DIY Elephant Key Hooks

They say an elephant never forgets, and I don't know if that's true, but I do know that with these DIY elephant key hooks you'll never forget where you put your keys! I spotted these miniature elephants at my favorite craft store, Michaels, and knew I needed to make something with them. I thought that their little trunks would be perfect for hanging a set of keys, so I set to work turning them into key hooks. This project is inexpensive and very easy to do.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

Plastic Elephants / Piece of Wood / Hammer and Nails OR Drill and Screw / Spray Paint / Frame Hangers / Box Cutter or Small Saw

To start, find a piece of wood to use as your base. I used a piece of driftwood that I found at the beach. If you use driftwood make sure you clean it first and then let it dry. Once it's dry, spray paint it whatever color you'd like. I made mine white.

Next, you'll need to cut your elephant in half. Be forewarned that this step is very sad to look at, but the elephants are just plastic so it's ok! I used a box cutter to cut through the plastic, but I would imagine that a small saw would also do the trick.

Once your elephants are all cut, bring them outside and spray paint them gold. Though we're just going to be using the front halves of the elephants for this project, I'd go ahead and spray paint their butts too! You could make a second set of key hooks with them and use the tails to hang the keys. Or, if you want to wait a little while, you could keep your eyes peeled for the future tutorial on Creative Soul Spectrum to see what I did with mine!

Now, use a ruler to evenly mark the placement of your elephants. I set mine to be 3.5 inches apart.

Drill a small hole in the backside of your elephant to make it easier to nail it onto the wood. Hammer the nails into the driftwood until they're flush with the wood. (I think that drilling screws through the driftwood and into the elephants would be a good option to try for this step too.)Then add frame hangers to both ends of the wood. Flip over your piece of driftwood and line up the holes you drilled into the elephant with the nails sticking out of the board. Push the elephant into the nails until they are touching the driftwood.

And now you're done and ready to hang your piece right by your door!

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