Decor/Accents

Butterfly Mobile: A Pottery Barn Knockoff

4/06/2011


I saw this in the Pottery Barn Kids magazine and thought it was
too cute to pass up! The materials were extremely inexpensive
and the craft was really easy to make. 

 What you need:
  • 2 wooden embroidery hoops (I used a 12" and 14"), you will only use the inside hoop
  • Fishing line, 6lb. test was the thinnest I could find at Wal-Mart
  • 1 dowel rod, at least 28"
  • Pink vellum, or any color
  • A few beads to add weight to each strand
  • 1 wooden butterfly shape (see photo, $.29 at Michael's)
Note: I also used store bought butterfly's that were smaller to add dimension. I found a pack of 110 on clearance for $2.99 at Michael's.

 
Trace in pencil your butterfly all over one sheet, put the other sheets behind it and cut out multiples at one time. You may need to erase some pencil lines, but that's okay.

I used four strands each in 32", 26", 22" and 18" lengths. String a bead to the bottom and tie a loose knot before each butterfly to hold in place and provide the "floating" effect.

 


To make the top part, measure your dowel rod the length of your largest hoop, score it and snap it off. You will need two. Next, apply glue where they meet in a X pattern. I had my hubby add a coat of spray paint in Heirloom White. Finally, tie on all the butterfly strands (longest in the middle), attach four more pieces of fishing line to the top and hang it in the ceiling with a screw in hook.


Thank you for reading! Please visit again soon! xoxo Amanda

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6 comments

  1. Nicole@Thrifty Decorating7:11 PM

    What an excellent idea! I'm working on my little girl's room right now...I'm going to show her this! :) Thanks so much for linking!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Christina9:14 PM

    This is so whimsical and beautiful!!

    Thanks so much for linking to "20 Below Thursday"! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kate1:03 AM

    Amanda, I love this! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous5:40 PM

    What a great web log. I spend hours on the net reading blogs, about tons of various subjects. I have to first of all give praise to whoever created your theme and second of all to you for writing what i can only describe as an fabulous article. I honestly believe there is a skill to writing articles that only very few posses and honestly you got it. The combining of demonstrative and upper-class content is by all odds super rare with the astronomic amount of blogs on the cyberspace.

    ReplyDelete
  5. kenia3:35 PM

    Thanks so much for the idea!
    I was looking for this, but it was too expensive($109 on ebay). Thanks for sharing it with us.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous2:30 PM

    Wow! Love this! I'm following your tutorial to create this for a baby nursery. I'm wondering--did you glue the butterflies, or string them? Thank you!

    ReplyDelete