Little Spring Butterfly Picture Frames

Add a little touch of Spring into your home by making yourself some chic 'n' cheerful butterfly pictures frames. Butterflies always make a beautiful theme for crafting and home decor projects that can be enjoyed any time of year but especially in the spring because that is when they emerge out into the warmer weather and give us yet another sign that the winter days are hopefully far behind us.

These gorgeous, flying insects, which are born in an amazing array of colors and shades, are so enchanting that it really is no wonder that we want to bring them inside our homes. With a simple and fun little dollar store project, you can create your own little photo frames which celebrate this stunning creature.

I found these really bright, spring color little photo frames at our local $1 store last year and I've been itching to create a craft project with them. Because theses ones are really small (approx 2 x 2 inches) I knew that they didn't need anything overly fussy but I wanted butterflies as the theme. I choose to use them only on the outside of the glass like they are breaking free to fly away somewhere.

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Making Your Own 3D Sticker or Paper Butterflies

With paper and sticker designs, you can choose whether you want to use them behind the glass of the picture frame or stuck on top of the glass instead, the latter option looks especially good with a box type, deep frame.

If using over the top of the glass, place stickers on to card or paper first before cutting out and then gently bend up the wings to give some flight-like dimension before adhering to the glass with suitable adhesive like a glue gun.

How to Make Some Similar Picture Frames

Dollar stores and thrift stores are great places to find photo frames that you can use to spice up your own home decor on a budget or to give away as cute gifts. When I hunt for cheap and inexpensive ones that I can make use of, I'm not looking at the color of the border because that can easily be changed with a quick coat of spray paint. I just look for the overall shape and size that's going to work with the project I'm doing.

Materials and Tools:

• Some Dollar Store Picture Frames
• Photos or Scrapbook Paper
• Butterfly Cutouts or Embellishments
• Sharp pair of scissors
• Glue Gun or Suitable Adhesive

Step 1: Here's the small pack of fun photo frames I snapped up from our local dollar store. They were a perfect match for what I wanted and had deep, recessed glass.

I suggest you look for some that work well with your own home decor or the look you're going for. You can have photos behind the glass, pieces of fabric that you love or scrapbook paper.


Butterfly embellishments could be as simple as shapes cut by hand from paper which you can see here or there are many other options including using a shaped paper punch, a rubber stamp which you print and cut around, stickers layered onto a card backing or even one you have crocheted.

Step 2: For the look I was going for (a girly spring colored playroom) I wanted pretty scrapbook papers instead of photos to sit behind the glass. You could use fabric or even print off something you find online. 

Since these are in a group I opted for a range of coordinated papers. It's easy to cut out the shape of paper by taking the photo frame apart and drawing around the glass.

Step 3: Drawing around the glass on the front of the paper can make it easier for you to choose a specific part of the paper that you love. I planned out three pieces that I thought would work well together.

Step 4: Pop the frames back together with the paper inside. I was lucky to match up a pink bird design with the hot pink one and a blue floral print with the bright sky blue.

Step 5: You could use clear glue dots to stick your butterflies on the outside of the glass but a glue gun will give more of a permanent bond and you only need a small amount. Because the glass is recessed deep down, the butterflies don't extend past the frame and it gives a lovely effect. 

It does look like the butterflies are flying free rather than being confined behind the glass. You can add in flat backed gems and other embellishments to decorate further as you wish. I was keeping mine quite simple to fit the styling I was wanting.

K&Company are very much a personal favorite when it comes to papers and embellishments for adorning a variety of papercrafts because they are steeped in traditional yet stylish design and intricate detail. 

I prefer to use good quality papers and embellishments where I can even if it means just adding a touch as since just one really stand out item can weave magic on the rest of your project.

As soon as I saw these frames, I knew they'd be a perfect match for the look in my daughter's playroom for which I made a felt and fabric pennant banner. She loves butterflies too so the room decor has a bit of a theme going on.

When I was growing up, I knew an adult who collected real butterflies and kept them pinned in displays. I absolutely hated this with a passion so this breaking free and flying away idea is a project that makes me feel really good.

You might not be able to find the exact frames that I did but that's good because I picked some that would suit my own decor and you can go out and do the same. But you can use the techniques to create a fast and cute little display of your favorite bugs.

With this project, I simply used some embellishments that I'd had for a long time since they were waiting for just the right project to come along. If I had not had these particular items then my next choice would have been to cut some from paper, either by hand or with a cute punch or some beautiful stickers mounted onto card.

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Page Last Updated: April 30th, 2018