Paper Butterflies #2

I've gone a little butterfly crazy since my last post.  I invested in a large butterfly paper punch, and have been adding butterflies to everything I possibly can.

Before going any further though, I have a confession to make.  I once killed a cabbage moth for the sake of art.  I was trying to add a touch of realism to a Mothers Day card I was making.  My vision was a nature scene and, in my seven year old head, I thought the moth would lift the card to another level. My Mum was very gracious about it but, honestly, what was I thinking?  For the record, dead insects have never featured in my card-making activities again, and my relationship with the insect kingdom is extremely positive. For example, a large spider has been living on the outside of my kitchen window for almost a year and I have never once thought of reaching for the Baygon. And this is coming from someone who screamed the entire way through the movie "Arachnophobia".

Anyhoo, back to the beautiful world of butterflies.  Here are a couple of really simple ideas.

Take a coloured paper gift bag, preferably duck egg blue.  Stick a small paper doily in the middle of the bag using double sided tape.  Punch out a butterfly in black card, glue it down the centre and place it in the middle of the doily.

The doily and the butterfly create a simple silhouette, and add a touch of old-fashioned elegance to the bag.

Another idea is the double whammy butterfly on a small gift box.  Using the template I created for the previous post, I cut out a large butterfly from light brown card.  For the smaller butterfly, I punched it from the paper I used to wrap the gift box.

The butterfly adds height and texture to an otherwise plain box.

Enough butterflies for a while....but they will be back!

Paper Butterflies

It is probably no surprise to regular readers of this blog that I would have a collection of patty/muffin/cupcake cases.

I just can't resist those pretty decorated papers. The thing is, I don't make cupcakes or muffins that often. I'm more of a slab of cake kind of a girl.  I do use smaller cases for chocolates and truffles at Christmas and yet, I keep buying more cupcake cases.  Perhaps I think I am going to be asked to cater afternoon tea for 500 and need to be ready, or when sea levels make it to my house, I'll be able to find the kitchen.  Whatever the reason, I have too many cupcakes cases and need to make some room.  The solution - butterflies!

To make the butterflies, I drew a large and a small butterfly shape on a piece of cardboard, and cut them out to make templates.

I chose a selection of cupcake cases in complementary colours and flattened them out with my hand.  I put the templates on the back of the cases and drew around them in pencil.

I cut the butterfly shapes out.

Using craft glue, I glued the smaller shapes down the centre of the larger shapes.  Instant butterflies.

The butterflies can be glued onto gift bags.

Or pinned specimen-style onto a cork pin-up board for decoration.

This post was inspired by some origami paper butterflies I made a few years ago to decorate Christmas presents.  Origami paper works well as it is coloured on both sides.  You can also make butterflies out of wrapping paper or coloured tracing paper.  Different thicknesses of paper do produce different results.  The cupcake case butterfly is quite delicate and flimsy, and would look good on presents wrapped in tissue or crepe-like papers.