Build A Bear Thanksgiving

My children commented that Stampin' Up!™ should also sell a die for a Thanksgiving costume for the Build A Bears. This inspired me to come up with something on my own. You'll need the Build A Bear Bigz Dies- Stampin' Up! Bear, Beary Essentials, and Spooky Kooky. Additionally, you'll need two sizes of oval punches, scissors, adhesive, and card stock in Basic Black, Whisper White, Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Soft Suede and your favorite fall inspired colors. I used Crushed Curry, So Saffron, Dusty Durango, Pumpkin Pie, Garden Green and Real Red. I also used some hemp twine for embellishment. For inspiration, I did a google search on Thanksgiving costumes for inspiration for the costumes.

Beginning with our cute little turkey. I used the Bigz dies to cut my bear as normal using the Soft Suede. Then I cut a pumpkin costume using Kraft and the Spooky Kooky die. The pumpkin costume served as the base for my costume. I rounded the hat and body to remove the jagged edges as well as the stem on the hat. I then cut several ovals in the fall colors in both the large and small size. I layered two rows on the front of the pumpkin, alternating the colors. For the hat, I cut one of the small So Saffron ovals in half and glued them side by side onto the hat. The waddle is another small Real Read Oval that I cut down to leave the outside edge. Following the inspiration I got from the costumes, I added some eyes to the top. The plume feathers were a similar approach- layering the larger ovals in a plume shape and then gluing to the back of the bear. I finished him off with a sign declaring "Eat Beef!"

For the pilgrims, I used the Beary Essentials to cut the clothes in black. For the boy pilgrim, I also cut some extra bear legs in Whisper White and trimmed the pants to be short pants, giving him white stocking legs. The hat is simply a square cut to shape using the corner rounder to round the top and then glued to a long skinny rectangle. The buckle is just two squares (1 small Basic Black and a slightly larger Crushed Curry one) layered and glued to the hat. I used the same technique on the shoes and belt. The color is a free hand cut to achieve the right shape. I also cut an extra jacket in Whisper white and trimmed the cuffs to add to black coat.

The girl pilgrim was done in a similar fashion. The coat was rounded a bit and I used the skirt from Beary Essentials die as an apron and then as a guide to lengthen the skirt. I cut the bow as a free hand and added to the collar to be consistent with the pilgrim costumes I found online. I added a hand cut bow. The hat is also a free hand cut and I repeated the same technique on the cuffs of the coat that I did on the boy pilgrim.

For the Native American I repeated the same type of layering and addition of free hand details like the collar and head dress. I did a fringe on the ends of the pants and shirt cuffs. I used hemp twine to tie the coat together like lacing. The feathers for the head dress were cut free hand. As with the other bears, I tried to mimic the costumes that I found online.

I set out to create some Thanksgiving bears which would please the kids and they were very happy with them. I have to admit, I was pretty pleased as well. I showed them off at church today and have been asked to make some more for a Thanksgiving dinner hosted by our International Bible Study. As such, I'll be creating some patterns which will make the process a bit faster. I hope my designs inspire you to do something creative with your Big Shot Dies!

God Bless and Happy Stamping!