Wow, I really hate to bump my own thread but if anyone has any parts recommendations I need to get them on the way...
Her project is a sort of animated atom with 12 neutrons and 12 protons in the nucleus. She was thinking two different colors and having them blink in a pattern. The first shell will have 8 leds and only 2 will be illuminated at once, also in a blinking pattern. The 2nd shell will have 12 leds with 8 illuminated at once in a pattern similar to the 1st and the 3rd shell will have 8 leds with 2 illuminated. I hope that makes sense. I don't really have time to do a lot of searching so I was hoping for some help.
I ordered abut 200 leds from ebay a while back and my daughter thought the project up and has already built some of the "hardware" 
She's pretty good at soldering because she makes jewelry from old computer board parts 
so she'll handle most of the work. It just came at a bad time because this week is REALLY busy at work so I don't have much free time. I need to get in the bed soon...
Anyway, I have a couple of 328 chips that aren't doing anything and I have experimented a little bit with multiplexing on attiny 85's but that's about it.
Any help would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!
Thanks.