I Love to Create – Big Game Hunting on a Thrift Store Safari

Ever wanted to go on a safari and hang your find proudly mounted on your wall? No, I don’t mean the kind of safari where you wear khaki and shoot a poor animal in the Serengeti. I mean a thrift store safari. They have quite the selection of wild (stuffed) animals there. With a few crafty moves you could have a mounted head collection of your very own without harming a single hair on anyone’s head.

SUPPLIES
Tulip Fashion Paint
Black Ribbon or Trim
Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue
Stuffed Animal
Wood Plaque
Jig Saw
Scissors
screws/nails
screwdriver/hammer

DECAPITATE
The first thing to do is decapitate your stuffed animal. It sounds morbid, but the end result is so cute you will feel better about the whole thing in a minute. I found my zebra at the thrift store, there is always a plethora of cast off creatures looking for a second chance at making someone happy.

PLAYING PLAQUES
Once you have your head you will have a better idea about what size plaque you need. You can buy square or oval pieces of wood that work at most craft stores. I of course was determined to have the traditional shield shaped plaque to give my zebra a more majestic feel. Well as majestic as a mounted stuffed animal could be anyway.

I drew my design on the wood and using a saw I cut out the shape I needed. You may need to sand down any rough edges.

PRETTY IN PINK
Next up I used fabric paint on wood. Yup, I have done it before and know that it works. Interestingly I did it with a zebra themed craft project previously. This mounted zebra is going in the same nursery, so it only makes sense.

MOUNT UP
Once my paint dried completely it was time to mount Mr. Zebra. Using a combination of screws and Tacky Glue I attached the zebra to the plaque. You will just have to eyeball this part. You want to pull the fabric on the back of the zebra’s neck taunt so that their head is up and not sticking straight out. It is best to nail or screw the fabric in place for this. Once your stuffed animal is positioned how you want them use Tacky Glue to attach all the stuffed animal edges to the wooden plaque.

TRIM IT
A little black trim was added around the rough edges to give the zebra a more finished look.

So go ahead do a little poaching. Thrift store poaching of course. There are plenty of lions, tigers and bears just waiting to grace your walls. This would also be an adorable way to display your child’s favorite stuffed animals once they outgrow them. There is a Cabbage Patch Kid and a stuffed pink gorilla in my house who may soon have something in common with the Headless Horsemen.

P.S. Thanks Mom for all your help!!!

Posted August 18, 2011 & filed under Crafts, Home Décor Crafts, Home Decorating, Kids, Recycled Crafts.