Stained glass butterflies

Because they are currently filling our home with such beauty and my heart with such joy, I wanted to share our weekend craft project here with you, my friends. As I'm sure you all know, I love fall. I love everything about it: the sights, the scents, the feel of the air...and I was thrilled to finally reach September. To celebrate, I wanted to create a pretty, seasonal window display in our dining area, so we hung a fall leaf garland and mini white lights. It was beautiful on its own, but I wanted to dress it up a little more, and it occurred to me that butterflies would be a perfect addition!

I had recently read about a stained glass cross project on Elizabeth's blog, and thought I might adapt it to make some butterflies for the window. I found these templates online, and I really liked them. They were just the right size for the project. I cut them out and traced them onto black construction paper, then cut out patterns from the wings of my solid black butterflies. The fun part was coloring the coffee filters for our stained glass effect! First we tried using markers and a spray bottle as the instructions suggest, but we encountered a bit of a problem when all of our color soaked right through the filters! I decided that I might just have to resort to our trusty method of wax paper and crayon shavings, but I really wanted the kids to be able to participate, too.

Finally, I had the idea to color the coffee filters with washable paint, and this worked beautifully. I gave each of the kids a small sponge brush, which were the perfect tools for the job. We got them soaking wet before dipping them into the paint, and then, when we pressed them to our coffee filters, the color really spread. This worked so well for us! And the kids had such a great time painting and seeing how creative they could be with their patterns. We painted many filters on Sunday morning, then left them to dry while we spent the day at a local Apple Festival. When we returned home, they were ready to be glued to the backs of our butterflies! A bit of trimming around the edges completed our works of art, and I couldn't be happier with the result. I love them!

We hung them in the dining room window on Sunday afternoon, and since we still had a few painted coffee filters remaining, I decided after the kids were asleep on Monday night to make a few more butterflies for the school room window. They were so surprised to see them when they walked into the room yesterday morning! I love the way these simple butterflies bring such warmth to our favorite rooms. I look forward to enjoying their cheerful presence throughout the fall!