Birdy Bottle Bookend

what you'll need

17-oz. plastic bottle, funnel, 2 to 3 cups sand, baby sock, 4 or 5 cotton balls, scissors, white and yellow felt, 2 tiny black pom-poms, tacky glue, 21/2" piece of wire, 2-cm felt ball ($.35 each; tadaastudio.com), Tyvek envelope (81/2" x 11" or larger), washi tape, two colors of yarn

make it

1. Clean out bottle and remove all labels. Use funnel to fill with sand; replace cap.
2. For bird's head, stuff baby sock with cotton balls and slip over top of bottle.
3. To make eyes, cut two approximately 3/8" circles from white felt. Glue one black pom-pom to each. Glue eyes onto sock.
4. For the beak, fold yellow felt and cut a 1/4" triangle on the crease. Glue beak onto sock about 1/2" below eyes.
5. To make earmuffs, bend wire into a headband shape. Cut felt ball in half and glue one piece to each end of wire, round side facing out. Slip earmuffs onto bird's head; glue to secure.
6. Cut two wing shapes (pointed at one end, cut straight across on the other) from Tyvek envelope, about two-thirds height of bottle and about 3" across at widest point. Cover wings with strips of washi tape. Glue top of each wing around neck of bottle.
7. To make a scarf, braid three 20" strands of yarn. If yarn is thin, double or triple it to give it some thickness.
8. For feet, fold a 3" square of yellow felt in half and cut a 2"-tall half-heart shape on crease. Unfold and glue to bottom of bottle, rounded points facing out.

Excerpted from Project Kid by Amanda Kingloff (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2014. Photographs by Alexandra Grablewski.

Originally published in the June issue of Parents magazine.