DIY Butterfly Canvas Art

I’ve been all about rainbows lately. Something about bright colors and lots of them has been really calling my name. Maybe it’s the idea that spring is soon upon us or maybe it’s because rainbows naturally come along when Saint Patrick’s Day is also just around the corner.

So one day when it was uncommonly warm here in Oklahoma, around 76 in the winter, I had the windows open. And I LOVED it because fresh air is my jam. But after an entire day spent working in my office with that delicious breeze I realized there was a whole lot missing. It most certainly was not spring. Where were the butterflies and the resonant sound of cicadas?

Deciding that I just wasn’t cool with no spring-like things on my spring-like day, I made a bit of wall art! Get out your Silhouette and you can make your own!

For this project you will need:

• Silhouette Cameo
• Cardstock in a rainbow of colors (mine was $5 at Walmart)
• Glue (I used Aleene’s School Tacky Glue)
• White canvas
• Butterfly cut file

Using your free butterfly Silhouette cut file, cut as many butterflies as you need. I cut entire sheets (on my 12×24″ mat) and I have a ton of butterflies left over.

The butterflies are small so you need to take care removing them from the mat…

…but they also have dashes cut around each butterfly body to make the wings fold up or down.

Using your glue run a thin line along the body of the butterfly.

And start sticking those suckers down on your canvas. Here I’m reusing an old canvas. I just gave it a good two coats of white paint and  got after it!

I went with a graduating colors kind of thing… purple to blue, blue to green, green to yellow, etc. as they would occur.

They can be randomly, haphazardly placed or you can work out a pattern. In the spirit of a true rainbow the colors could be placed in any order and in arcs rather than totally random places.

I love the 3 dimensional aspect of this wall hanging. Will it be fun to dust? Probably not. But dang if it isn’t cute anyway!