Each year, on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, my loved ones come to our house where we all enjoy our annual Family Fun Craft Day (FFCD).
It entails crafting, sharing a meal, whiffle baseball or soccer in the backyard, cornhole, and often times a swim in the community pool. Even Poppy, our family’s patriarch at age 93, joins in the fun and at day’s end we finish by decorating his apartment door in his nearby residence.
The crafts are up to me and since I’m not a crafty person by nature, it’s often a bit of trial and error. Ideas are gathered, supplies purchased, and a week or two prior to FFCD, Greg will assemble the men’s project while I tackle the ladies’—just to be sure we have everything we need and to figure out if the proposed crafts actually are doable.
This year for the men: Project Penguin
The men this year are making a light bulb penguin. I’ve seen these for years and it turns out they’re relatively easy to make. And if you know you’re going to be making them, just save your burned-out traditional light bulbs throughout the year and you can cross that item off the supply list. Pictures and instructions are below. Give them a try and be sure to let me know how they turn out. (You can attach a hanging cord to turn them into tree ornaments or skip the cord and make them in several sizes to display as a penguin family. The ones we made this year are rather traditional, but you can get creative with different hats or outfits. Have fun!)
And be sure to share your own family Christmas traditions in the comment section below.
Light Bulb Penguins
Brought to you courtesy of: 66 Craft Happy Summer on YouTube (https://youtu.be/7HrmbGBOEMA)
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Light bulb
- Wooden (or cardboard) heart for feet (a little bigger than 1” square)
- Red pom-pom (1)
- Googly eyes (2)
- Orange triangle for nose (we made ours out of felt)
- Glue gun/glue
- Ribbon for scarf
- Thinner ribbon for hanger (if using as hanging ornament)
- Paint: white, black, orange, red
Creating the Penguin:
- Paint feet orange and set aside.
- On light bulb, outline the front face/belly and paint white. Two coats.
- Paint the rest black. Two coats.
- Glue light bulb onto the feet.
- Paint the top socket red for hat. While drying, glue on two googly eyes.
- Glue on a triangular piece of orange felt for nose.
- Add ribbon around neck for scarf and glue into place. (One drop will do.)
- Glue red pom-pom on top for hat topper. If making into a tree ornament, first glue on thin ribbon for hanging. Then add the pom-pom.
Great results or better luck next time?
How did your penguin turn out? Comment and include a picture. Would love to see what you came up with. Our son-in-law Chris got creative and made a University of Florida penguin. Check out his right hand. Very cute.
Mimi