Storage Toad Stools

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

• 5 Gallon Bucket with Lid
• Scissors
• Corrugated Cardboard, One Large Box
• 45"x60" Quilt Batting
• Sewing Clips
• 1yd Outdoor Fabric, 2 Colors
• Iron & Ironing Board
• 20oz Poly-fil
• Hot Glue Gun/Glue Gun Sticks
• Optional: Packing Tape
• Epoxy Adhesive
• Basic Sewing Supplies

DIRECTIONS:

1. Wrap the outside of the bucket with quilt batting and trim the batting with scissors so that the top lip of the bucket is left exposed. Use the hot glue glue to glue in place.
2. Wrap the outdoor fabric over the bucket and use the sewing clips to secure one edge of the fabric to the bucket. Then roll the bucket across the fabric. The bucket will make a U-shape over the fabric, and the fabric will cover the bucket without folds or creases. Secure the fabric in place with the sewing clips and use scissors to trim along the top edge of the bucket about an inch past the bottom of the bucket. You will need the excess to fold fabric underneath the top lip.
3. Iron a crisp fold onto one of the vertical edges of the outdoor fabric. Place this folded edge over the raw vertical edge and hot glue in place. Then, fold in the top so that it leaves the top lip of the bucket exposed, and hot glue into place. Lastly, fold the bottom edge of the outdoor fabric and hot glue around the bottom edge of the bucket.
4. Cut a circle out of cardboard that is a few inches larger than the bucket lid, about a 16" diameter.
5. With the cardboard corrugation vertical, cut strips of cardboard for the sides of the mushroom cap, about 4" to 6". These can be as long as you want, but the shorter they are, the easier it is to reach a hand up and lock or unlock the plastic lid onto the bucket. The circumference of the cardboard circle is about 54". Cut out cardboard strips until you reach that length. Make sure you're still cutting the cardboard so that the corrugation is vertical. When you've cut your pieces, bend the corrugated cardboard to the shape of an arc, and glue the sides of the circle with a hot glue gun. Glue the sides of each cardboard piece together as you work around the circle (feel free to use tape to hold things together as you glue per the JOANN HACK below). When glue is all set, trim off any cardboard excess off the top. Trace the cardboard top onto the cotton batting, cut, and glue onto the top. Cut a piece of batting that is the same width and length of the cardboard side, and glue onto the side.
6. Trace the top again, onto the outdoor fabric this time. Hand draw an additional 1/2" around the circle, for your seam allowance, and cut out. Cut out a strip of outdoor fabric for the side that is 2 inches wider and 2 inches longer than the cardboard side.
7. Pin the side strip right sides together around the circle, leaving an equal amount of excess fabric at the ends. Start sewing an inch from the edge, sew around the circle, and stop sewing an inch from the edge. Push the ends of the side strip together so that it completes the circle, pin that seam, and sew it together. Then pin the side seam back onto the circle and sew.
8. Cut triangles into the seam allowance of the circle all the way around to remove the bulk and help that seam to lie flat.
9. Turn right side out, and set on a flat surface. Place poly-fil inside the sewn mushroom cap until the circle is very covered, and place the cardboard top facedown on top of the poly-fil. Pull the edges of the fabric over the sides of the cardboard. Flip the cap rightside up and check to see if there are any areas that could use more poly-fil, if so, you can squeeze it in through the sides at this time. When the top is as fluffy as you'd like, fold the raw edge of the fabric side over the cardboard edge and hot glue into place.
10. Center the bucket lid on the interior of the cardboard circle, trace, and set aside. Cut a last strip of outdoor fabric that is the length of the cardboard side plus 2", and the width of the cardboard side plus about 6" (enough to fold 1/2") and cover the exposed cardboard and 1" or so past the traced circle line. Iron a crisp 1/2" fold onto one the of the long edges and one of the short edges, and hot glue in place along the interior of the cardboard edge, letting the folded short edge overlap the raw short edge. Arrange the fabric along the the cardboard circle so that it lays pretty flat and is covering past the traced circle. Glue in a couple areas, just to keep it from moving around much.
11. Finally, get out your epoxy and and cover the top of the bucket lid with it. Then place the lid in the center of the mushroom cap interior, and place a heavy book or some small weights on it, and allow it to set. Once the epoxy is set, turn the cap right-side up and meet the bucket lid to the top of the bucket.

JOANN HACKS:

• While putting together your cardboard circle with the strips, it's helpful to tape the strips into the circle shape first in at least one spot. That way, you have something to hold the strips in place while using the hot glue gun.
• Use sewing clips to keep materials in place on the bucket before hot gluing and as the glue is setting.
• To draft a large circle, tie a piece of string to a pencil. Mark the center and top, bottom, and side points of the circle. Place the point of the pencil at one of the points and hold the end of the string at the center of the circle, then draw arcs from point to point using the tether of the string to guide the pencil.