Playroom Wall Art

Using Catalogs for Inspiration

I love getting home decor catalogs in the mail from brands I love. They are a wonderful (FREE) resource for inspiration! Being a cheap ahem frugal shopper means I have a hard time sometimes deciding which things I am going to spend my decor dollars on and which things I am going to DIY. (There is always a little voice inside of me that sees something and wonders: “Could I make that for a lot less?” Most of the time- the answer is “YES!”

Annie Selke- Lots of Happy Colors

That is what happened when I saw the cover of one of Annie Selke’s spring 2020 catalogs. The butterfly art above the mantle was so colorful and happy. I flipped open the cover to see how much the artwork cost (my brain is already thinking “it’s a more expensive catalog, probably $300”- nope!

This sucker cost $785!) Don’t get me wrong- it is LOVELY. But most of us don’t have a budget of nearly $800 to spend on one picture. (If you do and you are ever getting rid of some of your art, please let me know- wink!)

This got my little brain spinning and that ever-present voice started saying “Could I make that for less?” (Umm….OH yeah. Even Louis XIV’s decorator could have made art for the Palace of Versailles for less.)

You can see our Annie Selke (aka “Dash and Albert”) rug we installed on our stairs here. It’s holding up up beautifully!

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Materials You Need to Make Butterfly Art

• butterfly paper punch
• bright cardstock
• double-sided tape (I used this permanent kind and it’s holding up great!)
• board painted white or canvas (I just used a (24 in X 21 in) piece of MDF that I had leftover from another project. If I was buying something specifically for this project I might have gone bigger!)

Star of This Project

The main thing you will need for this project is this handy paper puncher. You could cut all of the butterflies out, but that is a level of commitment (and TIME) that this lady wasn’t ready for.

Seriously, the little butterfly puncher is wonderful! (I used another paper punch to make the FREE wall art in this post!)

The original art in the inspiration photo uses varied sizes of butterflies. I think this would make the project even prettier (I was just too cheap). I used the 3 inch butterfly, but you could also use a 2 inch punch, and a 1 inch punch – the smaller sizes would also work well if you were using a smaller canvas or board.

How to Make Your Butterfly Wall Art

1. First thing first, you have to punch out a LOT of butterflies. This is actually a 3D picture, so wherever you see a butterfly, it is actually 2 pieces of : one is the base and one is folded so it looks like it’s wings are “flying”. My completed picture has about 60 butterflies on it (so 120 punched butterflies). **Did I mention that I REALLY recommend the punch for this and not trying to cut these all out by hand??**)
2. I found it worked easiest to sort my butterflies by color.
3. To make the wings 3D, simply fold each wing toward the center. There is a middle section down the middle of the butterfly, I simply folded up to this part.
4. The back of the middle section of your folded butterfly, now becomes to place you can use your double-sided tape to stick the two butterflies together (put 2 of the same colors together).
5. I used a bowl to create a circle like the original art had. (I just placed it on my board and then removed it after I had a couple rows adjusted. Mr. PearTreeHome came in when I was working and asked if I was keeping the bowl on there that way…umm…No… wink.
6. Once you have your butterflies laid out how you want them, just secure them with the same permanent double-sided tape from #4 above. Mine have been up for 3 weeks now and not budged at all! I’ll keep you posted if that changes!)

How to Hang

Considering how I used tape for adhering all of the butterflies to the board, you can probably guess that I am going to use something similar to hang our finished project….Well, you would be RIGHT! I used my favorite 3M velcro Command Hooks to hang these up. Seriously, they are a mom’s BFF. When is the only time you have free hands to hang something?? When your kids are sleeping. Who wants to mess THAT up by hammering….NO mother ANYWHERE. I used 4 of the large strips to hang my picture, but please be sure to follow the directions!

(I also used Command Hooks to hang this IKEA faux planter and this cute rope mirror I made for $5. )

Looking for Other Playroom Art?

This large star sign makes a big statement!

These easy Paint Chip Sample pictures come together in a snap!