Guest Post: {Mis}Adventures of an Army Wife

Today's guest post is from one of my favorite bloggers. I know if I ever need a laugh, I

can get one from reading her posts. She's funny, sarcastic and isnt afraid to speak her

mind. Her post today is a very creative one that I would love to try one day. She did

a great job and it looks beautiful!

Enjoy!

Beer Can Butterflies

About two months ago, I had this brilliant idea that I was going to make my own wall art.  You see, we had just moved into our new apartment, and it hadn't occurred to us that our gorgeous, vaulted ceilings also meant a 20 foot wall that needed to be decorated.  In the photo below, you can see just how bare the wall looked.

We brainstormed for a few days about what to use to decorate that space.  I didn't want to buy anything too expensive (because I'm way too poor for that!), so I decided we should make something.  Then I realized that not only were my craft skills comparable to that of a second grader, and I had no ideas.  An episode of Gossip Girls rescued me.  If you're a Gossip Girls fan, you know that above Serena's bed, there's a crazy piece of art work made from butterflies.

 

 

 I did some googling and discovered it was an installation by NYC artist Paul Villinski.  He, literally, cuts butterflies out of beer cans he has collected in NYC and mounts them to the wall.  When my husband heard the term "beer", he was immediately on board with the project! Shocking, right?

We actually went out and purchased a 24 pack of canned beer.  I was determined that we were going to cut out the butterflies I needed for my wall art just like the artist did.  Let me tell you, that didn't last long!  Do you know how disgusting canned beer is?  Thankfully, due to my awesome research skills, I discovered you can purchase a roll of aluminum that is very similar in weight, composition, thickness, etc.. as a beer can.  Not only did I save some calories, but I saved tons of money!

I downloaded some butterfly shapes from the internet and got to cutting butterflies of various sizes.  After a trip to Walmart for spray paint, I had beautiful, blue butterflies!  

I was really excited about my blue butterflies until I realized I hadn't thought about how to get them on the wall.  We ended up trying (probably) every solution known to man - different tapes, adhesives, etc.  The answer was actually in my sewing box.  I just used sewing pins to pin the butterflies on the wall just like a butterfly collector would pin a butterfly in the display case.  

Here's a photo of the partially completed project!   

Here's a closeup of the butterflies.

Technically, the project is only half-complete.  I had planned for the butterflies to really fan out over the TV.  Unfortunately, I'm just too lazy for that!  The completion of the project would include getting up higher on the ladder (which is too high for my comfort!) and moving the TV.  Maybe if the Army keeps us here for longer than 5 more months, I'll finish the project.   

If anyone's willing to come over and cut out butterflies, let me know!  There could be free (and terrible) canned beer involved!