Butterflies Galore!

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!

Folded Paper Butterflies

By Jessica Ripley

I am so honored to be part of a group that will be creating and gathering butterflies for the Houston Holocaust Museum. It's such a beautiful project and I can only imagine how breathtaking it will be when it's complete.

As a scrapbooker, the first medium I thought of to create my butterflies was of course paper. Below is an easy tutorial for a folded paper butterfly that you can do too. They take just a short time to make

Supplies you need:
-Double sided patterned paper or card stock
-Staples
-Adhesive dots

And the quick and easy steps:

1. First, cut 4, 4X4 inch squares of paper. (smaller is fine, but any larger might make your butterfly bigger than their requirements)

2. Next, fold two sides of each square up at a diagonal, kind of like a kite shape.

3. Then attach the "wings" together. I chose staples to do so as these butterflies will be traveling, and I want to be sure they stay together. Attach the two for each side first:

4. And then the two pairs together: (The staples will be covered up in the next couple of steps).

5. Next make the "body" of the butterfly. Using another piece of 2 sided card stock, cut a small piece about 3" X 6". Fold the two sides towards the center leaving a small gap in between, and then the corners of one end out. Like a collar:

6. And for the final step, attach the body to the wings with adhesive dots.

Pavel Friedman wrote in the incredible poem:

Only I never saw another butterfly,

That butterfly was the last one,

Butterflies don't live here, in the ghetto.

It just makes me want to create and send as many as I can to this wonderful project as they work towards their goal of collecting 1.5 million. Please do consider creating a few butterflies in whatever way you can to send along too.

Have a wonderful and safe holiday.

Fabric Butterfly Tutorial

By Jen McGuire

I was very excited to create a butterfly to donate to the Holocaust Museum Houston Butterfly Project. As of this time last year they had already received over 400,000 butterflies. Houston is not very far from my home in Austin, Texas so I am seriously considering a trip to see this amazing exhibit when it opens in 2012.


I recently moved into a new place and my craft stuff, sadly was the last to get unpacked. This project was the first I attempted in my new craft space. At first I felt like my craft mojo just wasn't flowing. I did everything backwards and in the most difficult way possible. I didn't start out with a very clear vision of what I was hoping to accomplish. I should have sorted through my stash more, pulled some swatches and sketched it out first, but instead I just went for it.

Happily, in the end I really like the finished project. Here is how I made it:


Supplies:

• Fabric--I used new heavy weight cotton for the background and a heavier weight fabric from a thrifted dust ruffle. I had originally planned on doing a collage and using lots of fabric scraps but I really liked the pattern of the ruffle and thought it made a nice butterfly.
• Embroidery floss, needle--Optional, however I found the no-glitter rule to be very hard so I felt like I had to spruce up my butterfly where I could, and I'm really into embroidery right now so it finds it's way into everything I make now.
• Freezer paper or embroidery hoop: I decided last minute to use embroidery on my finished butterfly so I used freezer paper to stabilize my fabric enough to embroider without a hoop. If you think ahead, a hoop would be easier.
• Pellon Wonder Under Extra Strong Paper-Backed Fusible Web
• Scissors, pinking shears
• Iron, board and pressing cloth: Trust me, you need a pressing cloth so that the gummy fusible web doesn't get on your iron or board and to ensure that your fabric doesn't scorch.
• Ruler

How To:

Measure your background fabric to make sure to stay within the proper guidelines (no larger than 8"x10") then cut with pinking shears to the proper size. I wanted to keep things fairly simple but other options would be to sew or serge the edges instead. But, I really like the way a pinked edge looks. My butterfly is roughly 8"x9".

Draw your desired butterfly shape. I am a fan of symmetry but have a hard time creating it so I drew the left side, cut it out and folded it over to trace the right side. I chose a simple outline but the possibilites are endless, I originally thought a butterfly on a flower would be nice but I wanted it to be bold so I skipped the flower.

Trace the butterfly onto the fusible web, iron onto a piece of fabric big enough to accomodate it, then cut the butterfly shape out of the fabric and iron onto the main fabric following the manufacturer's directions.

I drew two words: "love" and "hope" above and below my butterfly. This is optional, you can stop after applying the butterfly if you do not wish to add embroidery.

If embroidering, either iron on a stabilizer (such as freezer paper) or put the fabric into a hoop.

After I embroidered the words I did a freehand outline around the butterfly using floss that matched the darkest color in the fabric, but again, the possibilities are endless.

Tear the freezer paper away from the back of the fabric. I gave my finished project a quick press on both the front and back. I know many stitchers do not iron the front of their projects so they do not flatten the stitches but I thought it made this project look a bit crisper.

That's it! Let me know what you think about my butterfly and be sure to send me a link if you choose to donate a butterfly to the museum.

A Call To Serve: The Butterfly Project

We are on vacation here at Craft Critique, celebrating our American Independence. Rather than being stagnant this week, we thought we'd give something back, and reach out to our readers, asking you to take time over this summer to do something special for someone else.

There are so many deserving causes out there... it was difficult for us to select one. Then on June 10th, our cause came to light, when a gunman walked into the crowded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington , D.C. and opened fire.

Crimes of hate are devastating. I believe that the Holocaust Memorials around the globe serve as sacred places where we are reminded of humanity's darkest times so we can be sure actions of hate, ignorance and apathy are never again perpetrated against a group of people.

More than 1,500,000 innocent children were murdered during the Holocaust. In an effort to remember them, the Holocaust Museum of Houston is collecting 1.5 million handmade butterflies. The butterflies will eventually comprise a breath-taking exhibition, currently scheduled for Spring 2012, for all to remember.

Craft Critique would like to send a box of butterflies as one large gift to the museum. We encourage you to share this project with your friends, families, students and children... and to take some time out of your busy summer to make one or more butterflies for the museum.

Please Note:

• Butterflies should be no larger than 8 inches by 10 inches.
• Butterflies may be of any medium the artist chooses, but two-dimensional submissions are preferred.
• Glitter should not be used.
• Food products (cereal, macaroni, candy, marshmallows or other perishables) also should not be used..
• Place your butterfly in a Ziplock Bag with your name and address.
  

Mail your Butterflies no later than September 15th, 2009 to:

Craft Critique
Attn: Butterfly Project
649 N. Spring Street
Elgin, IL 60120

You can read more about the Butterfly Project and access teaching tools HERE.

And this week we will be bringing some simple and beautiful butterfly crafts to help inspire you.

Thank you for participating and have a wonderful Independence day!


The Butterfly

The last, the very last,
So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing against a white stone....
Such, such a yellow Is carried lightly ’way up high.

It went away I’m sure because it wished to kiss the world good-bye.
For seven weeks I’ve lived in here,
Penned up inside this ghetto.
But I have found what I love here.

The dandelions call to me
And the white chestnut branches in the court.
Only I never saw another butterfly.
That butterfly was the last one.
Butterflies don’t live in here, in the ghetto.

Pavel Friedman, June 4, 1942
Born in Prague on January 7, 1921.
Deported to the Terezin Concentration Camp on April 26, 1942.
Died in Aushchwitz on September 29, 1944.