How to Make a Twirling Paper Butterfly

I saw this here: http://www.youaremyfave.com/2012/05/08/wind-up-paper-butterflies-are-my-fave-guest-post-from-amelia/, on Pintrest. The idea was wonderful, it reminded me of my Dad’s favorite April fool’s joke. He called it Rattle Snake Eggs. I’ll have to do that one some time. Anyway, it looked fun, but it seemed to have some problems that made me think that it just wouldn’t work well. I make the changes I thought I would need and I created the paper wings on my computer using my Sure Cuts A Lot program and my Cricut Expression. This is lots of fun. It is meant to be put in a card and when you open the card, the butterfly will come flapping out. Let’s go.

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Step 1:

Supplies:
2, size 2 paper clips
Needle nose pliers
Tape measure or ruler (not shown)
Transparent tape
Mini black rubber bands (the silicon type for hair)
Card stock (your choice of color)
Black marker
Computer
Personal electronic cutter (Mine is a Cricut from Provo Craft)
Sure Cuts A Lot Program (I should inform you that Provo Craft and Sure Cuts A Lot had a court battle and SCAL lost, so it you have a Cricut, you can no longer buy SCAL, yet they do create programs for other brands of personal electronic cutters. I bought mine long before the court battle so I am okay.)

jmiksanek says: May 20, 2012. 7:28 AM

This is such a great idea! I want to try making one. Could you post a pdf of the pattern that worked since it seems like the sizes of the wings are a critical factor. Thanks so much for posting this!

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craftknowitall (author) in reply to jmiksanekMay 21, 2012. 1:53 PM

The pdf is now attached to this Instructable. Thanks for looking.

jmiksanek in reply to craftknowitallMay 25, 2012. 6:08 PM

Thank you so much for going to the work to make this! Now I'm ready to try it out. Good luck in the contest!

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craftknowitall (author) in reply to jmiksanekMay 20, 2012. 10:09 AM

My SCAL program does not play well with other programs. It just won't copy and paste to other programs, and it won't save it to another format. So as soon as I can find a little time, I will recreate them in a program which will save pdf, and then I will post it here. I spent 2 hours trying it the other way and no luck. I will let you know when I get it done. Thanks for looking.