Butterflies Galore!

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Reported by Sara McKenzie

In support of the Craft Critique Butterfly Project, I poked around to see what I might want to make and share. It feels a little bit like cheating, but if you want quantity, you can do what I did and go for die cut butterflies.

Stampin Up! has an exclusive Sizzix Bigz die "Beautiful Butterflies" that will cut 6 butterflies at once, of different sizes and shapes. Two of the butterflies are created by using a folded piece of paper or cardstock, and placing the fold at the center of the butterfly. Below is an example of what you get out of the die.

Butterflies from the Beautiful Butterflies die.

When you use a folded piece of paper, you get two-each of the butterflies on the lower row. The two on top are cut on the fold. The butterflies range in size from 4" X 3" to 1-1/2" X 2-1/4".

You can use a single sheet of paper, or you can mix and match using scraps on the different butterflies, as shown below.

Mix and match your butterflies by choosing the placement of your paper.

Of course the die easily cuts through all manner of materials. I played with vellum, handmade paper, paper doilies, and origami paper. The butterflies are sized to be used singly, or you can layer them; you can adhere the whole butterfly to your project, or you can adhere only the center so the wings are free to move.

These butterlifes are great for all manner of projects, including:

• greeting cards
• scrapbook pages
• 3-D paper projects, such as stationery boxes
• mobiles

In other words, pretty much anything you want to use them for!

For the Butterfly Project in support of the Holocaust Museum, I made a display such as you might see for a butterfly collection. I used butterflies from Origami paper, vellum, handmade paper, and one from doily. They are mounted on Tangerine Tango cardstock, cut 8" X 10", and all but the one in the lower right corner are fully adhered to the cardstock. The butterfly on the lower right has a lower layer of patterned vellum, over which is a doily butterfly. I used metallic gold embroidery thread to stitch the doily butterfly, including the head and antennae.

My Butterfly Collection

Close-up of the doily butterfly, over vellum, stitched with gold thread.

I'll be sending this along for the contributions to the Holocaust Museum- since it is 8" X 10"!! Make your own collection to send along, too!