DIY Butterfly & Roses Chandelier

 
Let’s kick off 2012 with something pretty. Now that the female presence in our family has been boosted with the addition of little K, I have more reason to dabble in pretty things. There are so many beautiful mobiles / chandeliers out there but when I saw this one, I was smitten to the core. I give full credit to these Heart Land Paper and I won’t replicate their instructions on how to make one, but I will add to their instructions, my “notes from the trenches”.

 

Here are the materials I used.
I have marked items with a * that differ from the original instructions).

Butterfly punch
Paper for butterfly cutouts
Small paper roses*
Large bamboo embroidery hoop
25 meters of lace*
Fishing wire
Floral wire for cross hairs of chandelier*
Hot glue gun (not pictured)*
Scissors

 

 
Some explanations for variations in materials used:

 
Lace instead of ribbon: I compared the price of lace and ribbon and it was much cheaper for me to use lace. I didn’t have much time to search through the shop so there may be ribbons out there that are cheaper than lace, but in my brief shopping trip, lace was the winner.

 

 
I chose to use some premium coloured papers (adorned with glitter or double-sided) instead of white cardstock and clear vellum. I wanted to add some pink and brown colours to the room.

 

 
During my brief shopping trip, I came across these adorable paper roses and just had to add them to the chandelier.

 

 
Instead of glue dots, I found it much quicker and sturdier to use my beloved glue gun to glue the bits and pieces together.

 
I wanted to use tulle for hanging the chandelier to the ceiling, but the shop assistants were terribly grumpy and I had a baby strapped to me, hence could not manage to carry a large roll of tulle to the counter by myself. Lace would do for now.

 
I alternated between butterflies and roses on each fishing wire.

 

 
The roses added a unique charm to the piece and I’m glad I added them.

 

 
It took several hours to complete, but it’s such a stunning visual hand-made piece to have in a room. It was well worth the effort.

 

 

 

 

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