DIY Animal Menagerie

me·nag·er·ie  

/məˈnajərē/

Noun

1. A collection of wild animals kept in captivity for exhibition.

2. A strange or diverse collection.

Today I'm sharing a DIY project I just finished for Ames' nonexistent nursery :) 

I saw this DIY a few months ago and knew I had to do it for the gallery wall I am planning. 

• First, I gave the 9 animals I chose 2 coats of paint using my go-to gold spray paint I told you about last week. 
• If I had to do it again, I would spray the animals after cutting them. I don't know what I was thinking, because I only needed the front halves of the animals. They also got a little beat up when I was cutting them so I ended up having to touch them up again after. 
• Also, if you put the animals in boiling water for a few minutes, it will make them much easier to cut through. I didn't do this and got quite the hand workout. (Use a utility or x-acto knife to cut)
• Then lay them out on the material you are going to mount them on. I used a piece of white mat board found at my local craft store. 
• If you are putting your menagerie in a frame with a mat, I recommend laying out your animals with the the mat that will be surrounding them (see above picture), otherwise you may not like the spacing after you put it in the frame. 
• This is the frame I used, which I would also recommend. It's sort of like a shadow box, so the glass sits a a couple of inches away from the mat, allowing you to put something dimensional in the frame. Otherwise you could use an actual shadow box frame as well. Then your animals won't get all dusty. 
• After you have your animals all laid out how you want them, use tacky glue or super glue to keep them in place. 
• Let them dry overnight just to be safe and then insert into your frame! 

This project would be just as cute done in other spray paint colors as well so get creative! 

(Hobby Lobby is where I found my animals and they always seem to have this spray paint as well)