J Cooper Photography

I can’t think of 10 clever things to talk about tonight….so I’m going to share a fun craft project we did last week.  But before I start.  Please keep in mind that I did NOT come up with this idea.  I love LOVE to get my craft on but I am a big fat copycat.  I love to browse crafty blogs and re-create things I find that inspire me.  So don’t give me any credit!  I first saw this project on Meg’s blog and thought it looked fun and manageable.  Check out the original source for even more inspiration.  I didn’t stray far from the original idea but there are limitless possibilities!  My girls love love LOVE to craft and would do it everyday.  But I get SO TIRED of all the random projects cluttering up my house.  This summer I wanted to do “crafts with purpose” and this one definitely fit that category!

Here’s the finished project!  Adorable 1212 canvases perfect for any little girl’s room!

Here’s what you will need:

blank canvases (ours were from the clearance section at Michaels)

acrylic paint

foam brushes

watercolor paper (this is essential..splurge on real paper meant for watercolors)

watercolor paints and brush

butterfly punch (Martha Stewart from Michaels…use your 40% off coupon!)

hot glue gun or glue dots

The girls had a playdate the day I chose to do this craft.  I sent them to the play room to play while I set everything up on the kitchen table.  I use old plastic party tablecloths and paper plates for all of our painting projects.  Each girl chose the color of their canvas.  I knew what their friend’s room looked like so I guided her towards a color that would work in her room.  I personally think a more BOLD color for the background would be AWESOME but I wanted the finished project to coordinate in their rooms so we rolled with pastels.  I set a large pool of acrylic paint, a foam brush, and a blank canvas at each girls’ spot.  They covered the canvas in paint.  I went back after they were done and touched up a few bare spots for them.  Then (because I am SO IMPATIENT) I blew them dry with a hair dryer!

We set the canvases aside and started painting our sheets of water color paper.  Water color paper is THICKER and more textured then regular paper.  You REALLY want to use the real stuff as it make the butterflies more stiff and this type of paper soaks up the paints better than traditional drawing paper or construction paper.  I let the girls do their own things on this part of the project.

Their pictures were so cute!  I dried these with a hair dryer as well and had to blot off some “excess” paint.

Once they the water color pictures were dry we set to work punching out the butterflies.  I purchased the largest size punch that could be used all over the page (not just around the edges).  I had intended to have the girls punch their own butterflies but my punch was very hard to push down and they were way too wimpy   So they ran off to play while I punched out a fun little pile for each girl!

We folded them in half and then hot glued them randomly all over the canvas.  I tried to coach them to NOT line them up or try to create a pattern (they wanted to put the butterflies in a heart pattern) so they would fill the entire canvas.  Our friend’s turned out the cutest because her butterflies are all facing different directions…a bit more realistic and random!

I loved that Miss Middle’s even had a few butterflies upside down (hers is the pink one).  One fell off after we were done.  It was one of the upside down butterflies and I caught myself gluing it back on the “right” way…but I stopped myself.  I want to remember those perfect “imperfections” that show that she did this all on her own!  Can’t buy THAT at Home Goods!

When we were completely done…I re-arranged a few things and added the canvases to the girls collages over their beds…SUPER CUTE!

{it is driving me NUTS that that picture is crooked…gotta go fix that!}

If you have tiny ones at home I would recommend splitting the project up over several days!  My girls were losing interest by the end and were ready to get back to playing.  I can tell you though…their friend’s Mom was THRILLED to have her come home with such a cute, usable project!

Beats shrinky dinks anyday, huh??