Once upon a time, I decided that I really loved this salvaged frame. I found it at the flea market, repurposed as a chalkboard. So I decided to repurpose again, into some colorful {oh so ready for spring!} art. Because I thought we could all use a little color in our lives right now, I’m sharing this free butterfly kaleidoscope art!
Once upon a time, we had this old frame we snagged at a local flea market. It had been turned into a chalkboard, but it was when the chalkboard phase was a thing and people were buying chalkboards, but they weren’t really substantial chalkboards… just black paint. WOMP WOMP.
You may remember it from this post.
And I could give it another dose of real chalkboard paint, but basically it stayed like this forever because I couldn’t be bothered. Every time I looked at it, I was all contemplating my love for coffee, and remembering this post where it said that, so it was relevant once.
It was time for a new look.
So into my upcycled frame, these watercolor butterflies went.
I’ve seen a lot of butterfly kaleidoscope art recently, and we thought we’d create our own.
We love our funky little take on these happy butterflies.
So I busted out the back of the frame…
And painted the back white.
Then I added a few more butterflies, and scanned them in to create art.
I basically arranged them on my computer first, to make sure they would fit. When they were printed and cut, and placed in their respective spots. I was ready to get to work.
If you’d like to cut your own, an Xacto blade + self healing mat is the best route. These were actually therapeutic, but I also realized it’s a lot of work for anyone who wants to recreate their own.
And then placed them like a puzzle here, while I waited on the paint to dry.
That was when I stepped back and realized, not only do I have the original butterflies if you’d like to create your own little puzzle, I have a big print if you’d just like to do it that way. You can place it in a circular frame like this, or square would be fun too. You can also shrink them down to whatever size you like once downloaded. We just love the fun colorful options it brought into the space!
We just cut and adhered them with a little glue. Hot glue, because I’m lazy, and I knew it wouldn’t bleed.
Want your own butterflies?
Just click, download and print. If you’re going for a 21″ diameter round frame, they should fit just like this perfectly, or create your own with all the endless variations!
Individual butterflies: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, {we recommend cardstock}
Entire piece: whole butterfly kaleidoscope art
And if you’d like to create these fun paintings behind it – get ready for a whole day of art therapy – because you won’t want to stop.
Hurray for color!
As always let us know if you have any questions or try it.
We’d love to hear. And be sure to share with the hashtag #thehandmadehomefreebies on instagram!
Have an inspired day!
Your butterfly kaleidoscope is a delightfully charming work of art…thank you for sharing the lovely images. Wish me luck foraging thrift shops, tag sales and auctions for a beautiful frame to properly display them!