PSA: You do not need to be a super villain to make this craft

How wonderful would it be if Minions came to our Thanksgiving celebrations? I imagine some banana cream pie, banana ice cream, and really anything with banana would make them happy guests. They could cause trouble, but with those cute faces, I wouldn’t be mad for long. Since we can’t actually invite Minions, we decided to instead make life size wood cutouts of our favorite happy little characters. We saw these adorable pilgrim and turkey Minion pictures online (original source unknown) and started in on making them. We hope you have as much fun as we did creating them!

Supplies:

• Minion Grid Patterns (Thanksgiving Minion Grid Pattern)
• Pencil
• Ruler
• ½ inch thick Plywood (18in x 24in for both)
• Jigsaw
• CraftSmart Satin Paint: Yellow, White, Black, Orange, Brown, Golden Brown, Espresso
• CraftSmart Metallic Paint: Gold, Silver
• Black Sharpie
• Variety of paintbrush sizes
• Rust-Oleum Clear Durable Topcoat – Satin

Directions:

Begin by using a pencil and ruler to create a grid on the two pieces of plywood where each grid square equates to 3in x 3in. This will end up being 6 squares by 8 squares. Using the grid drawing method, transfer the outline of the minions to their respective wood pieces.

Grid Method is simply a method of transferring a design where you use grids to help scale and add details. Focus on referencing one square at a time but also make sure the design is able to continue to the surrounding squares.

Use a jigsaw to cutout the outline of the characters

Using the grid method, transfer the remaining details onto each of the minions using a pencil. Carefully paint the characters by referencing the picture for colors. For the pilgrim minion, work from top to bottom. For the turkey minion, work on the outer feathers first then work from the top of the body to the bottom (ending with his shoes). Make sure to paint the sides of the minions as you go, this will make the cutouts look more finished at the end. For the turkey minion, after getting the base brown for the feathers and body, use a stippling brush with the three brown shades to create shading and add depth of color to the feathers.

Spray the two characters with a clear topcoat. Sign and date the back to finish.

Enjoy!