Friday, March 28, 2008

Rocking Zebra


Overwhelmed with Joy hosts Favorite Ingredients Friday every week. I admit that I'm not much of a cook, but I LOVE to do crafts! So, today I'm sharing one of my favorite crafts that I did about a year ago when Anna was maybe five or six months old.I made a Rocking Zebra for my daughter. It all started with a trip to a second hand store. There were two children in the corner of the store playing with an old rocking horse. It was a plain brown horse with a matted mane, but the kids didn't care! They LOVED that toy. Their mom came by after a few minutes and practically pried the kids away from the beloved (and well loved) rocking horse. There was a smaller rocking horse a few feet away. It had no mane and was painted crazy colors. The kids ignored that horse. After a few minutes of me circling the rocking horses, I talked my hubby into letting me buy a horse for a project. The smaller horse was 10 dollars and the bigger horse that the kids loved was priced at 12 dollars. I am so frugal, frugally frugal... or FRUGALICIOUS, that I talked myself into getting the ten dollar horse although I loved the bigger horse for its possibilities. Thankfully, Paul talked me into getting the bigger horse.
I took home my prize! I was so excited to finally have a project (the first project since Anna's birth) underway! I carefully sanded down the horse, wary of the glass eyes that they would not be scratched by the sand paper. Once I was finished sanding, I removed the matted tufts of hair little by little. And with help of my big strong man, Paul. Then, I started with a white coat of paint. I painted the whole horse white, once again careful not to paint the glass eyes--although I discovered the paint easily scratched off with my finger nail if I messed up.
Then I painted another coat... three coats in all to make sure the paint was nice and thick. After that, I painted the bottom rocking parts with a nice deep brick red. I only used non-toxic acrylic paint on the whole horse, so many coats were necessary. I just used what I had... nothing special. Plus I didn't want my precious baby to inhale the fumes of a toxic paint. Then with the help of Paul, I painted the black zebra stripes all over the horse. Then I coated the horse (after the paint had dried) with a clear sealer. Finally, I used a mop head for the horse's mane and tail. {I had to buy a mop for "mop puppets" in a college class I took that semester. There were holes drilled through the mop and it was a cheap mop... so once again I was using what I had.} I hot-glued and nailed in the mane and tail and at last (after I think three days of hard work... nah, it was relaxing and fun!) I finished my beautiful rocking zebra. An inexpensive toy that all of my children can enjoy. I've found similar rocking zebras for around 100 dollars or more. I made mine for twelve dollars. Of course including the items that I bought months before with the zebra NOT in mind, probably around 25 dollars total.



Go ahead and go to Overwhelmed with Joy for more Favorite Ingredients!

2 Comments:

Overwhelmed! said...

I love the fact that you decided to post your craft "recipe" on my Favorite Ingredients Friday recipe exchange!

What an amazing transformation you've made with your rocking horse. I'm sure your children will love it for years to come. Who knows, perhaps it'll become a family heirloom. :)

Thanks for sharing!

Sassyfrazz said...

What a super idea! Yes, you are crafty and frugal...but look at what the benefits came out to be! I bet Anna loves it, too! True, it could become a family heirloom..and I bet Anna will treasure it more because you made it!