Create Cheery Wall Art With An Ordinary Dollar Tree Essential

Hear us out. You're channeling your inner Disney heroine, lounging in your favorite patio chair while butterflies and birds flit around your head. Or, perhaps, you're an entomology enthusiast hosting the next community "save the butterflies" meet-up at your house and you want to create a conversation starter in your living room. This butterfly wall art DIY is for you. All you need to achieve the wildlife ornamentation of your dreams is a big, cheap balloon whisk (yup, the kind you use for baking), some twine, a glue gun, something to cut and bend wire with, and enough patience to spend time wrapping said twine tightly around a few wire loops.

Personalization and nature-inspired subjects are trending in wall art for 2024. Think pastel colors, wildflowers, and lots of rattan. Any ultimate guide to cottagecore decor worth its salt would include butterfly wall art, are we right? Crafting arguably nature's most beautiful six-legged critter from a regular old whisk encompasses each of these themes — butterflies are, after all, about as wild as you can get and you're only limited by your imagination when decorating the manipulated wire frame. And that's pretty much all you need to do with this DIY — bend the whisk's balloon to create the insect's wings, wrap the wires with twine, and hang your creation on the wall. The size of the whisk, the color of the twine, and other customization are yours to decide.

Head to Dollar Tree to pick up your whisk for $1.25. You'll also need some twine to achieve the neutral, moth-esque hue of the art in the TikTok tutorial — Hobby Lobby sells a 40-yard spool for under $2. Also grab a pair of sharp scissors or wire cutters, needle-nosed pliers, and a hot glue gun. For the latter, we recommend the AdTech mini high-temperature floral glue gun, which costs $4.27 at Walmart. It comes with glue sticks, and the smaller nozzle creates more discrete beads than other guns.

Bend the silicon loops so they splay outwards from the whisk handle like a butterfly's four wings. Cut the fifth loop, sticking directly upwards from the handle, in the center with the scissors or wire cutters. These are your insect's antennae. Pick one loop to start with. Cut a length of twine — say, about a couple of feet long — and wrap it around your chosen loop, starting where the wire meets the handle and moving outwards to the end of the loop. Try to keep the wrapping compact. Once you reach the top, reverse the action, so that you finish at the handle. Cut off any extra twine and secure the loose ends with a dab of glue from your hot glue gun. Repeat for all four wings, then wrap the handle in the same fashion. Slightly bend the last 1 inch of each antenna and wrap just the bent portion.

The modifications for DIY are near-endless. An easy option is to simply change the twine. If you want a more vibrant color palette, get a three-roll pack of Crafter's Square colorful baker's twine while you're still in Dollar Tree. Ditch twine altogether, and use wool or gift-wrapping ribbon ... Pretty much anything you can wind around those loops will work. Or ditch the string altogether and instead cover the wires with fabric offcuts, lace, or even plastic grocery bags. Did you do papier mache when you were a kid? Papier mache-ing the wings of your butterflies could be a clever way to repurpose old magazines around your home.

Want bigger butterflies? It's as easy as finding a bigger whisk! You could also create a whole flutter of different-sized butterflies on your wall by varying the size of the whisks you use. Interested in hanging your creations outside instead of in? Spray them with a waterproofing sealer like Mod Podge clear acrylic sealer in gloss — that's just under $13 at Plaid. All that's left now is to think about how to hang your artwork on the wall. Since the whole thing is covered in twine, you can simply pick a spot on your butterfly to hook over a nail or screw in the wall. Renters worried about damaging walls could use removable hooks — these 3M Command mini light clips for under $12 on Amazon are tiny, clear, and very discreet.