Butterfly Mobile & tutorial

Good morning everyone!  I'm sure that everyone is about ready for Spring so I'm here with a butterfly mobile because nothing says Spring more than seeing butterflies fluttering everywhere.

First I cut out a bunch of butterflies.  I cut at least 3 of each butterfly of the same pattern and color.   I cut 4 of some but I ended up only using 3 of each.  Pretty, aren't they?

I first scored each butterfly down the center and folded them in half.  I then glued 3 of each of the same butterflies together  putting them back halves together leaving one side open.  Here's 2 of them below so you can see how they look.  You could put 4 of them together but I felt that 3 were plenty.

The reason I left one side open was so that I could put the fishing line into the center of the butterfly before gluing it closed.  I beaded some large beads at the bottom of each fishing line strand to weigh the butterflies down and put some decorative beads in between the butterflies.   I ended up with 6 strands but you can do as many as you like.  I added glitter glue to some of the butterflies just for some sparkle.   I also felt like the basis paper that I had was beautiful but not quite as thick as the metallic/mica paper and the glitter glue made it more sturdy.  I am sending this mobile cross-country so I want it to hold up well during shipment.  Don't worry, I am going to wrap these butterflies very carefully and box them up so they don't get squashed.... at least I sure hope they don't get squashed!

I wrapped a large metal ring with ribbon (lots of glue on the back of it) and hung it with 3 strands of ribbon tied to a center small key ring.  I tied each strand of the mobile to the ring and viola', a butterfly mobile!

Here's a close up of the top half of the mobile.  It looks much better in person!  I didn't really have any rhyme nor reason to what order I put the butterflies or beads, I just had fun making it at random.

 

If I make another one (and my husband says I need to make one for him!) I may choose to have more of a design to it.  The little girl I'm sending it to won't even care if there are two yellow butterflies together (like in the back shown below)... she will be thrilled to receive it and so will her mom!

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial!  If you have any questions feel free to contact me.  I hope this project will inspire you to enjoy the little things in life just as my daughter and I have always enjoyed looking for butterflies.  Enjoy your weekend!

Paper Temptress Paper:
Mica/Metallic: Azalea, Amethyst, Lagoon
Glimmer: Autumn Hay
Astrobright: Plasma Pink, Lunar Blue, Gamma Green

Dies by: Spellbinders, Memory Box, Poppy Stamps