Make Your Own: Mustache on a Stick

Yesterday I saw an ad on Facebook that featured a woman and a little boy holding mustaches on sticks. So fun! With both of my brothers coming to Michigan this weekend, I felt inspired to make a few of these to take Up North with us. I felt that these would make for some fun family memories especially since I know that Nick, a professional photographer, will be taking lots of photos.

So, I grabbed all of the black felt scraps that I had, my bottle of Aleene's tacky glue, and a bunch of wooden skewers -- which had gotten tucked into my craft stash just last week after falling onto the laundry room floor. (Why do I store my skewers in the laundry room? Honestly, I have no clue, but that is where they have been for ages. Anyway, once they hit the floor, I figured that they were no longer "food safe," but that didn't mean that they couldn't be used for crafting. I just needed an idea. Funny how things work out.)

In the end, I had enough materials to make eleven mustaches on a stick. Coincidentally, (or maybe not -- you see how these things work out?) this is the exact number of family members who will be getting together this weekend.

{My mustaches remind me of a flock of birds.}

Materials:

• wooden skewers (or dowels)
• black felt (or craft foam or card stock)
• tacky glue
• pen/pencil
• scissors
• scratch paper (optional)

Directions:

1. To begin, I cut pieces of scratch paper to approximately the same size as my black felt scraps. Then, I folded them in half, hamburger style. One each scrap of paper, I drew one half of a mustache shape, cut it out and checked to see if it fit on the felt. I then adjusted accordingly, both to make sure that it fit, and that I was happy with the shape, making more trimmings as needed. (Tip: If you don't want to draw your mustaches freehand, look for an online template such as this one.)
2. Next, I used a little bit of tacky glue to stick my scratch paper templates on top of my black felt, just enough to get each to lay flat, but not so much to make it permanently bonded. Then, I cut around the templates. Once done cutting, I peeled off my templates. You do not have to use glue, but it made it easier to cut around the template without it slipping. (Tip: For cutting felt, use the sharpest scissors that you have available.)
3. To make the wooden skewers more kid friendly, I used my scissors to cut off the sharp ends. (Note: If I had more felt, I would have made two-sided mustaches, sandwiching the sharp part of the skewer in between the two pieces of felt, and thus eliminating the need to trim them.)
4. To finish my mustaches, I used a dab of tacky glue to adhere a wooden skewer to the back side of each felt mustache. When I say "back side," I mean the side that already had traces of glue on it, left over from the templates. (Note: I have seen other mustaches on sticks that had the sticks placed off center, and while I realize that this probably looks nicer in photos, it wasn't working for me. So, I centered mine to get stability, because floppy mustaches were not the look I was going for.)
5. Make sure the glue dries completely before modeling your new facial hair. (Tip: If the tacky glue is not working, consider using hot glue instead.)

{My favorite little people model some of my creations.}