Butterfly Terrarium
Make a colorful statement with this beautiful butterfly terrarium.

Other Things You'll Need

  • Color copies of butterflies
  • Wax paper
  • Foam brush
  • Muslin fabric
  • Ivory felt
  • Sponge
  • Bowl of water
  • Scissors; Needle & Thread
  • Polyfil
  • Styrofoam sheet
  • Craft knife
  • Thin dowels or skewers
  • Bag of dried moss
  • Glass terrarium
  • Hot glue gun
  • Glue sticks

Instructions

  1. Cut out and arrange a selection of butterfly images in various sizes. Use the size of your terrarium as a guide for sizing height and width.
  2. One at a time, lay a butterfly on top of a sheet of wax paper image side facing up. Generously paint a smooth layer of Mod Podge® Photo Transfer Medium over the image. You should barely be able to see the butterfly.
  3. Bend the wax paper away to release the prepared image and carefully lay the image on a clean piece of wax paper. Gently lay a piece of fabric over the image. Press softly. Flip the fabric over and carefully squeegee the image to the fabric. Press along the edge with your finger to ensure good contact. Let dry 24 hours.
  4. Repeat steps 2-3 for each butterfly.
  5. To reveal image, press a damp sponge over the image and let sit for 2 minutes. Gently begin rubbing the paper off in circular motions. This will take 2-4 times letting the image dry in between rubbings.
  6. To create a padded butterfly, pin the prepared image fabric to a piece of felt and another piece of Muslim. Do not trim the fabric yet. Sew a simple running stitch around the butterfly close to the image. Trim the fabric around your butterfly. Repeat for each image.
  7. Cut the Styrofoam sheet and glue to the base of the terrarium. Cover the Styrofoam with moss.
  8. Paint one dowel for each butterfly and let dry.
  9. Turn the butterflies over and make a small slit at the base of the body through the muslin fabric layer. Add a small amount of glue at the end of a dowel and insert into the hole. Let dry. Repeat for all butterflies.
  10. Insert the prepared butterfly dowels into the Styrofoam base trimming the dowels as necessary to create varying heights.