Chrome Animals…Best Spray Painting Ever?

So I don’t know if I’m the first to think of it, but little plastic animals would probably make some pretty cute name card holders. Don’t you think?

I’ve kept an eye out for some plastic animals in various stores that I like to visit (cough cough Target cough). No luck…until I stopped at Party City to see if they had any for favors.

Eek! They did! And for just thirty-five cents a piece?!

Of course, I got carried away. I dug through the bins to find every possible animal that was in stock. I ended up with an entire army of various jungle animals!

Like lions, and tigers, and…seals?

I fell in love with the elephant instantly. And I think we already know that this moose has a special place in my heart, so he made his way into my sweaty little shaking-from-excitement hands to bring home.

And, of course, several large cats received representation today as well. And a gorilla, which would shortly become a silver-back gorilla.

Who knew that they aged so quickly?!

This poor guy ended up being the guinea pig today, simply because I grabbed a few extra rhinos. I tried to boil them and then saw them while soft. But that didn’t work.

Thanks for nothing, Internet.

So I had to patiently wait for my manual labor to get home from his real job. He dug up a utility knife to conduct surgery on the back of each animal.

I wanted a slit in the back to hold a name card, or place card, or business card. But the slit needed to be stable enough to hold the card in place, too.

I should have known that he would be good at sawing plastic animals…he’s good at everything else! Why not this?

It’s so nice to have Hubby’s help with these projects. He usually thinks through every option, where as I sometimes get impatient and just want to see the end result.

I appreciate the rhinoceroses giving their lives in the name of science arts and crafts today.

Here is the gorilla getting a test run with a business card to see if the fit was working.

We tried the fit with all of them before taking them outside. I am already loving how adorable these are, but I don’t like the red eyes on half of the sweet, little, cuddly animals.

Sweet, little, cuddly animals don’t usually have red eyes, you see. At least they don’t in my book.

You know what will fix that? Spray paint.

Hubby helped me set up these little guys for their first coat on the bottom. To hold them in place, we used little finishing nails in cardboard.

Even upside-down, they are so cute! Can you tell already how great this is going to be?!

Man, I need to get out more.

And, of course, ever since he got it for Christmas, I have faithfully used the tall turkey fryer box as my professional spray painting booth.

Soon, these little beasts (ha! literally!) were ready for some painting. This is my favorite-favorite part, if we’re being honest here.

I really love spray painting things. Or have I mentioned that already?

A few weeks ago, I discovered how incredibly awesome chrome paint is on lamps. So I knew immediately what paint finish these little animals would be getting this beautiful afternoon!

The Ace Hardware paint has cheap little spray nozzles, but buying this clip-on gun makes them purr like kittens! The paint comes out even and fine…and it allows me to buy any paint and not just Rustoleum with its perfect spray nozzle.

Several light coats are better than one thick coat. This is where patience would probably come in handy, I’m assuming.

Once their bellies were dry, it was time to turn them over for a spray on top. Aren’t they oh-so cute already!?

This hippo is my favorite of the bunch. Isn’t he wonderful? Imagine him holding your name card at a dinner party! Eek!

And the giraffe is looking pretty good, too. Once these get some paint on top, I let them dry for a whole two nights before I use them for a party that I catered!

Eek! More on that to come tomorrow!

Consider these puppies jungle animals sprayed! And they look really great. Of course, I was pretty elated by now. The hard part was letting them dry so that I could see them with a card in place.

I waited, though. Can you believe that?

Oh my goodness. I really love this little elephant, too. Look at his textured skin! Not too shabby for a third of a dollar, huh?

And a few days later…here we are!

Even better? These are the name cards that I used for the party that I catered. Wouldn’t you want to eat a bunch of desserts if they came presented in such a cute manner?

     

Hello, Lion! You look rather sharp when you’re all chromed up. And I still heart this little elephant.

Can it get any cuter than a giraffe holding a Mint Oreos name card?!

And it’s only appropriate that Lemon Drops should be displayed from one of my favorites…the little moose.

But the hippo is still my most favorite. I love his open mouth and fat wrinkles. It’s almost like he’s opening wide for some Rolo Cupcake goodness!

I had way too much fun with this project, but it was cheap and easy and turned out just how I hoped. They will last me a long time and be useful for many different reasons around my house.

Most chromed animals are useful around my house, after all.

I had good help (thanks, Hubby!), and I am thrilled with the end results. What do you think of these shiny little buddies?