DIY Dinosaur Bookends & Framed Art

I'm back with my DIY birthday gift that I did for my nephew this year.  I'm sure you've seen the six-kagillion projects floatin' around, using plastic toy animals.  Well, I'm addin' two more to the mix.  I didn't even remotely come up with this idea myself.  Search Google images and you'll see where I got my inspiration from.  You'll find several of them pinned to my Pinterest boards.

I chose dinosaurs, but you could do this with any type of animals you want.  I used a matte black spray paint, but for some reason, it turned out more glossy on some of the little critters.  Must have been the plastic they were made out of.  Who knows.  They all only took a couple of coats, though.  I tried white first and it didn't cover worth a crap.  Could have been the different brand of paint, though.  The black I used was Rust-Oleum and it worked like a champ.

For the bookends, I went back and forth over what to use as a base.  As it got closer and closer to party day, I was running out of building and paint drying time.  So I ended up stealing two cobblestones from our fire pit.  I glued some felt to the bottom so they wouldn't scratch up a shelf, then I just hot glued the dinosaurs on top.  Almost too easy, really.

Here they are in their natural habitat.  ;o)

The framed dinosaurs were a little more work.

I had The Dad cut them all in half for me.

He used a hack saw for some and a utility knife for some.

Once they were cut up, I spray painted them.

I chose a striped paper for the background and a black frame with a white mat.

Once I got them all layed out the way I wanted them, I hot glued them onto the paper.

I did use a cardboard backing, just in case the glue bled through at all.

Here's the dino head (and butt) art.

So there ya go.

More dust collectors to add to your DIY gift idea list.

Please see my side bar for the parties I link up to.