Butterfly Home Décor Project - by Miwa

Ombre Project – Butterfly Home Décor Project

Before Amber issued her first challenge to us, I had never heard of “ombre”, or a graduation of color. After much brainstorming, I chose black-gray-white for my color combination and kept thinking about butterflies fluttering through the sky (remember, I’m still an entomologist at heart!). Ultimately, I created a home décor project based upon a butterfly poem (“Ode to a Butterfly” by Thomas Wentworth Higginson).

LIST OF SUPPLIES

CC-materials: patterned papers (EP Be Mine), Bazzill cardstock (Charcoal), butterflies (MM Paper Reverie – Noir), flowers (Prima), bling (MM), adhesive (Snake Tape)

Non-CC materials: shadowbox (10” x 10” for this project), leaves (Petaloo), Bazzill Institchz flower template, paper piercer, and needle; embroidery floss (DMC), adhesive (pop dots, hot glue) 

Step #1 – Preparation of project background

Trim the background cardstock to fit inside of the shadowbox frame, keeping in mind that some of the outside margins will not be visible after the frame is put together. Print poem, trim, and adhere to the right-side of the cardstock. Cut and glue patterned paper to the left side.

Step #2 – Making stitched flowers

Using a design template, such as one from Bazzill’s Institchz line, pierce holes where designated and sew embroidery floss through the holes in an overlapping manner, so that the correct design shows and you don’t have to tie any knots. The back won’t look terribly attractive (see second picture from the right), but nobody will see it anyway. Simply tape down the ends (on the back) and sew away! It’s easy to make stitched flowers without a template, too – just lightly draw a pattern with pencil and pierce holes along the design. When you are finished stitching your flower, trim close to the edges – just don’t cut any of the floss.

Step #3 – Arrangement of Butterflies and Flowers

Once you’ve stitched your flowers and selected your butterflies, arrange them on the patterned paper until you’re happy with the design. I arranged my butterflies in a curve formation, flowing around the flowers, to look as if they’re flying.

Step #4 – Addition of Exterior Embellishments

After you’ve made sure that everything fits perfectly inside the frame, it’s time to embellish the outside. I adhered some Prima flowers (which offer a lot of texture and dimension), along with some twigs & leaves from Petaloo. 

Step #5 – Completed project

Once your frame is embellished, it’s ready for display!