Butterflies and Birds in Golden Cages!

Jen sent me this fun little craft a few weeks back.  I got a box full of paper, pastel brads, a hole punch and paper lids along with the directions and some other goodies.  The directions were printed from the Brides Cafe's post on DIY Bird Cage Lanterns.  I knew I'd need to pick up some string, so it sat for a few days before I tried it out.

When I went to Michael's to pick up string, I found some cute and inexpensive birds and butterflies and went ahead and picked them up to put in the cages.  I intend to hang these from the ceiling in my daughter's room around some paper globe lanterns that are already hanging.  So I did another tweak from the directions, which was to cover the entire bottom of the cage with paper also, since we'd be able to see the bottom. (I'm not sure why this wasn't done in the original anyway, since the directions call for ice cream pint lids?)

The first day I sat down to do this craft I realized the double sided tape was not working for me and I really needed to use some plain white glue, which I didn't have, and I still worked on it and just ended up frustrating myself.  I finally put it away and went back to this craft after I bought regular glue, and it was so much easier.  My dad used to say, "Any job is easy with the right tools" and I am pretty sure he's right.

So here's how the birdcages (and butterfly cages) came out:

I think they're just adorable!  So here are the tweaks that I made:
-I didn't use paper bird cutouts and went with cheap bird and butterflies from the craft store instead.
-I covered the entire bottom of the cages with paper so they would look pretty from underneath.
-I used the hole punch and punched holes in the lids and connected the "bars" of the cage with brads, too.  I think it looks cuter that way, and it feels way sturdier.  (I only figured that out on the last two.) It's also important to punch holes in the lid before you cover it with paper.  Then as you cover the lid, mark the holes on the outside before you fold the paper in.  Once you fold the paper in, you can push the brads through.  Trying to punch through the extra paper and the lid was super difficult.
-I used glue (and brads) instead of double-sided tape.

My daughter really thought these were cool. And I liked this craft a whole lot, too.


After these crafts were done a few days, the cages held together with double sided tape started to fall, but the cages with the brads are still sitting up tall just like they should.

Butterflies and Birds in Golden Cages!