Cardboard Tube Cupid

Cardboard Tube Cupid

Watch out! This cute cardboard tube Cupid might shoot you with a Valentine’s Day arrow when you’re least expecting it.

What you’ll need

• Cardboard tube
• Acrylic paint: flesh (we used a peach color), pink, white, and black
• Paint brush
• 1″ strip of white construction paper
• 1 gold glitter chenille stem
• 1 red glitter chenille stem
• 1 silver glitter chenille stem
• Pencil
• Small scrap of peach felt
• 2 cotton balls
• White craft glue
• Scissors

How to make it

1. Paint cardboard tube with flesh-colored paint and set aside to dry.
2. Bend the gold chenille stem to make a bow. Twist to secure and trim the excess. Set it aside.
3. Bend the end of the red chenille stem into a small triangle; this will be the point of your arrow. Twist to secure and trim long end off. Take remaining red chenille and bend the end into a red heart; this will be the back end of your arrow. Twist to secure and trim off excess.
4. Take the remaining piece of gold chenille that you set aside. Twist one end onto the arrowhead and one end onto the heart. Lay the bow on the table and glue the arrow across the front of it.
5. Cut the silver chenille stem in half. Bend both halves into tear drop shapes and twist the ends to secure.
6. Apply some glue around the bottom of the painted cardboard tube, about an inch up from the bottom. Glue the 1″ wide strip of white construction paper around the tube and trim any excess, this is Cupid’s diaper.
7. Stand the tube on end, diaper toward the bottom. Poke a hole on each side of the tube with a pencil where you want the wings to go. Insert the twisted ends of the chenille wings into the holes.
8. Unroll two cotton balls. Place some glue on the ends of both cotton balls and attach to the top of the cardboard tube as the hair.
9. Lay the cardboard tube down on its side, wings sticking out to the left and right. Glue the bow and arrow to the front of the cardboard tube. Allow to dry completely.
10. Cut two small circles from flesh-colored felt and glue to the front of the bow as the hands.
11. Use a cotton swab or a roughed up paintbrush to dab some pink paint on for cheeks. Use the handle end of a paintbrush to dot on two white eyes. Let dry. When white is dry, dot on black.

Helpful Tips

• You may substitute two small wiggle eyes instead of painting the eyes on.
• If you don’t have peach felt, use the peach paint to paint a small piece of construction paper or cardboard and cut the circle hands from that.
• Stock up on construction paper and felt for tons of fun projects!

This project was created by Amanda Formaro, originally for Kaboose/Spoonful.