A few months ago, as I was browsing the aisles of one of my favourite stores, Dollarama, I came across a collection of beautiful 3D butterfly stickers. My first thought was to buy a pack for my nephew, which I did. However, my second thought was to make something amazing with them!
I should point out that I don't normally have the ability to come up with DIY ideas on the spot. It usually takes a bit of time for a project to evolve and come to life in my head — but not this one. As soon as I bought those butterfly stickers, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them.
To find out what my idea was, scroll through the quick and easy tutorial I put together below.
Materials
3D butterfly stickers
Wooden artist's panel
Picture frame
Acrylic paint
Wood stain
Foam paintbrush
Painter's tape
E6000 adhesive
Wall hooks
Before you do anything, make sure the wooden artist's panel fits inside the picture frame you're choosing to work with, like so.
I found my frame at Home Sense on a clearance rack. The back stand wasn't intact, but I didn't care about that because I wasn't going to need it.
Once you have the perfect frame + panel combo, cover the border of your artist's panel with painter's tape. Using a foam brush, slather the interior of the panel with acrylic paint in the colour of your choosing. I really wanted the colours from my stickers to stand out, so I decided to work with black paint.
Before the paint dries, remove the tape. If you want, you can also do something fun with the border of your panel. I chose to stain mine, and then roughen it up a bit with some sandpaper.
Allow everything to dry and then place your favourite butterfly stickers inside the panel, just as you would if you were putting together an actual taxidermy display.
Next, line the back of your picture frame with E6000 and gently place your completed panel face down on top of the adhesive.
If you're planning to hang your creation on a wall, you can also use the E6000 to add hooks to the back of it. And if you're concerned about the adhesive's strength and durability, alternatively, you can use small nails or screws to secure the hooks in place.
Voilà! You now have a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork to display on a mantel or within a gallery wall.
Not only are the results beautiful, I think they're also incredibly realistic, don't you?
I'd be lying if I said this project didn't exceed my expectations. In fact, I loved how it turned out so much, I decided to make a second version using a mixture of small and big butterfly stickers, as well as a larger picture frame.
Well, what do you think? If this project inspires you to get crafty, let me know by sharing your creations with me! Leave a comment or use #katiesaracreates on social media. And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on future posts!
Happy crafting!
