Butterflies: The Sequel

When I did the Butterfly Tree for my daughter's room last week, I didn't know at the time that it was going to pretty much become the theme of the room. However, every once in a while a project turns out just right & ends up being a main attraction. And so it went with this room. We loved the tree so much that we decided to bring the theme around to the opposite wall and give it a little twist. Here's what we came up with:

It's a little vase full of tissue paper flowers, with a trail of little butterflies leading up to it. Once again, this project was super-cheap. The only thing I didn't already have was the vase, which I found for a whopping $3.50 at my favorite craft store. The other supplies we used were a few sheets of colored tissue paper, some 18-gauge floral wire, the patterned papers left over from the butterfly tree, & some sewing pins & glue.

These little tissue paper flowers are the miniature version of the big pom poms that are so popular right now. If you've never made them, here's how:

1. Take one sheet of tissue paper & keep cutting it in half until you have around 16 little sheets that measure around 5" x 5".

2. Keeping all the little sheets together, start fan-folding.

3. Take a piece of floral wire and wrap one end around the center of your folded sheets. You may want to use some needle-nose pliers to twist the end securely.

4. Then, start pulling the layers of tissue apart, pulling toward the center to hide the wire.

5. Repeat on opposite side & you're done!

When you use this method, your flower will look like a rose. For a different look, you can snip the edges into a point on each end before pulling apart the layers & you'll get a dahlia.

And for a carnation-look, round the ends off.

These little flowers would be a great gift-topper or give a whole bouquet to make someone's day!

We made our little swarm of butterflies with a butterfly paper punch, and then attached them to the wall with tiny sewing pins. We even glued a couple little butterflies to the flowers.

Sometimes it's fun to get carried away. Try it!