If you are like me, you also keep a TRY or Die board on Pinterest - with the all of the projects that you really want to DIY. I have a board like that, and it's BURSTING at the seams with over 200 ideas! I'm finally trying some of them and having the best of times with the inspiration shared by others.

One project I've been wanting to try for quite a while now are Lucy's dragonflies over at Lucy Designs. They captured my attention at first glance and were one of the first ideas I ever added to my 'must try' Pinterest board. She just posted a new batch and she's even selling them now on Etsy if you want to skip the DIY and purchase one of her fabulous creations.

I invited my friend Marie over and we created these three cuties:

Step 1: What I Used

table legs
fan blades
acrylic paints
rusty metal shipping straps
misc. metal bits and bobs
beads and baubles (on the butterfly)
drill

Step 2: The Body

The body: I got an old table offered on our local Freecycle site and promptly removed the gorgeous legs that already had 2 different paint colors on them (I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the table top). I sanded down the outer color to show some of the green beneath. Then I added some additional acrylic blues and grays with some broad brush strokes and using a rag to wipe in the paint.

Step 3: The Wings

The wings: The butterfly sports fan blade wings that I had dismantled from a thrift store fan and they were ready to simply screw onto the back of the table leg. Then it was a few nights in front of the TV with a hot glue gun and box of misc. beads and baubles to glam up those wings.

I had some rusty metal straps - used in industrial shipping - that I'd picked up in a field and drilled a hole in the ends and screwed to the back of the table leg for the bottom wings. I loved the effect of those rusty straps and also used them for the dragonfly...and thinking about making some garden flowers as well.

Step 4: The Eyes

The eyes: The final step was to get out my box of scrap metal bits that I typically pick up off the streets when walking - and soon I had eyes and antennas for my flying insects.

Step 5: Voila!

And there you have it...your own indoor flying insects.

Hop on over to the blog if you want to see more great recycled and repurposed DIY projects for your home and garden.

http://www.bluevelvetchair.blogspot.com