I have been head over heels in love with these little numbers from West Elm…
photos via west elm
Aren’t they beautiful? I love them and just knew I wanted something to that tune in the nursery, only problem? Their $99 and up price tag. Womp womp.
Z Gallerie has some of their own that are equally, if not more, beautiful versions. The only contender was a much smaller 15.5″ deer or moose for $49.50. Still just ehhhh…
Anthropologie has their own versions of animals as well, but still, the price wasn’t right. I bookmarked this tutorial for a DIY version and while theirs looks great, I had visions of myself covered in glue paste and all of those black markings you get from dealing with newspaper. A huge mess, and I just don’t think my pregnant-self has it in me to make it actually look as good as I wanted it to if I did it on my own. Then there was the option of buying the cheesy plastic head off of ebay and spray painting it like Katie Bower, but my husband’s face when I told him what I wanted to do, might have been the most confused/I’m-not-on-board-with-that look he has given me in our entire marriage. Her’s looks GREAT, but B was not having it.
Maybe it’s because he thinks he’s going to be shooting a “monster deer” this year and mounting it, I don’t know. Related: I’m very thankful he now has an office outside of the house for things such as these.
Then, one day I was wandering the aisles of Michael’s for some other crafting goodness when I passed a Christmas aisle in the back corner of the store. I kept walking and then I stopped in my tracks, backed up and peaked around the corner again. There they were. Little gold reindeer.
Surely I could make that work, I thought to myself. No, the end result would be much more “petite” than the original inspiration, but with sales and coupons, the price was right and why not go “petite” when you’re talking about a room for a “petite” little Man{n}?
I left the store and just kept thinking about it.
Two days later I had to run into Michael’s for one thing and I had the husband with me – perfect opportunity to show him my crazy idea and feel him out to see if he was “on board.” “So, if I got this one and cut off the head and then got this wood plaque thing and glued it on and painted it… wouldn’t that be cute?”
“Yeah……….. but they’re so small, who would mount a deer with a dinky little rack like that?” …I was losing him.
“Babe, they’re made of paper and they’re reindeer, this is as good as it gets. I’ll just cut it here and glue it like this…”
“But you mount a deer from the shoulder, not the neck.” He was a little confused as this point because I wasn’t technically mounting it correctly.
“If someone is mounting a deer with a three-inch diameter neck, they have other issues than exactly how it’s mounted. Now, don’t you think that would be a cute little thing to put in the nursery?” I replied.
“Yeah, sure, whatever.” he picked up two and proceeded, “Look, they’re in the rut, they’re fighting! But where’s a doe to fight over?” He was now hitting their racks {antlers, if you’re lost} together as any 12″ deer would do to claim their mate in the presence of another male, making them fight it out right there in the aisle of Michael’s.
“Seriously? Just don’t break them, whatever you do.” Knowing my husband full-well, I just went about my business. He put them back on the shelf and followed closely behind.
“Ah man!” I hear from behind me, “now there’s gold glitter all over my hands!” I just shook my head and laughed.
Never a dull moment over here, y’all. Moving on.
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I found a wood plaque for $4 and the deer itself was about $11 after sales and coupons – $15, now that was a price I could handle.
First, I drew a line on it’s neck at the angle I thought looked best for how I wanted it to sit on the wall.
Then I took it out to the shed to find my decapitation tool. I started with a drywall saw, but quickly realized that a box cutter/utility knife was much easier to deal with and made a cleaner cut.
Is it weird that this thought was making me so excited?
Next, I glued it on the plaque with hot glue, being sure to smooth the glue and fill in any gaps there might be between the wood and the neck. Yes, I commonly burn my fingers when using hot glue because I can’t wait long enough to wipe the excess off with my finger. Sacrifices, people.
And all that was left and needed was a nice thin coat of primer and a couple of thin coats of white glossy spray paint – all of which I had left over from other projects. Side note, you can see my little pencil mark guide for placing the neck when gluing, it didn’t line up exactly with my line, but really that was to center it left to right.
After being sprayed and allowed to dry and air out over night in the shed, our little baby deer for our little baby’s nursery came in, had a hanger put on the back and was hung in the perfect spot.
I am seriously so in love with it, I think even more so than I would have been with a bigger, more expensive one!
Now go forth and decapitate little gold reindeer all in the name of art, just watch out for the man in the big red suit! 
