butterfly specimen placeholder art

These frames are the best option we found for framing our monthly photo booth strips (something we started doing regularly about the time of the kiddo's first birthday, but only occasionally before then).

Afraid they'd stop carrying these glass-backed frames, I bought ahead and ended up with an empty frame on my wall. I decided to fill the empty one with some placeholder art until we have photo strips to fill that frame as well. (The glass-backed frames I used for this project are available from Target.)

This is a deceptively easy project. Find some butterfly art in a magazine or as a copyright-free image on-line. Print it out.

Cut carefully. Make sure your cuts aren't too straight or choppy, for the most naturalistic appearance possible. Go ahead and cut off the antennae.

Gather a spool of heavy thread, some double-sided tape, and your butterfly.

Cut a length of thread. Bend and twist at the center, and attach to the back of your cut-out butterfly using a tiny piece of the tape (this will also loosely hold the butterfly to the back pane of glass to help avoid slippage).

Flip over and check placement. Adjust if necessary.

Place in frame, sandwiching the butterflies between two pieces of glass.

I used three different butterflies to mimic the look of a specimen collection; you could switch it up even more and use three different colors of butterflies, or a dozen in different shapes and sizes.

The thread antennae give these a very realistic appearance, especially if you just let them lay, rather than adjusting them until they're perfectly symmetrical.

And in less than a typical nap period, it's done, and ready to hang on your wall . . . permanently, or until something better comes along!

Thanks for reading!

p.s. you can make these pictures larger just by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that.


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Handy Man, Crafty Woman

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A Bowl Full of Lemons

Mommy by Day, Crafter by Night

Today's Creative Blog

DIY Show Off

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Open House Party at No Minimalist Here

Catch as Catch Can at My Repurposed Life

fancy old vintage frames

I've had these fancy old frames around for awhile, found at a flea market and a thrift store, respectively. I like them, but have never hung them up because the Mister isn't at all fond of them.

They are too fancy and old for his taste. Also too gold. But this one has awesome evidence of several layers of paint, built up over time. The mat is golden velvet. It's also a dimensional frame . . .

. . . the 45 degree angle of the molding strips make it 2.5 inches deep at the edges. The back of it is a lovely vintage green. Of course, if you hung it up, no one would ever see the back.

This one is more 1970s-style. I'm not convinced the ornamentation is wooden; it might be some sort of resin or gesso or something. It's hard to say!

It has a nice tone to the gold color, though, and if a person wanted too, she could probably mimic the old built-up-paint effect of the other frame.

The frame base is clearly wood, as you can see on the back, and its hanger is a pop tab! Such a clever use of recycled/reused materials. I saw someone use this trick on their blog awhile back; it's been around for awhile, as it turns out.

Anyway, if you like pretty gold vintage frames, you can hop over to my Etsy vintage shop (Night Garden Vintage), where these are now for sale.

Thanks for reading!


p.s. you can make these photos larger just by clicking on them, but you probably already knew that.

Linking up to:

Simple Design's Thrift Haul