Map Craft: paper mache elephant from old A-Z

I saw the most fabulous paper mache elephant at The Little Green Paintbox the other day and immediately ran out into the street where DH had put the recycling to be collected. What the bin man thought of the mad woman in her PJs, I’ve no idea, but I rescued my milk carton and set about following the instructions.

I cut off the base of the carton, using the severed handle as a trunk, and cut two ears from cardboard, adding a tab the length of the ear that I prefolded, that would be used to adhere the ear to the elephant.

Then I got to work tearing strips of my old A-Z (that had missed the morning recycling) with which to paper mache my former-milk-bottle. Pocket Dictator was happy to do blu-ing (as she calls glue-ing) for a while but went in search of CBeebies fairly soon, leaving me and art-therapy. I added two layers of paper, since the milk bottle was reasonable solid anyway, using the top layer to showcase certain London landmarks that are significant to our family.

I did the same for the ears, then I left the whole lot on top of the radi-tator (again a PD-ism) to dry for a couple of days.  Finally I glued on the ears (glue-gun!) and a couple of googly eyes. I also added a little map twist as a small tail, before covering the whole shebang in a couple of layers of Mod Podge to protect it all from damage.

Then I got carried away and delved deeper into the recycle box for a large milk carton, some tin foil and LOTS of glitter and created a Big Brother, Bollywood style.

EDITED TO ADD: several years on, the Bollywood version has gone to the big recycling plant in the sky but the map elephant has survived a house move (amongst other significant life events) and continues to smile down on us from a shelf in the family room. DH has forbidden me to ever jettison him!