DIY Scarecrow

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DIY Scarecrow 

Scarecrows are a fun way to dress up the outside of your home for fall.

* My mom said the hay made her very itchy, so I recommend wearing pants, long sleeves, and gloves to make these.

Materials: 

• 1 bale of hay (every time I try to say hay bale it always comes out hale Bay… just in case you were wondering 😉 )
•  1 pair of old jeans
• 1 old button up flannel
• twine
• scissors
• a stick or small board to support the scarecrow head
• hammer & nails
• Permanent markers
• straw hat
• bandanna or a men’s  handkerchief
• someone to help ya ( It takes 2 people to put him together easily)
• piece of burlap for the head ( we didn’t measure.. it just needs to be big enough to wrap around the ball and tuck into the shirt. Burlap is very cheap to buy… I think it’s only around $2.50 a yard.)
• something round to use as the head.. we used one of my sons old bounce balls

How to:

Step 1: First, unbutton the flannel shirt and start stuffing it with hay. Once the shirt is all stuffed with hay tie some twine around the wrists allowing some of the hay to stick out.

Step 2:  Once the flannel shirt has been stuffed, it’s time to start working on the head. We used an old ball we found laying in the yard. Wrap the ball in some hay and then wrap both the hay and the ball in a large piece of burlap. Adding the hay around the ball helps to give the head a better shape. Gather the excess material at the bottom of the ball and secure with a piece of twine.

3.) Take a scrap piece of board and stuff it down the back of the flannel, then attach the head by stuffing the board up threw the back of the head. We didn’t measure the board just eye balled it =P Here are some photo’s to show you what I mean:

… use your hands to try to shape the head some; tie a handkerchief around the neck

You will have something that looks like this..

4. Stuff the pants up to the knees with hay.

5.) This next part you are going to need some help with. Have one person hold the top of the pants while the other person lifts the body of the scarecrow on top the pants. Tuck the shirt into the pants.

6.) Finish stuffing the legs and tie some twine around them letting some of the hay stick out. ( You could also use the rope that us used to hold the hay bale together.)

7.) Take small bunches of hay and tie them together… this will be the scarecrows hair. Attach the hair by nailing it to the top of the board that is under the burlap.

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8.) Nail on the straw hat…

9.) And the last thing left to do is to draw the face. Using permanent markers, she drew the mouth and eyes in black and the nose in red.