Hunting Season

With the holidays right around the corner, I am working on tons of things...  simultaneously.  I have one down and many to go so I am going to try and share as I go.

I have lived in the Midwest for 15 years and although I have acclimated to the Midwest lifestyle, I still don't embrace the "hunting" culture.  I don't like guns, I don't like the idea of slaying animals for any purpose and I couldn't imagine hanging a dead animal on my wall.  I don't eat much meat but I do eat meat and I know that is slightly hypocritical and a definite contradiction, but I guess the only way I can justify it is because I am not staring in the eyes of the food I just ate.  Luckily, my husband isn't a hunter like his dad, brother and most of his extended family but I think he still experiences a bit of nostalgia and comfort associated with hunting and alike.  So, when I showed him what I wanted to hang on the wall in our living room, he was psyched!!!  Here is the original item that I saw on Etsy and HAD TO HAVE IT....

The Etsy Store name is Banana Tree Studios and her stuff is amazing!!!  I love her innovative designs and I highly recommend everyone checking out the store.  I wanted to buy this guy on the spot but when I saw the price, I figured I might be able to make my own even cheaper.

When I showed my father in law what I wanted to do, he went straight to work looking for a plastic mounted deer head just like the above for less money and whaaaalaaaa, he found on ebay for a fraction of the price!  So I bought it, bought some spray paint and now I have a guy just like the one above hanging on the wall in my living room... and I LOVE IT!!!!!  I think it is safe to say that I have officially embraced the hunting culture that is so popular here in the Midwest without harming any animals!!  :-)  Here is my process:

This is what it looked like when it arrived, it is heavy plastic with lots of detail, painted with natural colors. (excuse the box, I know it is distracting)

1st coat, primer.  I recommend it when painting anything that you don't think would accept the paint.  It looks awesome white too!!!  But I like color too much to leave it this way.

 Here is the final product!!!   To explain where it is mounted a little better; I have a vaulted ceiling in my living room as you can see at the top of the picture.  The ceiling in my kitchen is not vaulted so this is the section of wall that drops down to meet the kitchen ceiling.

The colors are bad in this next photo, but I gave you enough to see the ceiling in my kitchen to get a better idea of where it is in the house. (the wall color in my living room is a light green apple green, so it is a bit less 'electric' than in the above pictures and it is much more colorful than in the below picture...  I think I need a better camera!)

I was peer pressured into making my Christmas cards this year :-)  even though I tried so hard to talk myself out of it!  So I am back to work on those...   :-)  hopefully I will have a post on those within the week!