So... I've been on Craftster for a long time, but haven't posted in a while. I was crazy busy with two kids, full-time work, full-time university, and moving (twice!).

This summer, though, I finally have some time to do all of the projects I've been dreaming of for years.
My main focus has been on my chicken coop. It is nearly in order, and I am trying to put on some little "fancy touches." One of these is to mount a deer skull onto a plaque that will hang over the front door of the coop.

This is what it will look like when finished:


And this is the chicken coop.


I need to repaint the white on the door, and around the windows, and will be adding glossy black designs along the bottom.

The problem I'm running into is that, now that I have the skull and plaque painted, how do I attach the skull without destroying it and while still making sure it can stay adhered through wind and rain?

Plaque by itself. It was painted with acrylic and sealed with polyurethane:


I painted the skull with the same outdoor latex paint that the stripes on the coop are from. Don't fret, she died of natural causes. We found her body lying in the woods a few years ago, so we took her and buried her with some lime. We went back recently and dug up the skeleton, bleached it and are using the bones for various projects.

Weird, I know- but we are a family that truly believes that nothing, I mean NOTHING, should go to waste and that there is art and beauty in everything. Hence the deer skull plaque.

Okay, so- Here is the back of the skull. You can see the holes that line up on either side, I thought about running a wire through there, but am a little worried about cracking it:


I thought about sticking it on with epoxy, or some other strong glue, but you can see in this picture how small the points of contact are. The tips of the teeth and two spiny knobs at the back of the head are it. I'm not convinced that is enough for it to hold.


Has anyone attached a skull to anything before? I use bones a lot in my art, but they are usually sturdier and/or have more contact surface than this one.

Ideas? Suggestions?

So, my son turns three at the beginning of September- and two of his current obsessions are monster-hunting and robots. The theme is Robots vs Monsters(obviously), and I'd like to do a full production costume party I'm trying to think of ideas for vegetarian and kid-friendly snacks, games, decorations. Gift ideas for others to make for him that are cheap and easy to do. And a cake, yeah- can't forget cake... Any suggestions? Please help...

My boyfriend is a bicycle mechanic- so he always brings home a ton of random bits for me to play with. This started out as a windchime idea, but it's pretty quiet unless there's a storm. It does spin, though, and sparkles lovely in the sun.




It's made with two wheels, a set of gears, and purple and blue ribbons and beads. Here's another view- not quite as clear:

I took the pattern I made for the punk ragdoll and used it to create a doppelganger of my dear friend Collin for his birthday. The main points being his fuzzy black hair, glasses(they even have little lenses), and the red messenger bag Collin is famous for. Oh- and he's got some pride on his feet and tush.




And here are the boys sharing a latte in Portland together- so you can see the resemblance.

This bathroom is only about 2 1/2' x 5'- so it was hard to get a good focus on my cheapo camera- hopefully these pictures aren't too blurry. I tried not to spend any money on this room- I'm actually about $11.50 in, which is not bad($10 was for the unfinished stool). The purple and green color scheme was my son's idea- but it actually turned out pretty cool. I have a few more paintings I'm working on to hang in there- one is the poem and picture from Where the Sidewalk Ends called "Hat" about the toilet plunger kid. Anyway- here are the photos I have:


This is just some scrap cloth from a friend's project that fit well from wall to wall over the mirror. It's a sheer psychedelic paisley print.



I took some old cheese boxes from work, painted them purple and green, and nailed them directly to the wall- it helps my storage issue in there.



The lightswitch cost about 35 cents at Home Depot- I used acrylic paints, nail polish and Sharpie to decorate it.



The stool is one I got on sale at AC Moore, so my son can reach the sink. I painted a spotty google eyed pup on it free hand- hence the odd paw positioning.



My favorite project to date! I found this old toilet seat cover by the dumpster when my landlord renovated another apartment- I nabbed it and painted the sexy betty you see here. The photo does it no justice- she has skulls in her pupils, and the flames are detailed with green and teal.



These are some picture frames I've had hanging around in storage forever until I painted them and used glitter glue to paint a question mark, exclamation point and spiral in them, attach to a ribbon and Viola!- wall hanging.


                         *sigh*...I need a better camera...

I made the pattern for this doll a few years ago, and have used it for several more dolls since. All the fabric and stuffing is recycled from my clothing and pillows. There are lots of little details that you can't see in this picture (belly button, zipper mouth, little spike jewelry, and skulls paintred on her shoes. When I get a hold of a better camera I will post clearer photos.