I have always, always loved butterflies. I became particularly attached to them when my elderly babysitter passed away when I was little. I remember.. or at least this is the story that's in my head.. that when she passed I made a wish for her to come back to me as a butterfly. And, lo and behold,  the next day I was outside playing and a butterfly landed right next to me. Now, do I think it was quite a coincidence with it being spring and all that a butterfly would be flying around on a bright, sunny, April day, maybe. But to my little eyes and heart, it was her. 

I was looking for a simple craft that booklovers would (hopefully) love to make and came up with this sweet craft involving book pages, butterflies, and bright fabric scraps. Below are my step by step instructions to make it, enjoy! 

Supplies:

• INSTRUCTIONS
• TWINE
• BOOK PAGES
• SCRAPBOOK PAPERS
• FABRIC STRIPS
• TEMPLATES
• SCISSORS
• GLUE

1. Lay out all your supplies to get organized 😊 I made a template for both the pennant and the butterflies so that they'd all be the same size. Trace your book page banner shapes and the butterflies. Then cut them all out. 

2. Glue your banner book pages onto the twine by first folding the top over for a crease. Then, lay a line of glue (I used a glue stick) across the crease. While holding the twine in place, fold over the smaller top piece and press it into the glue. 

​4. Lastly, add your scrap fabric, ribbon, etc. in between each banner. You can tie it with a loop or a regular knot. That’s it 😊

I have a confession to make... I didn't read Harry Potter when I was a kid (enter shocked faces)! I know, I know, how could I not have?! To be honest, I remember my parents buying the first book for me and coming home with it. I remember one of them saying "Here, everyone's talking about this, kids supposedly are obsessed with it". Well, maybe that comment was what threw me off because I, for as long as I can remember, hate doing what everyone else does. I do remember trying to read it, however, but never made it past the first chapter. So, once I became a librarian, I decided that this shame was unacceptable, I MUST read HP and ASAP! Well, I don't know what changed, but I read them all within a a couple of weeks and was in love with them. So yes, I am an HP fan, but it just took me 20 years!

With my job at the library I am constantly receiving strange and unusual things from customers and fellow staff members in the hopes that I will save the item from the dumpster. To be honest, I kind of love it! It's like... a "thing" now and I love the challenge. One of our patrons who I have grown to know quite well over the last couple of years, is a gentleman named Ralph. I first met him when he came into the library saying he worked at a warehouse that was closing and asked if we librarians would want anything for crafts or programs. Well on to his warehouse I went and ever since then he stops by and gives me more fun things to use, I love it. 

One item he gave me was 2 hugeeee boxes of long skinny green boxes. I had no idea what I'd use them for but as always I said, "Yep, I'll take 'em". So there I was staring at 200 of these narrow boxes and the only thing I could think of... wand box. These boxes were perfect, I mean perrrrrfect for a wand so that's what they became! Below are the steps I took to make a simple wand with easily found materials, hopefully you can find a similar box to use too or just make the wand itself!

1. Layer 2 sheets of copy paper and begin rolling from one corner into a cone shape (it might take a few tries to get the right look/size). ​

4. This will leave a hole at the end, fill this in with crumpled up paper so the wand becomes sturdier, and fill the end with hot glue to secure.  

5. Paint your wand whatever color you would like. It may take a couple of coats to cover completely.   

7. Use hot glue to create the character of your wand. While holding the wand, slowly rotate it as you create your lines and shapes with the glue and be careful with your fingers!

8. Place some of your beads into the hot glue for a “jeweled” effect. One at the end looks very authentic!

9. Paint over the hot glue with your base color and then again with the metallic paint.

11. Lastly, I wanted to make the box look more "legit". I found both velvet and adhesive mirror pieces to use. I measured and cut the pieces to fit the interior of each side and glued them in each spot. And ta-da! Just look at that beautiful wand! I think it'd be really cool to make a velvet pillow for the inside of the box for the wand to rest on as well!