Magical Menagerie~!

I've been itching to do some crafty projects for a long time, but assignments and competitions and moving house kept me away from it all. Now that I've settled down a bit more I finally got the chance to go ga-ga over glitter!

I found this wonderful idea of glittering plastic animals awhile ago, and I knew it'd give my new bedroom a good splash of colour. I would have liked to have elephants and giraffes as well, but for some ungodly reason nobody seems to want to play with toy animals anymore. You know, the plastic-rubbery kind that comes in packets and doesn't include any fancy electronic stuff. Just inanimate objects and wild imagination that kept the children of long ago occupied for hours, batteries not included.

 It took me ages to find the right kind and size, and even these ones were a gift from Esmond. In the packet were curious animals: tapirs, pangolins, anteaters, kiwi birds. Not your everyday wildlife, to say the least. Haha.

Glittering the animals was really fun to do, but glitter has a life and mind of its own. I am glad I did the whole project outdoors, despite the heat and the occasional gusts of wind that scattered the glitter about.  The tutorial mentioned putting the animals on tracing paper, but I knew doing that would be fatal with the wind conditions. Instead, I put the animals into a cupcake tin (which is now my palette) and sprinkled glitter all over them. After they dried, I simply used a measuring spoon (1/4 teaspoon!) and scooped the excess glitter over spots that needed touching up :).

I also did an extra step: going over the painted canvasses with clear gloss varnish. I thought it made it look a bit fancier :D. After the animals were thoroughly covered with their new glitter fur/skin, I gave them a quick spray with clear lacquer, which I found did not take away the magic of the sparkly glitter. 

 Sparkly, whimsical, and so much fun! It certainly added contrast to my bedroom. I plan to add lots more when I find more animals to add to my zoo :D.

By the way, to all who have voted for the Chevrolet Airbrush Competition, thank you very very much! Your support is greatly appreciated :)