Paint the spool white. Cover all sides of a large wooden spool with white craft paint. Allow the paint to dry. Note that the spool will be the body of the cow. Since you need to paint the entire spool, separate the work into two steps so that the paint can dry properly. Paint the cylindrical side first, and after it dries, paint the top and bottom faces. Add black blotches. Cover the cylindrical side of the spool with spots of black paint. Let the paint dry. These spots should extend all the way around the body and should look like the spots on a cow. To make the spots more realistic, give them rounded but uneven sides and try to avoid creating any patterns or symmetry when laying them out. Trace the spool onto card stock. Place one flat, circular face of the spool on top of white card stock. Trace around this circle in pencil. Cut out the resulting circle. You'll use it for the face of the cow. Note that white felt or white craft foam could also work if you do not have white card stock. Add detail to the face. Give the cow a pink snout, black nostrils, and two googly eyes. To create the nose, begin by drawing a semi-circle over the bottom half of the card stock circle. Color in

this semi-circle with pink marker or paint, then draw to small black ovals near the top edge of the semi-circle. For the eyes, glue two googly craft eyes halfway between the snout and the top edge of the spool. Cut out two ears. Draw two small leaf shapes on white card stock. Cut out both shapes for use as the cow's ears. Keep the ears proportionate to the size of the face. Each one should be approximately the same size as one craft eye. Add detail to the ears. Use pink marker to color in the center of each ear on one side of the paper. The pink center should follow the basic shape of the overall ear outline, but it should only take up roughly one-half to three-quarters of the ear. Cut two rectangles. Sketch out two rectangles in pencil, making each one long enough to wrap around the side of the spool once. Each should only be as wide as the width of one ear. Cut out both rectangles when finished. Each rectangle will turn into two legs. One will become both back legs and the other will become both front legs. Add details to the legs. Color both tips of both rectangles in black marker. These black tips will become the cow's hooves. Attach the paper pieces. Use craft glue to attach

the face, ears, and legs to the spool. Let the glue dry before continuing. Glue the face onto one flat end of the spool. Position both ears over the top edge of the same end, gluing them in place behind the face. Glue the center of one leg rectangle to the bottom of the cylindrical side, positioning it near the face end of the spool. Repeat with the other leg rectangle, putting it closer to the opposite end of the spool. Allow the ends of both rectangles to hang loose. Attach a pipe cleaner tail. Clip a small piece of black pipe cleaner and use craft glue to attach it to the blank flat end of the spool. Let the glue dry. The tail should be roughly one-half to three-quarters the length of the spool body. Admire your work. The spool cow is finished and ready to show off. Cut up the cardboard tubes. You can start with two empty toilet paper rolls or one empty paper towel roll. If you use the paper towel roll, cut it in half. Refer to each half as a separate roll for the remainder of the instructions. Cut one of the rolls in half. Save one half for use as the cow's head and discard the other half. Cut 1 inch (2.5 cm) off one end of the other roll. This roll will become the body of the

cow. Discard the excess 1 inch (2.5 cm). Create ear slits. Using pencil, lightly sketch two ovals onto one end of the head piece, positioning them on opposite sides of the cylindrical perimeter. These ovals will become ears. Each one should be about one-quarter the length of the tube. Carefully cut along three-quarters of each oval outline, leaving the innermost end of each oval alone. Fold up the cut portions so that they stick out from the sides of the tube, creating ears. Snip and fold horn slits. Draw two small triangles near one end of the tube, centering them in between both ears. These triangles will become horns. They should be smaller than half the size of one ear. Carefully cut along two edges of each triangle, leaving the innermost edge alone. Fold up the cut portions so that they stick out from the side of the tube, creating horns. Cut out two egg carton sections. Cut two compartments out of an empty egg carton. Discard the rest of the carton. These two sections will become the legs of your cow. One section will form both front legs and the other will form both back legs. Carefully cut out the front and back of both sections, leaving the sides and bottoms intact. Paint

everything white. Paint both cardboard tubes and both egg carton sections white. Allow the paint to dry. You should paint both sides of the ear slits, but you do not need to paint the horn slits at this time. Add black spots. Use black paint to add spots to the head and body of the cow. Let the paint dry when finished. To create realistic spots, paint spots with uneven sides. Avoid sharp points, opting for rounded corners instead. Note that you should also space the spots apart in uneven intervals instead of creating patterns or symmetry. Define the ears and horns. Paint a small pink oval in the front side of each ear. Paint both sides of each horn gray. Let the paint dry. The pink inner ear should follow the outline of the ear slit, but you should leave some blank white space around the edge of each center. Attach the eyes. Using craft glue, adhere two googly craft eyes onto the face. Allow the glue to dry completely. Both eyes should lie just in front of the ears along the length of the head. Place each eye in between one horn and one ear along the width (perimeter) of the head. Glue the pieces together. Glue both egg carton pieces onto the same side of the body roll. Glue the

head onto the opposite side of the body roll. Turn both carton sections upside-down so that the flat bottoms become the tops. Place one section near the front of the body and the other section near the back. With the cow standing on its egg carton feet, glue the back half of the head onto the top of the body. Stuff the rolls with cotton. Once everything dries, stuff cotton balls into both open cardboard rolls. Use enough cotton to tightly back both rolls. If you pack it tightly enough, you should not need to use glue to hold the cotton in place. Attach the mouth. Cut a small piece of pink pipe cleaner out and glue it to the cotton at the front of the face. The pink pipe cleaner should roughly match the diameter of the cardboard tube. Bend the pipe cleaner into a slight curve to give the cow a smile. Use glue to attach the pipe cleaner to the bottom half of the cotton at the front of the face. Add a tail. Cut a small length of white yarn. Use glue to attach one end to the top of the cardboard body at the back of the cow. The tail should be at least as long as the diameter of the tube, if not a little longer. Observe your work. The cardboard cow is finished and ready to admire. Cut

the toe off. Use scissors to cut off the rounded toe end, removing roughly one-fifth of the sock in the process. On a standard adult sock, the length of the cut portion should be between 4 and 5 inches (10 and 12.5 cm). The cut toe portion will become the head of the cow. Save the rest of the sock for the body. Stuff and seal the ends. Stuff the cut toe portion with a small bundle of fiberfill or similar filling material. Leave the top 1 inch (2.5 cm) empty; glue or sew the ends together. Fold the raw open edge in by no more than 1/2 inch (1.25 cm). To create a rounded head, you'll need to begin by gluing the sides of the empty portion together. Glue the opening closed, then fold it down over the stuffed bundle. Stitch or glue the folded material in place. Cut off the cuff. Cut off the back opening of the sock, removing a portion equal in length to the original cut toe portion. The cut portion should be about one-fifth the length of the original sock. On a standard adult's sock, this should be roughly 4 to 5 inches (10 to 12.5 cm). You'll use parts of this cut portion for the ears. The leftover sock will be used for the body. Separate the cuff into two ovals. Cut the cuff in half,

parallel to the ribbing. Cut out one long oval from each half. Each oval should have roughly the same width and length of the cuff half. These ovals will become the ears. You can discard the rest of the cuff material. Stitch the sides. Fold one oval in half crosswise. Using a needle and thread, blanket stitch over the the raw, rounded edge. Repeat with the second oval. Alternatively, you can use hot glue to hold the ear halves together. Lay a thin stream of hot glue around the entire edge, then carefully press the raw edges into the glue. With the raw edges trapped, fold the oval in half crosswise, sticking both ends together. Attach the ears to the head. Place the flat edge of one ear along one fold of the head. Repeat with the other ear and the other head fold. You should be able to attach the ears with either thread or hot glue. Add button eyes. Sew two buttons two the front of the head, positioning them roughly halfway between the ears and the original toe-seam of the sock. Place the felt nostrils. Peel the backings off two small, self-adhesive round felt pads. Place each pad onto the original two-seam of the head. Align these felt pads to the eyes of the cow. Cut slits into

the remaining sock body. Flip the remaining sock over so that the heel faces up. Cut straight slits through both sides of the material from either end of the sock. Keep both slits as centered as possible from either end. Each should span roughly one-half to two-thirds the space in between the open end and the nearest side of the heel. On a standard adult's sock, the slits should be 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7.5 cm) long. Stitch around the slits. Turn the sock inside-out and sew along all of the raw edges, leaving roughly 1 inch (2.5 cm) open along the back slit. As you sew along the slits and the raw open edges, you should see the legs of the cow taking shape. The front of the sock should form the front legs and the back of the sock should form the back legs. Once you finish sewing along these raw edges, turn the body right-side out again through the remaining gap. Stuff the body with fiberfill. Insert fiberfill or a similar material into the body of the cow through the open gap. When finished, carefully turn the raw edge inward. Glue or edge-stitch the opening closed. Attach the head to the body. Place the head of the cow in between the heel and the front legs. Sew or glue into

place. Attach yarn to the back end. Cut a piece of brown yarn equal in length to the cow's back legs. Knot both ends of the yarn, then stitch or glue it in place. The yarn become the tail of the cow. You'll need to attach one end to the back of the heel, centering it in between the two back legs. The other end should hang free. Enjoy. The sock cow should now be finished.