Chocolate Turkey Parade!

These started out as a very simple idea to turn Ferrero Rocher chocolates into pumpkins.  You know, just real quick, add a little stem and vine at the top??  Easy peasy.  But (always a but) I couldn't get past an idea I had in the middle of the night last night to make them turkeys.  My rosette-flower-obsession disorder got the best of me and I decided they had to be turkeys!!




I started out by making the tail feathers.  I used DCWV 5-1/2"x7" "Harvest Gathering" mat stack (last year's design) and chose several of the panels.  Cut them in half length-wise so I had two 2-1/4"x7" strips from each panel.  I scored them every quarter-inch, then fan folded them. 

To get the "tail" to stay in a fan shape, I hot glued the bottom 1/3 to an arch-shaped scrap cardboard piece.  I started by hot-gluing one side of the bottom end to the cardboard piece, then once that end was set, I added glue to the rest of the cardboard piece and laid the rest of the accordion piece down. This step allowed me time to squeeze bottom end together so it glued down into the fan shape I wanted for the tail feathers. 

To make sure it stayed in place, I hot glued another arch shaped cardboard piece across the front side, across the bottom, so the fan shape was secure.  I trimmed off the overhanging sides of the cardboard pieces.  I then colored the white piece with a brown copic just so it blended in some.

Next I made the turkey heads.  After rummaging through my supplies trying to decide how to do this, I settled on using a 1/2" circle punch, brown card stock, a couple of wiggly eyes, a holly berry stem and puff balls.

The holly berries came these mini pine cone clusters that I deconstructed and separated from the cones.

I punched a 1/16" hole through a 1/2" circle of brown cardstock, then slipped the holly berries through and positioned them so they would hang as the turkey's "gobblers" below their face.

Here's the heads ready for beaks.

The beaks are just little triangles cut free-hand from scrap orange cardstock that I folded in half.

I just glued the beaks onto the front of the face right above the berries/gobblers. 

Next I added a little puff ball to the backs of the heads as "necks" - and because I didn't want to glue the faces flat against the chocolate ball.

Puff balls being glued to the backs of the heads

Here's all the main parts ready to be assembled:

First thing to do is make the body.  With the chocolate ball sitting in it's little brown candy holder that it comes in, stretch the brown holder at one end so you can slip the tail feathers in.  Use a little hot glue on the bottom end of the tail feathers and along the back side so the fan of tail feathers is glued to the brown paper on the bottom and the back.

Next glue the heads on, The puff ball and head are so light weight, it just takes the teeniest drop of glue to stay on -- just enough to stick but not enough to cause the chocolate to melt!!






And here's a few pics of the finished turkeys!  There's going to be one of these guys sitting at the table at each place setting this year!

Happy Thanksgiving, friends!  May you be blessed and safe this Thanksgiving!!



TFL, I'm so glad you stopped by!