How To-zday

This post isn't so much a how to, as it is a how I did it.  

Unless, of course, you happen to have a cheap wooden elephant & some metallic pearl craft paint lying around.  

Jer & I found this fellow at the thrift store a few weeks ago.  I literally grabbed him from a shelf while we were in line at the register buying a pair of cargo pants.  It was only three dollars, & I liked him.  He had...possibilities.

I gave it a good scrubbing when we got it home-- it was in rough shape, scratched and chipped with raw wood exposed here & there.  But it has an odd charm, or at least, I think it does.  Once cleaned, I set it on the table to dry.  And there it sat, waiting for me to have the time to fix it up. 

I finally found the time.  And this is what I did with it.

I asked Thing 3 to snap some pics of our pearlized elephant pal on the mantle & instead she took several dramatic photos of him with the fire behind him.

She did get a few of him in place on the winter mantle.  The vases, incidentally, should be full of flowers, but the pickings are rather slim this time of year & what with the fire going so much lately due to the chilly temps & snow, I've just left them empty.  Imagine white cabbage roses or some such....sigh.

And I'm tacking on some of the snow pictures she took Sunday too, just for good measure...

I adore finding some odd thing at a thrift store or junk shop & making it my own.

Have you personalized any thrifted finds lately?