Book Butterflies

March is National Craft Month!

Whether you have your own glue gun, locked and loaded, or you struggled to sew on a button, there are craft projects out to fit everyone’s interests and talents.

Today, I’m sharing a project I did several years ago, but it is so much fun, I wanted to share it again!

These butterflies are so easy  to make! You can use any paper, but for a girl who loves words and books, this was perfect!

You basically need:

a book you don’t mind hacking to pieces (I used one that was water damaged beyond redemption)

glue (school glue would work fine)

scissors

a marking pen

a butterfly cookie cutter

floral wire

wire cutters

Rip two pages out of the book and, using the cookie cutter, trace your butterfly patter on the page.

Cut out the pattern, making sure you cut both pages together.

Open your butterfly, like you would bread for a sandwich. Measure two pieces of wire to lay cross-wise across your butterfly and cut them with wire cutters. Set the wire aside.

Liberally apply glue to the edges of one piece of your butterfly.    Place the wire on the glue then lay the top piece on top of the wire (like you were making a butterfly sandwich with the paper and glue – in other words, make sure you get the inside pieces together so the edges match up.)

Let the glue dry…

And then you can shape the butterfly however you want.

You can give it a light wash with water color, if you so desire, or poke a hole and tie a thread through it if you want to hang it. If you wanted to make dozens of these and string them together, they’d look really cool hanging from the ceiling.

Set these on a bookshelf, tuck into a corner, and add to a wreath or floral arrangement.