Beautiful Butterflies!

Welcome to my first 'crafty' blog!! 

I have decided to start with something easy that anybody could do - no sewing or craft experience required - promise!!!!

In the lead up to the birth of my third baby, I had the chance to finally create my first 'proper' nursery!! Using the internet for inspiration, I fell in love with the new trend of wall decals. Unfortunately, I couldn't justify spending upwards of $50 on stickers!! So, I got creative and came up with these beautiful butterflies. I have to say that I am very happy with how they have turned out and I have had lots of friends ask me about them. So here it is!!! The best part is these are NO SEW!!! If you do make these butterflies, be sure to take a pic and post it up for me to see!!

To make the butterflies you will need:

• 4 fat quarters of coordinating fabric (see The Oz Material Girls for some beautiful fabrics!)
• 1m of heavy single sided iron on interfacing.
• Butterfly template. You will need three different sizes. I drew a few cm out from the edge of the small template to get an in between size.
• Sharp scissors
• Hot glue gun and glue
• Tailors chalk
• 2 packets of florists wire (this will depend on how many butterflies you would like to make!)
• Something to hang or stick them to the wall. I just used blu-tac and it has worked beautifully!!!

OK - now the fun part!!!

1. Put your interfacing on your ironing board with the shiny side up. Put the wrong side of one fat quarter (the side without the print) onto the shiny side of the interfacing. Iron together on a medium setting.
2. Continue with the other fat quarters until all are joined to the interfacing. Cut the fat quarters away from each other so you have their original size.
3. Cut out your templates and trace onto the fabrics using the tailors chalk. You will need more medium and small sizes than large, There is no set number for each as this will depend on which fabrics you like together and how many butterflies you want to make!!
4. Cut out each butterfly and let your imagination run free!! Layer the large, medium and small in different fabrics until you get a look you are happy with. Just use the medium and small for smaller butterflies!!

A QUICK TIP!!! When layering the butterflies, try to balance the darker fabrics with lighter ones or strong prints with softer ones. See the butterfly below.  I have started with a mostly white fabric for the large, an even balance with the stripe then mostly pink for the small. 

    5. Once you are happy with the design of your butterflies, turn each layer over and glue some florists wire in an 'x' pattern on the back. If you do not have wire cutters, you can just fold the wire back on itself. See the picture below.

    6. Hot glue each layer together. Once cooled, fold each layer forward to give a 3D effect. See front shot  above for the look!

7. I then used blu tac to attach them to the wall. I liked the effect of them bursting out from behind the cot. Other great ideas are to have them in a cluster flying in one direction or to spread them throughout the room to decorate!!

I hope you enjoyed this project and will have a go at making these gorgeous little butterflies!! I am so looking forward to seeing what you come up with!!

Remember to find Cherry Tree Lane on facebook and share with your friends!!