Anthro-Inspired Necklaces

I am mourning the last day of the winter school holidays with a post about our most favourite creative project this holidays, our Anthro-inspired Party Animal necklaces.  I found DIYs on the Flamingo Toes and My So Called Crafty Life blogs which the two cheeky monkeys and I used as inspiration for our own variations.  If you're keen to make some of these for yourself, I highly recommend those two blogs for their tutorials (though you definitely want to go with My So Called Crafty Life's use of tiny eye hooks screwed into each animal's back; this is the more secure option in my opinion).

The little monkeys are big fans of sequins and beaded trim and decided to adorn their plastic animals with a combination of those trims.  They were considering adding little "jewelled crowns" to their animals, but their animal choices did not allow for that look.  But they did manage to add more colour to their necklaces by opting for coloured chain instead of my more sedate choice of silver-plated chain.

I was allocated the plastic hippopotamus which, I hate to admit, kind of represents my figure and shape (but I do love, love, love hippopotami).  Like Mrs Hippo, I am short and have a whole bunch of womanly curves (aka excess baby fat/flab I haven't been able to lose since the monkeys were born).  And since we curvy girls don't want to emphasise areas such as waists and necks with overly chunky belts and collars, I opted to adorn my hippopotamus with a simple ribbon sash and a "crown" made from a rhinestone rondelle teamed with a jade bead.  I am thinking of adding a little more bling to Mrs Hippo, maybe by adding some rhinestone chain along her back and tail, or maybe down her snout.  What do you think?