DIY Butterfly Napkin Rings

By the time most of you read this post, it will be the first day of Spring. What does spring look like in your area? I have been reading other blogs and people are talking about beaches, sunshine, or flowers in bloom. Here in Wisconsin it's like the planet Hoth from Star Wars. 

Seriously! 

It is freezing cold and snowy, with a balmy -10 degree wind chill today. I know I am whining.  I can't help it. If you read my posts you may have noticed I have been obsessed with butterflies lately.

Like in my DIY Bunny Topiary post.

Or in my post on our favorite Irish music in Swallowtail Jig.

They are just popping up everywhere in my house lately. That's how I make it through the day when it's cold and winter-like outside. I dream of spring. And summer. And butterflies.

I started by playing around with this colorful wire I got at the Dollar Store.  I added some beads and butterflies from the craft store.

Do you know what happened? I began to feel better. I didn't even notice it was snowy outside.

The more I made, the better I felt. Perhaps you would like to feel better too.

Here's the solution. Buy several colors of floral wire from the Dollar Store. Get two small packages of beads in similar colors, along with a package of these fake butterflies from Hobby Lobby.

Get out your craft glue, a wire needle nose wire cutter and an empty cardboard toilet paper tube.

I planned out the butterflies and beads first to be sure I liked the color combinations.

Then I put three or four beads on one end of the wire, curling the tip to keep them from falling off with the needle nose wire cutter.

Using the cardboard tube as a form, I wrapped the wire around the tube tightly several times.

I cut the end of the wire, adding a few more beads before I curled the end to keep them in place.

Once I had them positioned, I fastened them with a dab of Tacky Glue.

I trimmed the wire on the butterfly to 1 1/2" and wrapped it around the center wire. I also added some glue to the butterfly for durability.

Then it was just a matter of rolling up the white linen napkins, and putting them inside.

There you have it, the object of my obsession for this week. Butterflies. I pulled out a bamboo place mat and some square dishes just for fun. I even added some chopsticks (okay, they are really not chopsticks, they are skewers, but just pretend they are chopsticks, okay?) to the presentation, because for some crazy reason I am now totally craving Chinese food.

Hummm, perhaps Chinese food will be the subject of my next obsession.

Happy Spring!

Designer Mom