owl from hogwarts

for my tomboy princess's birthday, we had a harry potter theme.   of course, we had owls deliver the invites.

i am without all of my fun tools here so these are done with nothing more than scissors, markers, and a paper punch.   

super easy!

i cut the paper in half long ways and half short ways.   each little piece was folded in half and i tore a basic horned owl shape.   i tore them because i liked the fuzzy look of it better.   i started near the top and tore a slight curve, then the top of a triangle to form the ears, continue with the rounded head to around where the ears form.   then go back out to form a larger oval for the body.   a flatter bottom is better for making them stand up.   they are in no way the same or even or even always round.  

still folded, i punched a hole for the eyes as far in from the fold as the punch would reach and a little above the center point of the head.   

i punched as far in as i could from the fold and from the outside at the bottom to make cutting points for the feet.    still folded, cut a zigzag between the bottom holes for the talons so your owl can hold onto the invites.  
still folded, cut a small upwards slit toward the eyes but not through them.   that forms the beak.  while it's still folded, push the beak out from the body a little so you can draw a little outline down the edge on both sides.

 the rest is just decoration.     now you can unfold it!
 i used little piece of plastic i found in the house to color with a marker and "stamp" circles around the eye holes.   you could draw them, cut a stamp from a potato or piece of those foam floor puzzles, or just look though the junk drawers and tool boxes for something to stamp with.  

the wings are just half of a tear drop.   the breast feathers are just slanted lines.

to get your owl to hold onto the invites, first fold the little zig-zags out to the front.    roll the invites up fairly tight, (between a pencil and marker sized), and slip it though the little holes at the bottom.   try to flair the talons over the top as much as you can, but it is just paper so be careful.   i ripped a couple.

 the owl will stay curved with the roll in it's feet.   i pushed the bottom between the feet forward a bit and folded the bottom outside corners back a bit so it will sit up.

 the invites are just a quarter of a piece of paper and i had the princess write them up since my computer was down and i couldn't print any.   they looked great.   you could rip the edges and then lightly touch them to a hot burner for a darkened edge.   you can soak the paper in coffee first to color it and then just wrinkle it up if you want a more worn or parchment look.

this is super easy and definitely kid friendly to make.   it requires no special equipment or skill.   it took us an afternoon to do them all.    of course, i had to foul a few up first experimenting with how to do it.