Butterfly Footprint Art

The butterfly has special meaning in our family and I knew I wanted to incorporate it into a Father’s Day gift somehow. I searched pinterest for Butterfly Footprint Art and came across this blog and loved her idea. But she didn’t have a tutorial, so I decided to help others along in the process by providing one here. 

Butterfly Footprint Art

Supplies Needed:
Washable Poster Paints 
Kids Paint Brushes
Paper Plates
Baby Wipes
A garbage bag (or some other disposable plastic covering)
Canvas – we bought 4 for about $7 at WalMart

Here is what our set-up looked like. I had my daughter sit on a step in the front yard with the garbage bag spread out. Then for each canvas I had a paper plate and paint brushes. I also had baby wipes at the ready so as we were finished with one foot, she would immediately put her foot down onto a baby wipe while I pressed her other foot into the paint.

Step 1:

Using a disposable plate, paint the combination of colors you want to use. I wanted to do a rainbow effect with the four canvases we bought so I divided the 12 paints up among them. 

Step 2: 

Press the foot firmly into the paint and smoosh around a little bit so the colors blend. Then immediately press the foot onto the canvas and wipe clean. Do the same thing with the other foot. 

Step 3:

I didn’t really get a picture of – sorry about that, but you can see it in the final photo. I used black paint to then add a butterfly body and two antennae to each canvas. I’ve also seen some where they used the fingerprint of the child to create the body – that would be really adorable! 

 My daughter was SO excited to give these to her Daddy that at 6:30 am on Father’s Day she came in toting the big gift bag for him. She couldn’t wait another minute! So much for sleeping in! 🙂