DIY stick horses

For the twins 2nd birthday I decided to make them stick horses using socks. $20 and about 2 hours later, I had these cute suckers! These are so easy, you can do it to!

Materials:

Tube socks-$2.50  (target)

Wooden dowel-$5 (home depot- I cut one stick in half to make two)

Buttons-$0.99 (Joann fabrics- or use what you have at home)

Yarn-$3.50 (Joann fabrics- I got fuzzy yarn to add texture to the mane)

Stuffing- $5 (Joann Fabrics)

Ribbon- free (at home- or you can buy some for $1 at Joann's)

Tacks- free ( you can find at any office store or target)

String- free (at home- but originally from the dollar spot at target)

Scrap of fabric-free (seriously any scrap will work- or cut up an old t-shirt)

Step 1: Take your sock and stuff it! A lot.... You can fit more in there than you would think! I only stuffed the head first and then moved to step 2.

Step 2: Attach some stuffing to the top of your dowel. I just used some tape. Put the dowel inside the sock and finish stuffing. With all that stuffing my sock started looking a little thin, so I doubled up on the socks.

Step 3: Secure the socks with some string. I also used some thumb tacks (with flat ends) to secure the sock to the dowel. This prevents the horse head from moving around. I covered the tacks with extra string.

Step 4: Shape your head! Use your hands to make it just the way you want it.

Step 5: Add the mane. I used a plastic yarn needle to thread the yarn through the sock. Then I tied each piece into a knot.

Step 6: Add the buttons for eyes. I used larger white buttons with smaller colored buttons placed on top.

Step 7: Sew on the ears. I cut triangles out of fabric and attached them as ears.

Step 8: Tie on the reigns. I cut a piece of ribbon and tied it around the mouth. Then cut a longer piece and tied it to each side of the 'muzzle' for the handles or reigns if you will.

Step 9: The tube socks I bought were super long, so I folded under the extra fabric and quickly hand stitched around so it would say folded up. You could also cut off the fabric- but if you do, I would recommend sewing the ends so they don't unravel.

Step 10- Admire your handi-work and give them away!

Here is Noah lovig his new pony! I sang 'dun da dun dun dun da dun dun dun da dun dada' (you know... The horse racing music!) And he kept saying 'again, again!' 

Enjoy!