Bestow

This owl makes me happy.
And I think it would make a kid happy to receive this guy {with a present inside}.

It could even be fun to make one with your kid. Working off an idea for a paper bag owl puppet in one of my vintage child craft books, I made this bird into a gift bag. Want to know how?

{ instructions after the jump}

This guy will work for a small-ish gift that isn't too heavy and can be wrapped in tissue to fill out the form.

First, I cut the v shaped feathers on the front with an exacto knife and piece of mat board inside. I cut the back and sides off the bag about 4 inches down, leaving a long flap in front. This allows the back to be open, so the gift can be removed with undoing any of the front.

With gusseted bottom open, tape corners of bottom of bag inward. Place gift wrapped in tissue paper inside.

From a second paper bag, draw wings with top and side at the edges of the bag and cut out. This should create a couple of wings from the back and side gusset. Arrange wings feathered out and glue to side of owl.

Wanting crisp folds, I used glassine type paper for the eyes - for one eye, fold 2 circles into 6 equal segments. With one, cut out wedges in the center of  the segments {not to the center} and glue the two together at the center.  Black circle labels and some printed scrap  make the rest of the eye. The beak is scored into 6 segments and the top of the triangle is rounded. Tape the back of the paper beak to create a cone.

The front flap of the bag is folded into a triangle shape, folded down and fussed around with to create the face. To secure the bag closed, paperclip the top edges - on the front of the bag these are under the fold. Glue on eyes at edge of fold and beak onto point of flap.