Glowing Magical Butterfly Garden-Great for Weddings or Parties!

This has been such a beautiful start to the summer and I am enjoying every bit of it. The birds, the backyard barbecues, the smell of grass, trees and flowers. The feeling of humid, late night gatherings with candle lights and string lights up above. Tucked in big overgrown, branching trees. I cannot get enough. It is so cozy and romantic. Although we do not have a dream backyard, I do have a tiny patio that holds a few pots of plants. I usually sit there on a cool summer night with a glass of wine enjoying my plants and the night air. I thought it would be so pretty to have butterflies nestled between a few of the plants as a garland or individually...and why not make them glow! This would also be great for any outdoor wedding or party!

Things you will need:

1. Craft or decorative butterflies (or my downloadable butterfly template)
2. Krylon Glowz spray paint or any other glow in the dark paint
3. Krylon Crystal Clear sealant spray
4. Clear thread or fishing line
5. Needle

I choose plain white butterflies from my local craft/event decor supply store in midtown NYC.  It's a place called B&J Florists Supply on 28th st NYC. I get creative overload when I'm in this heavenly store. It's hard to walk out of there with just a few items and not buy the entire store...

I bought two different sizes of butterflies to make my garland. A pack of 12 each, cost about $5.00 for the large ones and about $3.00 for the small ones.

 

They come with a bendable wire attached. remove them if making a garland but leave them on if you just want to adorn your plants one by one. You can even adorn lamps, curtains and other items in a child's room. Just do not spray the wires with the glow spray.

I used six small and six large butterflies for one garland. Take them outside or in a well ventilated area and spray them well. Make sure to spray both sides, top and underneath the butterflies. Below are the paints I used. The Krylon Crystal Clear or any clear sealant spray can be used to protect the butterflies if being used outdoors. You can spray the Glowz after or before the sealing spray.

 

Using your fishing wire or clear thread and needle, string your butterflies through the center of their foam bodies. Make a knot under each one so that they stay in place, then string another through. If they slide onto each other, double knot the thread or place a touch of glue where the knot and the foam meets. Fishing wire or a thicker thread works best.

  

Interchange the sizes. This is what it looks like in the dark.

 

This is with the lights on or daytime...

If you don't want to buy the butterflies, download my free template. They look just as pretty in the dark! Make sure to print the template with NO scaling. Scaling will shrink them.

1. First, fold the paper lengthwise in a perfect half. Doing this makes it easier and faster to cut out the butterflies which we will be using as a stencil.
2. Its OK if it did not cut out perfectly.
3. Get sturdy paper of your choice, fold in half lengthwise. Fold again then wrap the stencil around the folded side and trace the pattern.
4. Using sharp scissors, cut out. You should have two butterflies in no time. I know, I'm a lazy crafter! The edges are OK if they are jagged or imperfect. 

Wrap the small stencils around the unused spaces of the same sheet of paper and cut out.

Draw, paint or toss glitter on them if you wish.

My sons LOVED them. Now I'm thinking I should have done a more boyish glow in the dark craft like worms or something...

 Enjoy!

Hope you all enjoyed this one, the possibilities are endless with this or any glow in the dark paint. Have fun with it and be creative!
You can spray just about anything, toys, dolls, letters etc...

 DOWNLOAD FREE BUTTERFLY TEMPLATE HERE

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