Snowman Birdhouse Gourd Tutorial - Rural Thursday

If you remember, I did a lot of complaining last summer about how none of my veggies in the garden were surviving the squash bugs except the birdhouse gourds (which have a sort of stinky odor when they are growing, so it's no wonder the squash bugs ignored them).  Well, my gourds have dried out and it was finally time to do something with them.  I studied the shape and thought.  And it seemed that it would be the perfect shape for a snowman. 

I used a mini Playdoh container to trace the birdhouse door, and carved it with a knife.  Then I shook out the seeds.

I took the gourd outside and applied several coats of white primer, waiting for each coat to dry in between.

Then I used some small wooden pieces I found in my craft drawer and painted them to make buttons, eyes, and a carrot nose.  I found some plaid fleece material and cut it into a scarf.  I broke twigs off the pine tree outside for arms.  My final step was to screw in an eye hook.  I used hot glue to secure it for hanging.

I thought it turned out adorably!  Maybe those birdhouse gourds aren't so useless after all.  I am hoping to make a few more to use as gifts during the holiday season.  I do need to figure out a varnish to protect the paint, since they will be outside in the elements. 

It's Rural Thursday!  Time to link up with Nancy from A Rural Journal and myself with your stories and pictures of the rural life.  Copy the code beneath the button and paste it into your blog post.  Then come back and add your post to the linky below.  Please make sure you visit the blogs of at least 5 other participants, and leave them a comment.  Also, next week due to Thanksgiving, we will not be hosting a link up for Rural Thursday.  So we'll see you again on November 29th! 

What about you, readers?  Have you started any holiday themed crafts this year?