DIY Pool Noodle Horses

I'm baaack!  Marty, Avery and I just returned from a week vacation from the beach and a very short trip at Disney World.  *sigh*  Why does real life exist and why can't I just live at Disney all the time?

Anyway.  So now it's back to work, back to my dirty house and piles of laundry and back to blogging.  Hooray!

Today's blog post is going to be all about teaching you how to make these bad boys:

For Avery's 3rd birthday, we did a Disney Jr. themed party.  The invitations were Doc McStuffins, some of the decor was Mickey Mouse, her outfit and cake was Sofia the First, so I felt like Sheriff Callie needed to be represented.  The easiest way I could think of was making Sheriff Callie favors.  Sheriff Callie, like every good cowgirl, has a faithful and trusty steed, Sparky.

I decided every little girl at the party would need her own Sparky to ride off on adventures with.  Enter, Pool Noodle Sparky.  Wanna know how to make your own?  Let's do this thing. 

Materials Needed: 

• Pool Noodles
• Knee socks
• Fabric (for mane)
• Felt (for ears)
• Buttons
• Grocery bags
• Ribbon (for reins) 
• Hot glue

Assembling:

1.)  Determine what size you want your horses to be.  For an older child, I would recommend leaving the pool noodles whole.  I was making horses for a bunch of toddlers, so I decided to cut my noodles in half to accommodate shorter legs. :)   (Dollar General had primary colored noodles for only $1. I wanted neon colors, so I paid a little more for mine at Walmart).

2.)  Take one knee high sock and stuff the end of the sock with grocery bags, tissue paper or some other type of filler.  You want the sock to be able to stand on its own once it's put on the noodle.

3.)  Slide the sock onto one end of the pool noodle, stopping at the heel.  This makes it seem as if the sock is separated into the horse's head and neck.

4.)  Start adding the fabric for the horse's mane.  I made mine with strips of fabric cut into pieces that were about 4 inches wide by 1 inch thick.  None of this was measured exactly, just eyeballed.  

I did a variety of colors and patterns that I knew would coordinate with the socks that I had bought.  You could also use tulle, ribbon or a variety of other materials to make the mane. 

I started by taking a piece of my fabric, twisting it in the middle and then gluing it down to the sock directly with hot glue.  Some pieces were easy to attach, others needed a bit more glue to make sure it wasn't about to fall off and leave my horse bald.

I continued on, picking two or three different patterns and varying them down the sock until I was happy with the length of the mane.  

5.)  Next, I attached the ears.  For the ears, I picked two different colors of pink felt and cut two ear shaped pieces out of both colors--one set being slightly smaller than the other (to go inside the bigger set).

To attach the ears, I pinched the bottom of the ears (at the widest part) together and then glued it to the side of the sock.  I just eyeballed this part to and placed the ears where I thought they looked best.

When you're gluing the ears on, make sure you glue each layer to each other, or the ears won't be nice and folded together like you see in the picture.  So, when you're gluing, glue:  1.  The hot pink piece to the sock.  2.  The light pink to the hot pink.  3.  The light pink to each other, where the ear will meet in the middle.  4.  The hot pink to the light pink.  

Clear as mud?  Just put glue in between every single layer of the ear. 

6.)  Glue on eyeballs.  I picked buttons in a variety of shapes and colors for my eyes.  You could use pom-pom balls, googly eyes, or just draw them on.  

7.)  Attach the reins.  I used ribbon that I had laying around the house.  First, make a circle around the end of the horse's "nose."  Glue that on.  Then, attach one side of the ribbon to the circle, pull out the ribbon and loop it around the neck and mane, and back on the other side of the circle on the nose.  Glue those two ends down and you have your reins.

You're done!  I made nine of these beauties and Avery had to test ride every single one.

She would ride it around the room, declare it to be a "good Sparky for her fwiends" and then test the next one.  Avery approved pool noodle horses, y'all.   You're welcome.