Golden corgi

Nicholas' birthday was towards the end of July and because he loves corgis so much, I decided to make a special topper for his birthday key lime pie. I didn't just stop at a corgi topper. I went ahead and made toppers out of the whole wild kingdom. Take a look and maybe you'll be inspired to make your own gilded toppers. If you are so inspired, I included an easy-to-follow tutorial.

Started with a corgi figure that I bought at Michael's

I hated the bone in his mouth, so I carved it out with an exacto knife.

Grab some spray paint (I went with gold)

Grab the rest of the wild kingdom and some newspaper.

Spray like crazy

It was a bit windy...there were some casualties

Coated corgi

Now pay attention, here's the step-by-step for the toppers.

Grab a gilded hippo

Using a nail, make the start to a hole in the bottom of the hippo

Using a screw, twist it in the hippo creating a larger hole.

Next, take a skewer

I decided to coat mine in decorative tape. I picked these up at Target for $5.99. You could also paint them.

Measure out the tape.

I added a little glue stick to the end to make sure they stuck

Simply roll the skewer in the tape and press down

Pause to make sure your assistant approves (she does).

Skewer is prepped.

Add a drop of super glue on the hole you made.

Now insert the skewer (pointed end in)

It's really quite easy once you get started.

Before I knew it I had a vase full of toppers!

I picked up the rest of the wild kingdom figurines at JoAnn's. They came in this little bucket.
(With a coupon they were $2.50 and there were lots to pick from.)

For now the animals found a home in my most special glass cabinet.