Super cute scarecrow

I am so excited that fall is finally here in the Midwest. I love the cooler weather. It is so much kinder to those of us who have naturally frizzy curly hair.
Husband Dearest was traveling this week for work, so instead of using that time to get my homework done, I decided to make a scarecrow in honor of fall.

Isn’t that just about the cutest thing you ever saw?
This is a really easy craft to make. I was able to use mostly things I had on hand.

This was an old ball jar I had on hand and some paint I had laying around. You want to make certain the jar is not a wide mouth…you’ll see why in a minute.
First, paint the eyes on the jar in the shape of an oval. Come on…it’s a scarecrow…there is no need for perfection and I’m pretty positive we all know what an oval looks like. I happened to have puffy paint on hand, but I’ve done this with a paint pen before too. You may find it easier to draw the oval that way.

Next you are going to make a triangle for the nose. I know. Rocket science.

After you fill in the nose, you want to put “stitches” around it to make it look like it’s sewn on the jar.

Then, make a squiggly line (technical term) for the mouth.

Ok, stick with me here, you’re almost done with the face. The next thing you will do is dip you finger in some pink paint and make cheeks on the scarecrow…

Put one on the other side and move on to the LAST PAINTING PART! WOOT!
Take any handy thin longish thing (technical term again)—I used a skewer, dip it in white paint and make highlight accents on the ovals.


And here’s the completed face

Now on to the fun part. While the face is drying, you will make the hair. I had a spool of raffia so I cut off pieces that were about 3 inches long and then I opened them up so they were flat. They don’t have to be perfect…that’s the point. Then I used my hot glue gun and secured them around the rim of the jar lid.


 
When you have covered the lid completely, it will look like Cousin It, but fear not, you will be giving your scarecrow a hair cut soon.

At this point, you are going to go back to the jar and fill it with a strand of white Christmas lights. I got mine at Hobby Lobby and it is a strand of 20 lights. Make sure you get the lights with the white cord and not the green cord. You don’t want to be able to see the cord after you fill the jar.
 
Also, take it from me, plug the lights in now to make sure they work. You do not want to take this thing apart to be fixing lights later…

Ok, so we have lights. Now we will fill the jar with this stuff

I got it at Hobby Lobby and it’s in the doll aisle. It’s like beanie baby stuffing…don’t worry, it does not melt from the heat of the lights.
You want to gradually fill the jar and have a butter knife handy to keep the cord away from the edge of the jar

Just kind of push the cord to the middle while you are filling the jar, that way none of the cord or actual light bulbs will be visible once the jar is full. Remember to keep the plug out when you are filling the jar. This is one of the reasons you are not using a wide mouth jar…less filling. Those bags cost roughly $4 each, and I used a full bag plus a little from a second bag to fill this jar.
When you’re done, it should look like this on the top

Now plug him in to make sure you like the placement of the lights. You can mess around with them a little with the knife still at this point if you don’t.

Ok, home stretch here. Put a little hot glue on the rim of the jar and secure the lid in place. The lid will sit a bit askew due to the cord hanging out, the glue will help keep it in place.

Now, give him a hair cut.

Now it’s time to put his hat on. You have to build up some height, so find your favorite stuffing—I crumpled up a circular that came in the mail and hot glued it to the lid, you can use whatever you have on hand.

Now take a piece of burlap and lay it over the top

Secure it in place with a piece of jute (or whatever you have). This is the other reason you need a jar that is not a wide mouth. The hat looks much cuter if it has this indentation.
  Then put a dab of hot glue on the rim and fold it over

And you will have a really cute hat

Front view

Back view
At this point, you can plug it in and enjoy; however, I wanted some fun fall colors, so I made a few flowers and attached them with hot glue.
To make the flowers cut some burlap and fun fabrics in circles (again, perfection not required—it’s a scarecrow) and then push a scrapbooking brad through the middle to secure.



This one went on the hat, and I made one for the base as well. That one has a bit more scrunching. I pinched the fabric before I pushed the brad through. Why one and not the other? Because I can.
I also added a scarf (again with hot glue) at the base because I felt like it needed more color and I added a cute sunflower button (hot glue) on the back of the hat…just because.



And here it is all lit up and ready for those chilly fall nights. Let me know what you think! :D

I’m linking up to these parties