PIECE OF MY HE"ART"

Ok, so I'm a Pinterest addict. I fully admit this. There should be a 12-step program in place for this glorious website. Because of Pinterest, I was introduced to the "gallery wall", where you put a lot of themed items up all askew. I love this wall because it reflects whatever holiday or season that is going on.

For my Valentine's Day wall, I needed a big ticket item and found a Butterfly 3-D art project that piqued my interest. It looked intimidating at first, but it really is very simple. I saw this project sold on different websites from $50 to $150, which I was not going to pay. So I headed to Michael's, as I do quite often, and hit a great sale! Full disclosure, they are starting to know me there. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing...:)

Supplies:

20x20 canvas - $7.50

Package of pink ombre scrapbook papers - $2.00

Butterfly punch - I had to make a side trip to A.C. Moore for the Martha Stewart 1" punch - but came equipped with my 40% off coupon - $6.00

Elmer's Glue - $1.99

Heart cutout - $2.00

Total: $19.49

Time: 2 - 3 Hours - And that was me getting my Adult ADD on, where I might have been distracted by sink dishes, realizing I had no bird seed in the feeder, folding towels, and spiraling my zucchini to make "zoodles". Oh, and at one point I had to get my black and white shirt and whistle out to referee a fight my kids were having. When they went into their respective corners, I proceeded.

So first, I punched out the butterflies. This was tedious, and in panic of not having enough, I punched almost 300 of each color. You do NOT need that many for this project. I'd say around 100-150 of each color is sufficient. And your hands are going to get tired. Especially if you do what I did and try to cut time by doubling up on the paper....that just resulted in a good lo' cramp.

After your butterflies are all punched, you'll need to fold them in half. Again, this took some time, but I was sucked into the latest episode of "This Is Us", and that helped pass the time. Side note--this new series I highly recommend because it is absolutely amazing so watch it! If not, while your laundry is spin cycling, or your crock pot is crocking, fold those sweet little wings.

Next, I traced the outer rim of the decorative heart on the canvas, which gave me the exact measurement I was looking for. And bonus, it's a decoration that went on my door.

Now you're ready to glue, of which there is no rhyme or reason. You just start at the base of the heart and spread some glue around and then place the butterflies in all different directions. The glue is forgiving for a few minutes if you want to change their course. I found using a pencil with it's eraser an easy way to place them down.

After the lightest color is down, get the next color in line and continue on.

And finally, the darkest color. You'll keep the right of the heart tight, and then start to scatter them as they move to the left....opening up more and more spaces so they appear that they are flying off into the distance.

Let it dry and viola! It's ready for your wall. I expect to hear a lot of toots from your own horns!

Afterwards, I thought how nice it would be to make it more vintage if you tea dyed your canvas....that would really add an antique softness to this. All you would need to do is brew tea, wait for it to cool and softly brush the tea onto the canvas and wait for it to dry...then proceed.

I hope this inspires you to do this project because the end result is really beautiful. And the price is right! You can truly say you gave someone a gift from your heart! Till next time...