Custom 3D Butterfly Decals

Lately I've been seeing these 3D decals everywhere, and so when I found a package for $15 at Wal-Mart I snatched them up. The only problem was that they were white and all I have in my apartment are white walls (or floral walpappered ones). So a little paint job was in order...

I first tried to paint them with a little tube of grey crafting paint. The first layer went alright, but when I tried to put on the second it wouldn't stick and started peeling off the first layer of paint.

Which meant this was just as good a time as any to try my hand at spray painting. I made a second trip to Wal-Mart and grabbed a bottle of grey spray paint and took my butterflies outside. It wasn't too bad a process, the light wind wasn't especially helpful, but overall it turned out okay. After a little hiccup where the wind picked up the newspaper, I solved the problem by placing rocks on top of the newspaper and then let it sit for a couple hours.

The I moved my newly-painted butterflies inside and upstairs. To decide where to hang them I used post-it notes to help me with the layout.

Then to hang the butterflies I used the double-sided sticky pads included in the box. I slightly veered from the sticky notes but only because I didn't spread them out enough.

I'm really happy with how they turned out. Only two didn't turn out so well so I didn't hang them, but I don't think I really need them anyways! This project was a great reminder for me that just because something is ready to go out of the box, doesn't mean you can't put your own personal spin on it and customize it to your liking.

Happy Crafting,

PS: Here's where we link up.