Before launching into 2014 proper, here’s a quick catchup on a project I didn’t get around to blogging towards the end of 2013…

Having seen loads of cardboard taxidermy on Pinterest, and in gorgeous-but-pricey boutiques, I thought perhaps we could have a go at crafting our own.

Deer heads – Oliver Bonas

Tuesday is cardboard-recycling-night in our neighbourhood and we have several shops as neighbours, so finding materials was no problem. I found this brilliant template online, and enlarged it a bit (M would argue a bit too much), printed it out and transferred the shapes on to the cardboard. I also free-handed a shield shape, because of course.

Cutting the thick card was a bit of a chore, achieved by a team of three with a range of implements (craft knife, scissors, bread knife etc). Once all the bits were cut out (and we’d checked they all fitted together) we spray painted them all white. TIP: do not use bright purple felt tip to trace your shapes on to cardboard you then intend to paint white – despite multiple layers, Rufus still has hints of purple if you look closely. I then masked off a jagged shape along the base of the antlers and sprayed them Gold. The shield shape I covered in a tartan fabric I had in my stash.

For autumn we hung him between our bookcases with a felt-leaf garland. But in December this became the tree space so he was moved to the dining table area (and given some baubles). I would probably have kept him up all year round but M lobbied to put him away when we took the Christmas decorations down last week and I relented. In fairness I’m looking forward to the excitement of unwrapping him again this autumn.

Siobhan xx