How-to Make Your Own Two-Toned Butterfly Paper Clips

Hi, everyone!

Who doesn't love pretty butterflies?! I know I can't get enough butterflies in my life!

I've got a fun tutorial for you today. I'm going to show you today how to make your own two-toned butterfly paper clips with the Classy Butterflies paper crafting dies, shrink plastic and some basic craft supplies. 

Let's get started! 

Start by die-cutting a couple solid butterflies with the Classy Butterflies paper crafting dies from shrinkable plastic. (You can find shrink plastic at most big box craft stores.)

Depending on your die-cutting machine, you may have to run the plastic through it a couple times to cut. Because of that, I like to hold my dies in place with sticky note tape so they will stay in place. Washi tape works well too. 

Use your scissors to snip off the butterflies' antenna and the bottom of their bodies. Use a hole punch to poke a hole in one wing of each butterfly. It doesn't matter which wing! 

If you are using a shrinkable plastic that has already been sanded, jump ahead to the next step. If you are using plastic that hasn't been sanded, rough up one side of your butterflies up with sandpaper.

Flip your butterflies so the sanded side of them is facing up. Use colored pencils to scribble some color onto your butterflies. Start by putting a color like blue, pink or purple at the top. Then scribble some color on the bottom with a gold metallic pencil. (Not a fan of gold? Pick a color you desire!)

Using a heat gun, heat the shrink plastic until the butterfly is small. A word to the wise: As you heat the plastic, it will warp and bend. This is completely normal. Keep heating the plastic until it flattens out. 

Once the plastic has cooled, adhere your butterflies to large paper clips with some thin floss or twine. 

And there you have it! 

These clips look amazing in a planner and would also look great on scrapbook pages! Plus they would even make a fun gift to give to a co-worker to thank her for being fun to work with or to congratulate her on a job well done. 

PS. Not a fan of butterflies? Technique Tuesday has lots of dies that will work for making clips like these. See all the stand alone dies here!