Wood Cow Decor

Moooooove on over here and take a look at how I made this adorable DIY Wood Cow Decor with just a few affordable supplies. This cutie cow with his chippy background and big messy bow is the perfect addition to your DIY farmhouse crafts and decor.

DIY Wood Farmhouse Cow Decor on a chippy cow print rectangular background, fabric ears, big messy black and white fabric bow, and a hangtag that says "Moo".

I am really not even a farmhouse fan at all, but to me cute cows are not just a farmhouse thing, they are a cuteness thing!

And this cutie can be made from virtually nothing! You could even use cardboard as the base if you don’t have a wood board.

With just some paint, cardboard, and fabric (or ribbon), you’ve got what you need to make this adorable Moo-Cow.

I loved him soooooo MOOCH that I made a lil’ piggy live over on Facebook, and a lil’ Chickie for a craft challenge with my CRafterparty subscription group, too!

This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission but it won’t cost you a cent more!)

Supplies Needed to Make a Wood Cow Decor

Dollar Tree wood christmas sign that says "Merry and Bright".

Wood long rectangle base
Cardboard
Muslin
Black and white coordinating fabric/ribbon
Antique Wax
Kraft paper
Twine
Mini Acrylic Alphabet Stamps or Black Sharpie
Tim Holtz Distressed Ink
Paint: Grey, Black, White, Pink
Large button
White candlewax
Mod Podge
Hot glue gun

How to Make a Make a Wood Cow Decor

I made this Wood Cow Decor on video. So you can WATCH the tutorial by clicking below.

YouTube thumbnail image of the completed project.

Watch the video HERE

First things first, paint your entire wood surface with a light grey color.

Next, to make the chippy paint background you will take white candle wax and rub it all over your wood board. The more wax you add, the more your paint will chip. The less wax you apply, the less it will chip in the next step.

Paint a nice thick coat of white paint on top of the wax and grey base coat.

Painting a nice thick coat of white paint on top of the wax and grey base coat.

Now take a paint scraper and scrape off as much paint as you like, in as many places as you like. It should chip off fairly easily with the wax underneath.

A paint scraper being used to chip off the white paint on the background.

Use a black Sharpie to hand draw the cow spots in random places. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be perfect!

Using a black Sharpie to hand draw the cow spots in random places on to the wood cow decor.

Color the spots in with black paint.

I then took a sanding block and distressed the spots to go along with the rest of the chippy cow vibe.

Coloring the spots on the wood cow board with black paint.

Hand draw the shape of the ear onto a piece of muslin fabric, and cut it out.

Then use the first ear as a template to trace and cut out the second ear.

Hand draw the shape of the ear onto a piece pf muslin

Use blush or pink paint (I used blush) to color the inside of the wood cows ears pink, and then dry brush black around the outer ears.

Use pink blush to color the inside of the wood cows ears pink, and then dry brush black around the other ears.

Draw the shape of the mouth (or is that called a snout!?) onto a piece of cardboard and cut that out. It’s kind of like a peanut shape, but more flat at the bottom.

Paint the cardboard mouth pale pink, and then draw the nostrils black and color those in.

Now for the ears, pinch the bottom together in an accordion fold manner, and glue it together. This helps to make the ears stand up and out once they are glued onto the cows head in the next step.

Hot glue the ears to the back of the board.

To make the eyes, I used the round end of a foam brush, and dotted it into black paint and then onto the cows face. You could easily hand paint these as well though!

Paint the cows eyes using the round end of a foam brush dotted in black paint.

Cut the shape of the feet out of cardboard and paint them black. I also distressed these with a sanding block just a bit after gluing them onto the wood board.

Of course we have to make a bow! You can make any type of bow that you love, but my favorite is a big messy fabric bow with my Bowdabra.

You just rip a bunch of strips of coordinating fabric and then layer them on top of each other in a bow formation until it’s as big and full as you want. Then tie off the center with twine.

Making a black and white fabric bow with a Bowdabra.

For the hangtag, rip a rectangle piece out of kraft paper, and then distress the edges using the Tim Holtz Distressed Ink. Just rub the ink pad all along the edges of the paper.

Use a Sharpie to write “Moo” (or whatever you want your tag to say), and then punch a hole with a hole punch.

String a piece of twine through the hole so that your tag can hang on the bow.

Use a Sharpie to write "Moo" and then punch a hole with a hole punch.

Now glue your bow to your cow to bring it all together! I glued mine on the middle left, under the mouth.

Then glue the hangtag and a large button to the center of the bow.

Now glue your bow, hangtag, and button to your cow on the middle left, under the mouth.

Oh.EM.GEE. I just love how this turned out!

There is also an adorable Spring Wood Chick version of this craft that we made in my subscription group, The CRafterparty! And a Pig that we made in FB Live too!

Are you going to make a Wood Cow DIY? If you do, I’d love to see it! Pop on over to our free Craftspiration Facebook group, and join in on the fun by posting a pic of your Tiered Trays, DIY’s and crafts. I just love to see all your creative and crafty creations.

If you’ve got a million projects on your crafting ‘to-do’ list like I do, than you need my FREE Craft Project Planner so you can plan to make *all the things*! When you sign up for the craft planner, I’ll also send you lot’s of fun, easy, and budget friendly ideas for you to fill it up with!