Elliott’s third birthday is quickly approaching and for her party, she has requested an owl theme.  After scouring the internet and local party supply stores, I came up empty handed.  It seems that owls just haven’t made it into the world of mass-produces party goods.  What does that mean for this mom?  It means I’ve got to get my booty in gear and rack every crafty brain cell I have to pull this party off in style!

Party favors were my immediate concern because I knew there would be a good number of them to make.  Time to get busy!  I didn’t want to spend a fortune, so I went through my mental inventory of craft supplies I already have on hand and came up with felt.  I can do felt!  Since we will have both boys and girls attending her party, I wanted to do something for each gender.  So…the girls will be getting owl hair clips and the boys will be getting owl finger puppets!  Sounds great, but….where to begin??  I couldn’t find a template online, so with the guidance of my friend The Fabric Floozie, I created my own and will share it with you guys along with the step-by-step process of putting these owls together. (For more owl party ideas, look here.)

First, download and print the template here.

Second, gather your supplies:

• Felt
• Scissors
• Hot glue or fabric glue
• Needle
• Embroidery thread
• Alligator hair clip
• 3/8″ ribbon

Then, cut your owl pieces out of felt in your desired colors.  I’m doing quite a few, so I put all my pieces in little piles.

I began by tacking each of the pieces onto the body with a dab of glue.  I used just a dab of hot glue, but any fabric-friendly glue will do the trick.  I did this because I’m fumble-fingers and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hold the tiny pieces in place long enough to stitch them on.

First, the wings.

Then the eye piece.

The little beak…

And some eyeballs.

The owls looked a bit untidy after I pieced them together, so I used some very pointy, very sharp scissors to trim and neaten up the edges.

Once you get your little guy just how you want it, get your embroidery thread and split it into 2 3-strand sections.

Start stitching around the edges of the wings and eye piece.

When you’re done sewing, your little owl should look something like this:

For the girl guests,  I lined an alligator clip with coordinating ribbon and attached the owl with hot glue.  For more details on this, check out my trusty hair clip tutorial.

I fixed the owl lengthwise rather and across the clip so that no matter which side a little girl’s hair is parted on, the owl will be upright.

I’d wear it.

Now, obviously the boys aren’t going to be into hair clips, so I took the two felt finger puppet pieces (see template) and stitched them together.  Then I attached a prepared owl with….you guessed it!  Hot glue.

I think he needs some little orange feet.  When I go to the store next, I’ll grab some orange embroidery floss and stitch some on.

Note:  Please use caution in giving this to small children as they could potentially become a choking hazard.  Be safe, be fun!

GIVEAWAY!  I made an extra hair clip and an extra finger puppet and I want to give them as a set to one of my readers.

To enter:  Leave a comment (only one, please!) telling me what themes you’ve done for children’s parties.  I love hearing how creative moms can be!  Enter by 5pm tomorrow (Saturday, January 2, 2010) to be eligible to win!

The winner is comment #11.  Congratulations, Amy!  Please contact me within 7 days to claim your prize.

You will need:

• Single-prong clips (ebay, beauty supply store…)

• 3/8″ ribbon (grosgrain or velvet stay in hair the best)

• scissors

• glue (I used hot glue, but if you use a craft glue the process is a beat neater and smoother)

• Fray check, clear fingernail polish, or a cigarette lighter to seal the ends of the ribbon

They look something like this…

This is what the clips look like. They’re about 1.75″ long.

Start with a clip and a 7″ length of ribbon.

Seal the ends of your grosgrain ribbon. I use a lighter: just hold the flame near (not touching!) the end for a few seconds.

Start on the inside, bottom of the clip near the joint and glue the ribbon down.

Then put glue on the underside of the bottom ‘jaw’ of the clip and fold your ribbon under, pressing and smoothing it onto the clip.

Turn the clip upside-down and put a spot of glue inside one finger tab (yes, I’m making up terms here…bear with me. lol) Press and hold until dry.

Turn the clip over once more and apply glue/ribbon to the other ‘finger tab’, allowing your ribbon to follow the ‘V’ shape of the hinged area.

With the clip top-side up, apply glue only to the outer side of the finger tab. If you get ahead of yourself and put it on the entire top, you’ll end up with a clip that’s glued shut and that’s just no good at all.

Now, hold back the remaining length of ribbon with your thumb and apply glue as you keep the clip open (again….no gluing the clip shut!).

While you’re still holding the clip open, press down the ribbon to cover the top outer part of the clip.

Flip the clip over and glue remaining ribbon.

Your clip should look like this….and not be glued shut.

If you want to add a little bow, you’ll need a piece of matching or coordinating ribbon about 3.5″-4″ long. Don’t forget to seal the ends.

With the wrong sides together, fold over one end about 3/4″-1″ and glue the tip down.

Add a dot of glue on top of where it’s already glued.

Bring the other end over to create a little bow that’s about an inch long.

Glue bow to top of clip.

While holding the clip open, add a drop of glue directly below the center of the bow. Attach the end of a piece of ribbon that you’ve cut to 1.25″ long.

Wrap ribbon around center of bow and secure underneath with another dot of glue.

Your clip should look something like this!

If you have any questions or input, please let me know! Thanks and have fun!