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.