DIY Bookends

Can I just say, I stinkin love Pinterest!?
Its funny, in college one of my professors encouraged us, no- required us- to keep a "box" full of things that inspired us. Twyla Tharp in, The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life, encourages people to do the same, and that semester we read many excerpts from her book. I actually took it out from the library this summer as part of my Seminar in Creativity class.... I'm getting off topic.
My box was full of pictures of eyes, women adorn with fabrics that flowed , patterned and whimsical interiors and skate/ pop punk culture pictures, all torn from the pages of any magazines I could get my hands on.
Pinterest is kinda like that box. Many of the things I "tear from pages" are now lessons, and less inspiration for my own work. (Which is a shame, but once my Master's degree is done, I need to will schedule a "date" night at least once a month for me and my art supplies.) But my boards are a place that I can keep going back to and find inspiration from. And like the satisfying feeling I got when I used the box to complete my textile design senior show, its such a pleasure to find an idea online and make it your own.

So the impetus for this rant:

Originally pinned from: PBteen
When I saw this, I immediately thought of my boyfriend. But swap the dogs for dinosaurs and its the perfect (hopefully) Christmas present.

I started this project in early November. I'm sure that the original is made in a factory and probably a mold of some sort, but I knew I could figure a way to put this together. I planned to find two plastic dinosaurs and some scrap wood bases and spray paint everything.
I started at a toy store looking for cheap, plastic dinosaurs. But there was no such thing! All the dinosaurs were EACH over ten bucks. They were almost like little scale models, and the sales staff couldn't think of anything of a decent size that they carried.
I decided to look online.
I found two of the same, about four inch tall, dinos on eBay and scooped em up as fast as I could.

The base was the next struggle.
My local big box stores didn't have solid blocks of wood, that were not curved like chair feet, that would work. They also wouldn't cut a four by four, so they say, nor did they have a scrap bin. So I asked a couple of friends but then it came down to crunch time. I asked a custodian for any suggestions and they pointed me to a pile of scrap wood! AND offered to cut it for me. At home of course. Perfect!
I had to glue two pieces together, which is my only qualm about the final product, but I LOVE how my dinosaur bookends came out. I really hope my boyfriend likes them as much as I do.