As close as we'll ever get to dead deer heads on the wall...

...butterflies:

(In case you were wondering, that's Argus being used as the prop behind the shadow box.)

So, I've always loved those old glass-front boxes that scientists used to show-case their bug finds in. I love imagining them hiking around a jungle with a butterfly net, catching their prey, and returning to their jungle treehouse to make a cup of hot tea and document and mount their specimens. That's the look I'm going for here, anyways.

I love naturalism, and the outdoors in general, and I want one room in the Craftsman to have a naturalist feel. I'm thinking the library/office, but still not sure. But, that's no reason not to get the decor ready. :)

I bought this shadow box almost two years ago at Big Lots with the intention of displaying Aaron's grandmother's arrow heads in it.

But, that never got done. Instead, it got stuffed in my closet in the mad rush to get ready for the Holiday Home Tour 2009. I had forgotten about it until I recently cleaned out that closet. Yes! It took over a year to clean out my closet.

I decided instead of arrow heads that I would put butterflies or bugs in the box. I originally wanted to catch them myself and do the whole gas-them-to-death/stab them with pins (sounds a little Rasputin-esk) thing. But, the other day while shopping at Jo-Ann Fabrics I saw that the fake butterflies were on sale 30% off. There and then I decided to take the easy way out. I bought all of the butterflies that didn't have glitter on them (harder to do than it sounds).

I tried a few variations on how to place them in the box:

And...

I decided on the messier look because, well, if you were hunting for butterflies in the jungle you probably wouldn't find them all on one day, so you would stick them in the box as you went. And, you wouldn't be able to be sure if you would catch three big ones, so you certainly wouldn't stick the first one smack dab in the middle. (The weird squiggly lines on the glass are dog drool. Argus was trying to help.)

Then I had to figure out how to actually put them in there. Hot glue was out because I might want to change what's in the box someday. The butterflies came with clips on the back so I decided to stick a pin in the canvas with the end hanging out and then clip the butterfly onto that.

Then, when I was all finished and showing it off to Aaron...I discoved that I had put everything in upside down. Alas. (This made me VERY glad that I hadn't used hot glue.) Turned them all around and voila!

Grand total: $25 ($10 for the shadow box and about $15 for the butterflies.)

Gotta go make a cup of tea now.