DIY Faux Butterfly Taxidermy Display

10 Materials
$14
2 Days
Easy

A few months ago, I came across a collection of 3D butterfly stickers while shopping at one of our local dollar stores. Because they were 3D, the stickers reminded me of those framed butterfly collections you see you know, the shadow boxes that have butterflies pinned inside of them?


I decided to snag a few packs, and then I made it my mission to figure out how I could use the stickers to make a faux butterfly taxidermy display of my own. However, I wanted to do it without buying an actual shadow box they can be super expensive!


I walked up and down the aisles of Dollarama looking for items that could be used to make a shadow box, and then I remembered something I had seen in a DIY video a few weeks prior.


The project was a resin tray done by Holly of By The Stand (make sure you check out her awesome blog!). In it, she transformed a wooden artist's panel into a pretty vanity tray. Needless to say, it turned out really well, and I knew the panel she used could work wonders for my project.


Once I found it, I checked out the dollar store's picture frames but wasn't thrilled with the selection. That's when I ventured over to Home Sense and found the perfect frame in the clearance section it was broken but that didn't matter, because the parts I needed were still intact!


Anyway, check out the materials I ended up using below, as well as the steps I took to successfully create a faux butterfly taxidermy display!

The first thing I did was remove the back portion of the picture frame. Then I made sure the artist's panel would fit inside, which it did!

Next, I taped off the top of the panel and painted the inside black. When I peeled away the tape, some of the paint had seeped underneath, so the lines weren't as clean as I wanted them to be. Because of this, I decided to stain the top to cover up the imperfections the tape had left behind.


I let everything dry for 24 hours.


Since there were a few patchy spots on the wood after I stained it, I ended up sanding it down to give the top portion a slightly distressed look.

I then picked two butterfly stickers to display in my shadow box. And even though they were stickers, I added a bit of extra glue to them to ensure they wouldn't go anywhere once the panel was permanently secured to the frame.

E6000 was used all along the outer edge of the panel so I could adhere it to the inside of my frame.


And two hangers were added to the back just in case I decide to display the piece on a wall in the future.

That's it! I found the perfect spot for my faux butterfly taxidermy on the refurbished fireplace mantel in our bedroom.

And because I loved how well this project turned out, I decided to make another display using a larger frame and artist's panel. Pretty cool, right?


Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this DIY project as much as I did, and that it inspires you to create something beautiful of your own.

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Katie Sara Creates
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