6.10.2010

watercolor butterflies craft


Sort of spinning off of the other days post,
I wanted to share a fun and cute summer craft.
Perfect for kids and kids at heart.
These are butterflies made out of
coffee filters and painted
with watercolors.

This is a craft that you can find
instructions for online
but I figured I would give them anyway,
along with some pretty pictures.

So you will need just the standard sized
coffee filter...white or light brown,
watercolor paint, a brush, water,
colorful pipe cleaners,
and clear fishing line if you
want to hang them up.

First you flatten out the coffee filter.
It's smart to do the painting over newspaper
or even double up the coffee filter so
some of the color leaks over.
Paint any lovely, colorful design
your heart desires.

Set it aside when you are done
for about 5-10 min of drying time.
If you doubled up the coffee filter,
you will probably have to fill
in the white spots on the one that was
underneath.

Once it is dry, make 1/2 inch
accordion folds and pinch it in the center
and carefully spread out the wings.
Or just gently and delicately pinch the
coffee filter in half...
but in such a way that it puckers
nicely... and then spread out the wings.

Cut 3-5 inches of pipe cleaner,
twist around the pinched part,
and make two antennas...like a real
butterfly.

Now I made this craft with the kids
I nanny, and we made around 25 of these.
I tied clear fishing line around the butterflies
and hung them from the playroom ceiling.
It truly looked magical.
With natural light coming in,
they really looked like they were floating there.
And when the breeze came through the window,
they flew.

If you want to do the fishing line,
I recommend first figuring out how long
the line should be so you don't
bump into the hanging butterflies.
Tie the string around the body of the
butterfly in such a way that they
will not be hanging straight up and down,
but rather almost parallel to the ground
or slightly angled...
preferably with the string hanging out
of the "back" of the butterfly.
Use clear scotch tape to hold the string
on the ceiling, but be careful not to
over smooth the tape in...
so you won't have smudgy fingerprints
on your ceiling or have a hard time
taking the tape off.
Also, spread them out evenly but not too
uniformly or too close...
make it look natural.
(be careful on that chair or step stool!)

When you're all done, lay with your back
on the ground with the window open
and watch them fly.






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