Article: Turkey Recipe Craft

This would make a cute hostess gift. It's also a fun and easy craft for kids to do.

Materials:
small brown paper bag
orange and yellow construction paper
6" piece of tan yarn index card
magazine page with dark brown colors on it
1 cup rice
brown acrylic paint
small piece of sponge
stapler or glue
black marker
hole punch
newspaper

For the body, cut off the top half of the small brown paper bag and save for use later. Put the 1 cup rice in the bottom half then bring the top of the bag together and to a point then staple at that point. The bag should now be stapled closed so the rice will not come out. Put a small puddle of brown paint on a few layers of newspaper. Dip the small sponge into the puddle of paint then
pat on the newspaper to take off excess paint. Now, dab the sponge all over the bag with the rice in it.

For the wings, take the top half of the bag and cut it at each side so you end up with two pieces the same size. Dab these pieces with the sponge and brown paint on one side as you did for the bag with the rice in it. Let dry. Fold these two pieces accordion style then staple one end together so you have a small fan. Now staple or glue one fan to each side of the 'body'.

For the legs, cut two 1/2" X 8" pieces of construction paper. For the feet, draw two 2" cup shapes with three 1/2" toes and cut them out. Staple one foot to one end of each leg, then glue top of the legs to the bottom of the `body'. For the tail, cut the brown colored magazine page to a 5" X 7" rectangle then fold into a fan and staple as you did for the wings. Glue or staple the tail to the back of the `body'.

For the head, cut out a 4" light bulb shape from the orange construction paper. The head is the bigger part of the light bulb and the neck is the smaller part. Cut a 1" X 2" diamond from the yellow construction paper and fold in half the long way for the beak. Glue the back of one folded side to the head in the middle in beak position.

With the marker, draw on two eyes above and on the sides of the beak. You can also color in a red tongue with a red marker or crayon inside the beak if you'd like.

Now your turkey should be finished all that's left to do is attach the recipe. On the index card, write the following recipe:

Gobble-Good Turkey Casserole

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of celery soup
1 package onion soup mix
1 cup rice
1 1/2 cups milk
2 or 3 cups leftover turkey

Combine all ingredients in a large casserole dish. Bake covered 45 minutes at 350*. Punch a hole in the left corner of the recipe with right side facing. Thread the tan yarn through the hole, then tie around the neck of the turkey and secure with a knot. This turkey looks really cute sitting on a shelf with legs dangling in the kitchen.

Copyright, 2000, Monica Resinger

About the Author: Monica Resinger publishes an e-mail newsletter Mon-Fri for homemakers that poses fun questions to readers about organizing, crafting, gardening, frugal living and other homemaking subjects; readers can respond to the questions and receive the resulting, very informative 'tip sheet'. If
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