Get Arty Artist, Ally, makes a home for her paper painted bugs.

What you will need

• Reeves watercolour paper
• Celco scissors
• Water
• Reeves paint
• Liquitex Ink (choose colours you want the beetles to be)
• Jasart Paint brushes
• Posca paint marker (black)
• Pencil
• Glass cloche, which is a bit like an upside down jar
• Moss
• Jasart hot Glue Gun
• Half Sphere foam ball or block
• Florist wire
• Double sided tape
• Liquitex spray paint
• Protective wear for spray painting

How to make an insect terrarium

1. This first step is to spray paint the bottom of your cloche, it can be any colour you like. Put some newspaper over your area so when you spray paint the base, so the paint doesn’t go on anything it shouldn’t. Put the base in the middle and spray away. Once that is done, leave it to the side to dry.
   NOTE: When spray painting, make sure there is an adult and that you are using protective gear in a well ventilated area. 
2. Once the cloche is dry, the next step is to take the hot glue gun, and squeeze a bit of glue into the bottom of the foam ball, and then stick the ball onto the base of the cloche.
   SAFETY: Hot glue gun needs adult supervision.
   Tip: The reason for the foam ball, is to create a little hill inside the cloche, which will later be covered with moss and beetles. 
3. Paint small sections of watercolour paint on a large piece of paper. These sections will turn into our beetles. So grab your paint and paintbrushes and paint a bunch of sections. To make 7 bugs, paint 7 different sections, and then leave the sections to dry.
4. Once the sections are dry, grab a pencil and draw an outline of the bug. Once you're happy with the shape, go over it with black marker and fill in any details (spots, eyes, wings)
   Tip: No legs are drawn because they are too fiddly to cut out and you can spend more time on the colourful shells
5. Cut your beetle shapes out with scissors.
6. Take the florist wire and make a loop at the top of each beetle cut out.
   Tip: You can put one per bug or if you like you can put 2 holes in each one, its up to you.
7. Now we are going to use the double sided tape to secure the bugs onto the wire loops.
8. OK, now you will want to make more than one of each to let's get to it
9. Position where you want the bugs on your centrepiece inside the cloche.
   Tip: Make sure your wire isn’t longer than the cloche, because the bugs have to fit inside with the lid on.
10. Stick one end of the florist wire into the foam ball, so your beetle should be sturdy and still floating in the air.
11. Grab your moss and cover the foam ball with it, carefully stretching the moss between the wires holding the beetles. Use hot glue gun to secure the moss into place on the ball.
12. Place the glass case over your cloche base and there you go! Your very own Bug Terrarium.

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