Dollar Decorating: turning toy dinosaurs into decor

About 6 months ago I saw this post on Teal & Lime about making a glided menagerie.  I really liked the idea of painting some toy animals to look a little fancier and decided dinosaurs would be the most appropriate since our little guy likes them (according to us, but he really does like the stuffed one we gave him for Easter).

This was another very easy project, taking less than an hour overall.  Easy to do while Luke played, my favorite kind.

What you will need:
-toy animals to paint, mine came from the Target Dollar Spot for $1 each
-metallic paint - I used Martha Stewart in Brushed Pewter and Titanium
-paint brush
-something to cover your paint surface

hey there curtain fabric in the background

The dinosaurs took about 15-20 minutes each to do a first coat which I broke up in different painting sessions throughout one day.  Martha Stewart paint must be higher quality than my usual $0.75 paint because one coat + touch-ups was all I needed.  I let them cure the rest of the day before moving to their temporary home (still working on where they will go semi-permanently). 

They look pewter-y in person but if you pick them up you know instantly that they are fake.  I thought briefly about not painting and saving them for Luke to play with...but he's not interested in toys like this yet and I'm sure we'll find something when he is.  In the meantime I enjoyed playing with them for their little photoshoot.  Here the T-Rex and one on the right are discussing eating the Brontosaurus. (I think that's what the middle one is?)

Total cost was around $7 for the dinosaurs and then two bottles on paint, on sale, of which I have plenty leftover.  I really like how they came out.  They tie nicely with the silver trays near our dining table and are shimmery which I always like.