Hello!
Welcome to Day
7 of the
12 Days of a DIY Christmas series.
I am so excited to be participating again and
to team up with such an amazing group of talented women!
When I was first asked to participate, a few project ideas
come to mind but I finally decided on this one.
I’d come across this adorable little rustic moose on Pinterest and loved
him immediately but the link didn’t lead anywhere so I decided to just recreate
my own.
I decided to take it
a step further and add some mini cup hooks to his antlers to make it a sweet
little advent calendar....because honesty, anytime I can add chocolate to the mix, I will! ;) I chose to sew
the little treat bags but if sewing isn’t your thing, you could pop into
a local dollar or hobby store and they usually carry little bags that would also work. Of course, he’s just as
cute on his own as well. ;)
______________________________________________________
Let’s get building! This project is
actually fairly simple and should go together quickly.
I started by sketching out a very basic outline for the
pieces needed.
I’ve drawn them out on
8-1/2” x 11” paper so you can easily print them full size at home.
The antler pattern will just need to be taped
together to make one continuous piece.
You
can grab them as a pdf
HERE or I've included the jpegs below which you should be able to click and then "save as" to your computer and then print full size.
I anticipated I may be making a few of these little guys, so
I actually traced and cut out a template from some scrap 1/8” plywood I had in
my lumber stash to make my patterns a little more stable for repeated use.
I purchased a 6’ - 1x10 pine board, but if you’re only
making one moose, you can actually squeeze it out of 3’ if you snug up the
pattern pieces. Be sure to lay the flat
portion of the antlers along the edge of the board so you can use the leftover
piece above it for the base (I didn’t draw a pattern for that piece).
I cut out my main pieces with my band saw, but a jig saw or
even a scroll saw would also work. After
cutting out the pattern pieces, you should be left with an approximate 4" x 18”
piece that can be cut down for the base.
I chose to cut it to 14” long with my miter saw and then rip it down to
3-5/8” wide on my table saw.
Once the pieces were cut out, I sanded them down to soften and smooth the edges.
If you have a
router, you could certainly get fancy and use a round over bit along all the
edges, but I’m sticking to the rustic look so just sanded it down enough to
knock down any sharp edges.
I stained my pieces with Minwax English Chestnut
except for the antlers which I stained with Minwax Jacobean. I made the mistake of not using a pre-stain this
time and regretted it – pine tends to absorb stain unevenly and sure enough it ended
up a bit blotchy. Oops.
I chose to assemble it before finishing it with a clear
coat.
I centered and attached the bottom edge of the
body on the base piece with a little glue and then added a couple
countersunk screws through the bottom.
I
then attached the head and antlers in the same way through the back.
For the hooks, I purchased these little ½” brass cup hooks
from our local Home Depot.
To add the hooks, I drilled a shallow pilot hole in the
antlers so it was easier to start each hook before topping it all with Minwax satin
Wipe-on poly.
Once dry, I screwed in the cup hooks and painted on the eyes with some black and white craft paint and added a nose with a small red pompom.
With the addition of a bow at his neck
and the little treat bags (simple tutorial below!), this project is complete!
I’m absolutely thrilled with how it turned
out.
Another option is to skip the body and base and just use the head and antlers.
With a couple simple saw tooth hangers on the
back, it could easily be hung on a wall to keep it within easy reach but out of
the way!
DIY Mini Treat Bags
Tutorial
If you’re interested in sewing your own little treat bags,
this is what I did. I had some leftover
neutral fabric in my craft room and just wanted to use what I had, but this
would be adorable using a Christmas light weight cotton fabric as well!
Each finished bag is approx. 2-1/4” x 4”.
For each bag, start with a piece of fabric 3” x 10”.
Fold over the short sides by 1” and sew 3/4” (ish) from the
top edge. (I took this pic before actually stitching the fabric so added a digital "stitch" as a reference.
Fold the fabric in half right
sides together to form the bag and sew a 3/8” seam top to
bottom along ONE side.
You’ll want to do the same on
the other side as well, but before sewing it up, fold a piece of 14” ribbon in half and with the
ribbon “tails” inside the bag, sandwich the folded ribbon between the two
pieces of fabric with approximately a 3/4”
loop outside the bag.
This loop will be
used to hang the bag on the hook.
Sew up
the side seam making sure the ribbon tails are pulled out of the way.
When you turn the bag right side out, the loop
should be on the inside and the ribbon tails should be on the outside.
I chose to also add a number to each bag
using a rubber stamp set and some black ink but that’s optional.
Fill with your treat of choice, pull the loop up through the top of the bag and close the
bag by wrapping the ribbon tails around the bag and tying a bow.
Hang the bag on the hook with the loop and you're done!
We're just over half way through the
12 Days of a DIY Christmas series. Definitely take a peek at the gorgeous projects that have been posted so far! Mindi from
My Love 2 Create is up next!! Looking forward to seeing her project!
Here's the list again of the talented women participating again this year. Click the links for the free tutorial and plans from each builder!
