A Butterfly Keychain

At the end of every January, I create a butterfly-themed craft. You see, I lost my Mom on January 31, 2017. 

While I no longer have her, my Mom appears to me as a monarch butterfly. Whenever I see one, I know she's checking to see how I'm doing. Crafting with butterflies is my way to honor her memory, a little mother-daughter time together.

Here are some of the butterfly crafts I've made: 

A butterfly watercolor sketch

A butterfly wall hanging 

An embroidered butterfly 

So today, I'll be making something simple but one that I can carry with me on a daily basis. 

This is a keychain that was advertising a service (one side was printed with all the details). I didn't need the service but I wanted to turn this keychain from blah to TADA! So I "erased" the printed details by covering it with black paint. Then I left it alone to dry. 

 

I found this set of rubber stamps with an insect theme. We're using the butterfly design. 

Here are the materials we'll need: keychain, butterfly rubber stamp, white paint (I'm using watercolor or gouache), a brayer, a plastic placemat/flexible cutting mat (use this exclusively for crafting), and black scrap paper.

Squeeze some white paint onto the plastic placemat/flexible cutting mat (don't use this for food prep).

Roll the brayer to spread the paint upwards, downwards, and sideways until you have a square-shape of paint. 

This paint square will serve as our ink pad (this is a nifty trick of you have different colored paints but no ink pad; just make sure the paint can be washed off so you can keep reusing the mat and the brayer).  

Do a test print: dab the butterfly rubber stamp on the paint square and stamp an image on the black scrap paper. Keep testing until the design is evenly covered and the details are clear. 

Roll the brayer between stamping to even out the paint (add more paint if necessary). When done, wash the brayer and the mat immediately to get off the paint. Let these dry, and again, use the mat exclusively for crafting. 

Once you are confident, stamp directly on the keychain. Press slowly, apply pressure so that the butterfly design transfers well, and let it sit on the keychain for a few seconds before removing it. 

In case you aren't happy with the result, let the butterfly design dry then cover it up with black paint. Let the keychain dry before starting over. 

I like that the butterfly is off center. I can add my name or a quote with a white pen and brush lettering later on. This will be the keychain for my everyday keys...a reminder that my Mom is always watching over me.

That is how I turned a plain keychain from blah to TADA!

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