$10 DIY Christmas Reindeer

When Jen Woodhouse invited me to Deck The Halls DIY Style, I couldn’t have said yes fast enough.  She is one of my newest friends and I love this girl to death.  She is the kinda girl that is RIDICULOUSLY talented and effortlessly beautiful and seriously makes me question everything I know about DIY because she has mad skills.

I am joining 17 other bloggers for a month of serious diy inspiration.  Every day someone is posting new and beautiful ideas and vignettes and I am excited to share our easy mantel display and a fun christmas build that anyone can make from ONE BOARD.  I know!

 

Last year Jeremy built me this gorgeous mantel and I still am completely obsessed with it.  It finishes off the room and this is just the second Christmas that I get to hang the stockings here so you can only imagine my excitement.  It was somewhere between Taylor Swift fan girl and just won the lottery.  That sweet little reindeer is the easy DIY build!  Isn’t it adorable?!

Okay so this is my ten minute mantel.  It has one string of garland and about ten berry picks just placed randomly.  I flanked the tv with these two little christmas trees that are in Santa boot vases.  I got these at a yard sale but you could do the same thing with any two foot tree 🙂

The stocking holders are from Walmart and I simply secure them with 3M velcro.

Underneath the mantel is our fireplace screen and a basket on one side that is filled with magazines and children’s books.  I just throw a cheap Ikea throw on top and a fluffy white pillow and nobody knows that secret stash of mess inside…..except now all of the internet 🙂

The stockings are from Pottery Barn and I started the collection the year we were expecting Will and THANK GOODNESS that they keep the same style coming back every year!  You can always wait for their stocking sale and get the stocking for about $15 with free shipping and free monogramming.

My trick for the berries is to take the pick and bend the main spine of it in a crescent shape…it sticks better into the garland.  The lights I have in the garland are battery operated but they aren’t bright enough during the day so we keep them flipped off.

I love seeing all the stockings together.  It makes me feel all weepy  and I love it 🙂

Okay so now let’s talk reindeer!  I’m super excited about this one!

It started out with an idea – how can I make a wood reindeer with limited materials?!  Well, I decided that I could make something narrow and more 3D if I cut out the pieces separately and added them to the body.  But first I needed a sketch.

I drew it on a piece of paper and then freehanded it onto a bigger piece for scale.

Then I cut it out and LJ decided to show me his “molls”…..aka molars.  Will is getting his molars and so it’s a big deal in this house 🙂

I traced parts onto a board to jigsaw out.  Now I made this with a 1×8…..BUT if you get a 1×10, you can cut out every part of it with ONE BOARD.  My board was too short because the neck part was overlapping. It should be one piece for the body and one piece for the head/neck.  Mine had to be three and then I also wasted a bunch of wood that I could have used later.  Lesson learned….buy a 1×10.

I traced all the parts onto the board before jigsawing them out.  See how that antler is wasting all that wood above it?  I could flip the other antler on top if I had a 1×10.

Anyhoo….I grabbed some scraps and plan to make another deer so I will try to do a printable template and use a 1×10 to show you how to make it with that single board.

I jigsawed it all out and then pocket holed the neck.  I also had to sand it all.

Putting it together was fairly simple and quick.

Then I wood filled just because I knew this wasn’t ever going to be disassembled.

My friend Charity and Danny came over and we get excited about showing people about how to use tools….this is Danny helping fasten the legs into place with the brad nailer.

Once everything was secure, I painted it with a glossy white paint.

I wanted to disguise the seam a little bit so I added some neck ribbon and a stick from the Dollar tree.  It’s basically the reindeer equivalent to Kim Kardashian’s push present.

And there you have it!  One very cute reindeer DIY perfect for anywhere in your home.  The great thing about wood decor is that kids have a hard time destroying it.  I am not saying it’s impossible….just a little harder 🙂

Thanks Jen for having me and I hope that you visit all the other bloggers that have done their projects!

12/1 – Just A Girl and Her Blog
12/2 – Addicted 2 DIY
12/3 – The House of Wood
12/4 – Sawdust 2 Stitches
12/7 – The Ugly Duckling House
12/8 – Sawdust and Embryos
12/9 –Pretty Handy Girl
12/10 – Not Just a Housewife
12/11 – Place Of My Taste
12/14 – Bower Power Blog  (you’re here!)
12/15 – That’s My Letter
12/16 –The Kim Six Fix
12/17 – Her Toolbelt
12/18 – My Love 2 Create
12/21 – Craftberry Bush
12/22 – The DIY Village
12/23 – Shades Of Blue Interiors
12/24 – Ana White