Faux Stained-Glass Butterfly Craft

How to make a faux stained-glass butterfly craft using cardstock, glue, watercolors, and the provided printable butterfly template.

Buttery Craft

This beautiful butterfly craft is perfect for Spring.

Painted using bright watercolors, these faux stained glass butterflies would look great hanging on the wall.

This butterfly craft is great for older children or adults. For younger children, you might want to complete the glue steps, allow to dry, then simply have the children paint their stained glass butterflies.

How to Make Faux Stained-Glass Butterfly

First, gather your supplies and materials. For this butterfly craft you will need: cardstock, black paint, watercolor paint set, paintbrushes, white glue, and scissors.

Download the butterfly template here and print out on cardstock.

Open the top of a bottle of glue. Pour a small bit out, if necessary, so that there is room to add black paint.

Add about a tablespoon of black paint, place the lid back on and shake well. Check the color to see if a dark grey / black color has been achieved. If not, add a bit more black paint and shake again.

If the paint and glue are not mixing well by shaking, you can place a wooden dowel or chopstick into the bottle to help stir. 

Trace each line in the butterfly template with black glue.

Allow the glue to dry completely — I recommend letting it dry overnight.

Cut butterflies out. 

Use watercolors to paint the butterflies. The black glue will help keep each color from bleeding into other areas. 

Allow the watercolors to dry completely before displaying. 

A fun way to display these watercolor butterflies in the classroom is to make 2 and glue them together, back to back. Then, hang them from the ceiling using fishing line or clear thread so it will give the illusion that they are flying. 

Shop Supplies

Bright White CardstockApple Barrel Multi-Surface Black PaintElmer's Glue-All Multi-Purpose GlueWatercolor Paint and Brush Set

Faux Stained-Glass Butterfly Craft

Yield: 1 butterfly

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Active Time: 30 minutes

Additional Time: 1 days

Total Time: 1 days 40 minutes

Difficulty: medium

Print

Materials

• cardstock
• glue
• black acrylic paint
• watercolor paints

Tools

• scissors
• paint brush

Instructions

1. Download and print out the butterfly template.
2. Open the top of a bottle of glue. Pour a small bit out, if necessary, so that there is room to add black paint. Add about a tablespoon of black paint, place the lid back on and shake well. Check the color to see if a dark grey / black color has been achieved. If not, add a bit more black paint and shake again. If the paint and glue are not mixing well by shaking, you can place a wooden dowel or chopstick into the bottle to help stir. 
3. Trace each line in the butterfly template with black glue.
4. Allow the glue to dry completely -- I recommend letting it dry overnight.
5. Cut butterflies out. 
6. Use watercolors to paint the butterflies. The black glue will help keep each color from bleeding into other areas. 
7. Allow the paint to dry completely before displaying. 

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