The Moose

Remember this post when I discussed B's room and how I wanted to create a mobile and hang a map over his crib? Well, the map was a fail. After two attempts at ordering the map, I decided it was a no-go because of quality.

Then we took a trip to Milwaukee and saw these at an Anthropologie store. Found here.

Have I mentioned that Anthro is my absolute favorite retail clothing store? Well, it is. 

We could have paid the $68 for the animal, or we could make it ourselves. I wanted to have some kind of craft project that could represent both of our children in the room and didn't quite know how-- this was now the new idea. I searched online and found an amazing tutorial. Internet, you are awesome. 

We originally planned to create two animals. I was creating the moose and Ray was creating a mountain goat. When my moose started to look like a pile of newspaper with no special shape at all (read: I suck at art) and Ray's goat started to look like a moose, we abandoned our original idea and stuck to making a moose only. And by we, I mean Ray. Needed supplies: newspaper and masking tape. And also maybe some skill.

Once the shape was constructed, we took a piece of cardboard and attached it to the bottom of the neck where it would later be mounted. It creates a flat piece to attach. Next comes the paper mache. I learned through the tutorial above that paper towels are best because they allow for more sculpting. I whipped up a recipe of that paper mache goop (1 part flour, 4 parts water... bring to boil and remove from heat) and got started.

Posted this on instagram and received a comment from Tiffany about the randomness. Us Wilsons are a little crazy, we'll admit. Instagram: brandywilson. I only started up to stalk Brooke's baby pictures. Truth. And now I'm sort of obsessed and fully intend to use this website to make an awesome collage or two. Mom and Kay (B's grandmas) should really get on instagram. Download the app and find me. I post pictures there often.

This was only the first of two coats. The second was intended to strengthen and cover the colors of the newspaper.

 Does he look like a moose yet?

What about now? The board on the left was from Michael's for $15. Obvi we used a 50% off coupon. It's the mounting piece for the wall. The paper mache is completely dry at this point. A file folder was used to create ears and obviously those are coat hangers from our dry cleaning, as we have very few to be found in our house since Ray has an obsession with all white, plastic coat hangers. 

 Moose antler paper mache.

I think this was our 4th batch of creating the goop as well. Sometimes I used 1/4 cup flour and sometimes 1/2 cup. Still using 4 parts water for each batch. I scrubbed our granite counter tops way too many times, folks.

These pictures are hilarious. Look at B's face in the first and second. Here he looks pleased and like he's learning from his dad.

And here's he's like, "This dude be craaaazy. We're not related."

Moose in the background and Modge Podge. We used a sponge paintbrush we had on hand... and instead of using pages of a book (though that was the original plan), Ray gave me the idea to print out some of my blog posts to create a more family piece. I already intended to use each of our names so both of my boys would be represented in the art. It was quite the project, but I went back to every single post I'd written for the last year and used the title of the blog post and a short excerpt from each post. Then, I went back into my pregnancy with Andrew posts and selected some titles and excerpts as well. It ended up being 6 full pages of 14-sized font with only .5" margins. We cut those margins off in the end, but that's what we had going for us. We reprinted a few times to have enough (believe it or not, 6 full pages was not enough to cover the moose and I sooo wasn't making any more) and began the Modge Podge process.

In the meantime, I was spray painting ($2 can at Ace Hardware) the wood mounting piece outside. Let's just pretend this photo is in focus. Good tip: use a box so your grass doesn't turn red. As if it needs any more help looking terrible considering our intense dry spell here in the Midwest with matching temps of over 100 degrees.

The moose was finished and mounted onto the red backing using a staple gun (which we own, oddly) and hung on the wall above B's changing table. We chose red for the backing because our other moose hanger in the room is red. We thought it would provide some kind of cohesion in a room with no theme.

 See some familiar names?

 <3

All words from our family and lives. It was quite fun picking out little excerpts of what I've written from my heart over the last couple years. I obviously tried to avoid the truly sad parts of posts and focus on more meaningful and loving quotes.

 And there you have it. Le Moose.

Total supplies used:

• newspaper
• masking tape ($1 at hardware store)
• paper towels (about 1/4 roll = $.25)
• flour and water for paper mache mixture (total about 1-2 cups flour = $.25 worth)
• 2 coat hanger and 1 used file folder (can use cardstock or whatever scraps on hand)
• bottle of glossy Modge Podge ($9 retail, use 50% off Michael's coupon for $4.50 large container) We didn't use all of it, but you don't want to end up short... so just go for the big one.
• Sponge Paintbrush to apply Modge Podge ($.50 or less)
• Wood mounting piece ($15 retail, use 50% off Michael's coupon for $7.50)
• Spray paint ($2-4 a can)

Project total was around $16. Sure beats $70 at Anthropologie and we have a unique and fun piece that is literally made up of our family stories and experiences over the last couple years. I also included the boy and girl "C" names we've already selected for our next child (no Mom, I'm not pregnant), if we're lucky enough to get that opportunity. It took a few days to complete this and plenty of hours, but it's done. 

And just for kicks, here is my favorite moose shot we took in real life. Amazing creatures.

• Road trip from CA>IL when we moved here in 2009, just before boarding our plane to Germany from O'Hare. This was at Grand Teton National Park. We were about 30 feet away. It was amazing.

Fall is Fun.

Could my titles be more lame? Didn't think so. I could really use some assistance.

This will be a smorgasbord or photos, so prepare yourself. I just don't know how else to post them other than in one lump sum. Plus, this will be my 3rd blog post of the day and I believe that's a record.

This is to get you in the fall mood, especially to my peeps in California who surely don't experience this. I hadn't either until last September when Germany brought so many gorgeous colors to my attention.

Invasion of the leaves in our yard! I also purchased two large pumpkins for a smoking deal at Aldi ($1.99 each!). I'm still a proud German supporter all the way from the States. Hello to our German readers, too. Happy autumn to you all!

We attended a wedding for a few friends, Eric & Kim, who were married in late September. They're already back from their honeymoon so it's about time I get these posted. This one is my favorite because there is more personality...

...and the more boring shot... a bunch of our Chi-town friends. There's also a picture of all the girls out there somewhere but since I was in the photo, I have no proof.

Now this little gem. I mentioned before that I would be heading to the Salvation Army to find some "throw away" clothes for our messy insulation project this weekend. I was literally walking down the aisles (after a woman asked me if I worked there. hm.) when I received a call from Ray-- don't buy clothes because he'll be using a heavier duty suit from work. Okay, fine. But, I couldn't leave without finding something fun and tchotchke, right? So here she is. Birdie. She cost me an entire 95 cents and I fully intend to spray paint her white and put her in Baby W's room. In person, she is more of a dark brown stain but the lovely flash paired with the oh-so-dark kitchen makes her whitewashed. The tree branch snowman for Christmas is not pictured (for $1.95), though it will likely make an appearance in the next couple months. Stay tuned.

We also spent some time in Colorado as I flew the very last few days before I was no longer allowed (according to my OB). On our drive to Denver, we saw some gorgeous creatures. We love moose. You probably knew that because we are obsessed over that wall hanger in Baby W's room. But, here's a photo of a mom, baby, and daddy (bull) moose we caught on our way from Denver to Steamboat Springs.

 Just beautiful, right?

You may remember, if you've been following our journeys for awhile, that we took a boat early in the morning and hiked 4-5 miles just to see a bull moose in the Grand Tetons last summer. He had a much larger rack and we were considerably closer to him out in the wild... it was a cooler experience because it was so serene and we found him. While still cool, we just saw these three off the side of the road and along with about 40 other camera-snappers, we caught it on digi-film.

We're enjoying fall... looking forward to more fun as we adventure around the Midwest during this beautiful season.