Memories

Show of hands: who has been here long enough that they remember when we were called "The Gussy Goose?" Anyone? Anyone? Oh, I DO! That was our store name for many years and every now and then someone still calls us that. Well we had an employee who picked us up a mascot one year! Anyone remember these?

Apparently they were all the rage one year and you bought little seasonal clothes for them! Oh yeah. So we had her sitting in the window, and then she would play hide and seek with the regular's kids (yeah Cindi, that's you!) and she even spent some time traveling the world! We played a game where our customers had to guess what famous landmark she was in front of.

Well, three years ago we opened the Patch Arts and Crafts Center. We tried to keep her as a memento but over time people just wondered why we had the big plastic goose in the window. So alas, she was banished to the storage room.

Fast forward through the years. Every time the girls turned around there was the goose, taking up space. The last straw was a few weeks ago when she was taking up a space where fabric needed to go. Katelyn and Beth went all secret squirrel on me, and the next thing I know THIS is hanging on our wall!

Isn't she awesome! Much better than the plastic goose she started out as! Well, the girls did the project very secretively just in case I wouldn't be happy. So there's no tutorial, but if you have a plastic lawn ornament you want to mount, it's pretty easy!

1. Saw the head off the animal with a little hacksaw.

2. Decorate the mount. The girls used this frame from Kaiser Craft (which we have more of at the store)

3. Glue the head to the mount. The girls ended up putting some little wood brackets on the inside of the neck, and then attached that to the mount. Sorry I don't have pictures!

So, if you're looking for something fun to do with some plastic animals, this could be a fun project! Don't have one that big? Check out this site that used little animals for coat hooks and magnets. Happy crafting!