Crafting a Cowboy Party: Cow Ring Toss

I loving taking something classic and giving it a new twist. There is just something so satisfying about blending a timeless and traditional idea with modern and whimsical elements. That is why I decided to create a new Western twist on a classic childhood party game: the ring toss. Instead of just tossing rings around pegs, the little cowgirls and cowboys at my son's Sweet Baby James Cowboy Party would get to "lasso" some "cattle." Yeehaw!

To make each cow:

1. Fill an empty 2-liter soda bottle with sand. I used playground sand from my local hardware store.

2. Measure the height and circumference of your 2-liter bottle. Add 1/2 inch to the height and 1 inch to the circumference. These will be the dimensions of the piece of white felt that you will use to cover your bottle. For example a 2-liter Pepsi bottle is approximately 12.5 inches tall and 13.5 inches around. So, if you are using 2-liter Pepsi bottles, your piece of felt would be 13 inches long and 14.5 inches wide.

3. Cut a piece of white felt to the dimensions determined in the above step.

4. Cut out the cow face parts in the appropriate colors of felt from the pattern found here.

4. Cut out free form "cow spots" in varying sizes from black felt. You will need at least 2 per cow.

5. Pin the cow face parts and cow spots to the white felt rectangle that you cut out in step 3.

6. Sew around the cow face parts and cow spots 1/4 inch from the edge of each piece using thread of a coordinating color.

7. After all the cow parts are sewn on, fold your fabric vertically (hot dog style) with the right/good side facing in. Pin the edges together.

8. Sew the two edges together using a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

9. Turn your cow right side out.

10. Using white embroidery thread, do a running stitch approximately 1/2 inch from the top edge.

11. Pull your thread tight and tie the ends together. Cut off any excess thread and slip the finished felt cow cover onto your 2-liter bottle that has been filled with sand.

To make each lasso:

1. For each lasso you will need one inner ring from a wooden embroidery hoop, hemp cord, and hot glue.

2. Hot glue the end of the hemp cord to the wooden embroidery ring.

3. Tightly wrap the wooden embroidery ring with the hemp cord until the ring is completely covered.

4. Once you are done wrapping, cut the hemp cord and glue the end to the hoop. Your lasso is finished! Repeat the steps to make another one.

Set your cows up in a "pasture" and hang your lassos nearby. You're ready to play!

Just in case you missed the link to the pattern above, here it is again:

Cow Face Parts Pattern

Happy Crafting!