that this adorable lil' trio is going to call home!
The felt body colors we chose from Michael's.
The colors we chose for wings, eyes, beaks...and belly!
Our choice of rick rack color. Seriously, deciding on these colors at Michael's took forever. I'm rather bad at making decisions with my preggo brain so I was happy that Walt was there to execute, he was a huge help.
The embroidery thread that the Michael's lady told me to get. She said it was perfect for what we were doing, so take note if this is something you're going to tackle too. This thread does rock and was worth the extra penny.
The needles she pointed me to, too!
The button eyes we originally opted for (from Hancock Fabrics) but would eventually exchange for flat faced classic black buttons.
My attempt at free handing an owl outline on card-stock. Took a few re-draws and erasures...but I think we finally got a good outline!
So yeah, don't be jealous...this is what we do on a Friday night, ha! Walt is cutting out our wing templates from card-stock.
And my smarty pants man making eye ball templates from either side of a Mod Podge container. It wasn't just his brawn that caught my attention, ladies.
And here's our finished template for our three owls. And yes, we labeled them...F = front, just fyi.
Starting to trace on the felt but something REALLY IMPORTANT to remember...trace on the back of the felt (felt has two sides) and make certain you're tracing the correct side of your template. We actually had to really, really think through each of our tracings and we only messed up one piece!
Like I said, it's a wild Friday night at CasaCullen! So proud of our first official felt animal cut-out body! Yeah, it's the small things people...don't laugh too loud!
Someone was none too happy about her funny lil' nun topper...cute, cute pup-n-stuff!
Hubster is busy cutting out owl beaks and eating chocolate cake.
All the pieces are cut out for each owl, cha-ching!
And here's one that we laid out just to make sure it was exactly what we wanted...and it certainly WAS!
So here's where things got sticky. First of all, don't try to hand stitch the pieces on, unless you're some sewing pro. Look at how not-centered and cockeyed the eye ball background is.
So I made sure to tack the pieces on first before sewing them on. This system was full-proof for this novice seamstress.
Another hint, think through your layers! I was so pumped wen I got the eyes on and I loved what I saw and then BAM, I realized the beak had to actually go underneath this section of the eyes, UGH! So I had to un-sew it and add the beak in and then sew it back up. So make sure to think through your layers...people!
Much, much better...beak is in place and we're good to go!
Finished trio...and I was done for that night! This is not super easy and is really time consuming but I tackled most of the sewing, at night, while we watched our DVR'd shows. Except The Rachel Zoe Project...then the tv had my full attention, ha!
Next up, sewing on the other pieces. The order that worked best for me: securing the bright green rick rack to the green belly, then sewing the belly onto the larger body and finally sewing the wings on top of that.
Here I am sewing on the button eyes. Again, we took back the bubble, fabric wrapped buttons and opted for flat black buttons. We liked that look so much!
After a long afternoon of sewing, I'm finally to the point of stuffing and sewing the outside. This was a great feeling...finally seeing all these lil' South Parkers (that's what Walt calls them, because they do look like they're on the show, ha!) come to life!
I sewed all around the border but left room to stuff these lil' funny guys with some fill.
The massive bag of Poly-Fil from Michael's...yeah, we certainly have some leftover fill, ha!
Stuffed and sewn up...can you just see my beaming pride? How about my hairy helper? Yes, she was sleeping on the job, ha!
The completed trio...LOVE THESE GUYS!
Some of the details that I love!
And another detail shot for those of you looking to also tackle some felt owl fun! Remember, we based our project off of THIS tutorial from Juicy Bits blog. We loathe when other bloggers copy posts and don't give credit. We're all about giving credit where credit is due and will always say when an idea isn't entirely our own! Enjoy and tell us, what do you think? Was this worth all the time? We think so!
