Day 5 – Faux Taxidermy Ornaments

Today’s DIY, I am proud to say, was my own idea. Thanks to The Shabby Creek Cottage blog, I found these amazing deer head–or moose head (there is a current debate over this), ornaments at Big Lots. All on their own, they are pretty epic, but then I had the idea to mount them.

I found mini wood slices and mini eyelets (to make them in to ornaments), on Amazon.com. Then I ordered red and white baker’s twine from Pick Your Plum, during their killer Black Friday sale. The end result was magic, and I gifted them to my girlfriends at a girls-night holiday gathering I threw last night. Here’s the how-to:

Materials:

Sparkly deer/moose head ornaments

Mini eyelets

Mini 3″-4″ wood slices

Red and white baker’s twine

Hot glue

**Before you begin, you will need to wipe off the wood slices as they will have wood dust and possibly some dirt on them. You will also need to cut the ornament string from the deer/moose heads.

1. Twist eyelets in to wood slices

The eyelets have a pointed end, and are relatively easy to screw in to the wood slices. Tip: Hold your slice from different edges, to find the best spot for the top.

2. Hot glue heads to wood

Glue the heads to the center of the wood slice, with the eyelet centered at the top. Allow to completely dry. Tip: Apply glue to head, rather than the wood.

3. Personalize the wood slice

I kept mine simple, and just put the year, but you could write or draw anything you like to personalize each ornament.

4. String ’em

String the baker’s twine through the eyelet, and tie the ends in a double knot. (You can also tie ends in to a bow if you prefer.) Tip: cut twine at angle, and it will feed through the eyelet easier.

5. Use the extra

I have a confession. Originally I bought two boxes of these amazing deer/moose heads. When I purchased them, I wasn’t sure how I was going to use them yet. When it occurred to me that I could make these fab faux taxidermy ornaments, I went back to Big Lots to buy up the rest. But to my dismay, they were all gone. Sadness. I had a bunch of extra wood slices, so I slapped some chalkboard paint on them, and made customized ornaments with chalkboard pen. I think these guys are pretty cute too.

xo, Em

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