Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Too Early for a Christmas List?

I'm thinking that its quite possibly the earliest that I've ever started a Christmas list, but what the heck... At least Mr. Husband won't have a difficult time picking anything out this year!

For those of you who don't follow Laurel-Dawn on Abode Love, you should! She is so talented, adorable, and her house is amazing. She is also an amazing artist and has just opened Laurel Dawn the shop. You must visit!

I've already sent Mr. Husband the link to "flowers for lady" with the important message that we must have it before we have our Christmas party at the house (you should buy something – but not this original – it has my name written all over it!!).

She also does this beautiful lucite (plexiglass) framing that really displays her art in a wonderful way.
I hope you fall in love with her, and her work like I have!

Monday, October 29, 2012

A Deer of My Own

I recently decided that I need really want a deer head in my house after reading Ten June's post on her own DIY deer head project. I thought it would be fun to try to make my own, but I wasn't sure I could get mine to look as much like a deer as I wanted. My solution: cheat.

I took a trip to Michaels where I found a pre-made paper mache deer - perfect timing with Christmas right around the corner! It was the perfect size and shape, so I snached it up along with a wooden plaque, some spray paint and a piece of scapbook paper and got to work. Thanks to Michaels for their great rewards member (free) discounts!

What You Need:
Pre-made paper mache deer ($9.99-40% coupon = $5.99)
Wooden plaque ($9.99-40% coupon = $5.99)
Spray Paint
Scrapbook paper
Mod podge
Scissors
Super glue (contact cement or the like)
Pretty things to jazz up your new friend
I used my scissors to cut the head (sorry Bambi) off of my Christmas deer from Michaels. Then I traced the shape of my wooden plaque on to my scrapbook paper. 
Take the plaque and the deer head outside to give them their new paint job. I got fancy and stuck a stick into an old planter to hold up my deer head while I painted... which worked beautifully!

Once the plaque is dry, use the mod podge to stick the scrapbook paper to it. Carefully try to roll any air pockets out of it. Once that dries, you can glue your deer head to the plaque (I also stuck a long nail in my plaque to give a little support to mine as well). Ten June used hot glue on hers so feel free to try that out if you don't feel comfortable using super glue! 

Thats pretty much it! I added a little beaded garland to mine for more color, but Mr. Husband kind of prefers it without so I didn't glue the garland down. Now I just need to find the perfect spot for him!