Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Build your own Scarecrow

Here are some cute scarecrow ideas:
This is from my friend Natalie-she is so talented and I ALWAYS love everything she does!  Isn't this guy great!  The wooden head is so cute and the whole ensemble is Fabulous!  I love the garden tools, corn stalks and boots!  Thanks for sharing!
The sign is a cute cabinet door that says "Howdy".  This guy's nose is a corn cob.  I love the gloves, the crow on the hat and the  uniqueness of the vest!  All the raffia adds a lot!
Such a great welcome to greet anyone who comes.  All of the flowers and pumpkins on the hay really fill up the space.
He has such a fun casual look with his leg up on the hay.  And the sunflowers in the coke bottle case is so creative.  Another great welcome for guests!

Allison, a friend of mine is the Queen of Fall Decorating, when she gets her scarecrow done I will put it on this post, so check back.

You've seen some great ideas so now here's the basic idea to build your own scarecrow.  There are a lot of variations that you can do to personalize your scarecrow, so just use this as your base idea.  

Find some old clothes in your closet or at a thrift store and you will need a 2 x 2 stake and some 1 x 2 wood for the arms.

Screw in the stick that would be the arm to the 2 x 2. Decide Height based upon if you want a standing or sitting scare crow. Add about 18"-24" to be stuck in the ground/hay.

Place the pants in the right place and stuffed with plastic bags. (If the scarecrow is standing place the 2 X 2 post through one of the legs.)

Pound the 2 x 2 main stick into the ground/hay. 

Put on the shirt and stuff it with plastic bags pinning the shirt to the pants. Add other clothing at this time if desired. (I braded some jute to make a tie belt.)


Put the head on (the head is a foam pumpkin that I cut a square hole in the bottom, the hole is slightly smaller than the 2 x 2 so it fits snug) 
Paint the face how you desire.  There are some good ideas on this post if you like any of those.
I just used a black painters pen and some buttons for the eyes.  Others have used acrylic craft paint.
Then I used a foam squash for the nose and secured with wire. 
After the head was on I used some raffia for some sweet chest hair.

With Jute I tied off the feet and arms. You can stick raffia in those too if you want.

Make or buy a cute sign to hang from his neck.

For the hair I tied some raffia together to fashion a wig.

Then I put on the hat -With a sturdy piece of wire I poked through the hat and the hair to secure on his head. Bend a piece of the wire 90 degrees to secure the hat

My finished fall porch this year.  My chrysanthemums haven't bloomed yet, but they will still be nothing like 4 years ago.  They were phenomenal!  Also after my kids pick out their pumpkins we put them all around the scarecrow to help fill the space.

**Tip- watch for end of the season sales for next year.  Every year you can add a little bit more!

10 comments:

Mary, Tyson and Family said...

LOVE IT!!! I couldn't wait for your scare crow post! I'm gonna try and put one together tomorrow, except I don't have a head yet (minor detail) do you think Wal-Mart would have a foam pumpkin head? Well you will probably be getting a call from me
manyana (sp??) Thanks for the post and your porch looks sooo good!!!

Mary, Tyson and Family said...

I have to admit I'm tempted to hit your blog just 5 more times to be #1000 but 995 aint bad. :)

kim said...

love the chest hairs:) I love your porch too. You have always been so creative-i am glad you are sharing it with everyone!

Amanda said...

Beautiful! I love that you got the kids involved. What great memories you're making. :)

Sparrow said...

I LOVE the scarecrows! Your porch always looks so good! I do miss the neighborhood! We just put our scarecrow up over the weekend. The kids always have a blast making them (me too)!
Natalie

bonnie said...

Erika I just found your blog so cute. How are you?

Melissa said...

so cute...I think we are going to have to make a scarecrow this year ;)

Jan said...

Erika,
where did you get your bale of hay, and how much did it cost??
cute, cute scarecrows!

Erika said...

You can get your bale of hay at any feed store. And it is actually straw, but I still call it hay. When you go to get it though you will want to call it straw. I got mine at Higley Feed on Williams Field just west of Higley--it was just under $6.

Good Luck!

Erika said...
This comment has been removed by the author.