This simple dream catcher has extra special meaning. Taken from an old story, it carries the idea that while you sleep, the butterfly gathers up all negative energy, thoughts and dreams and cocoons them up, then carries them far away on its wings and drops them off. It then returns and when you awake you are filled with wonderful energy and love. There is a special poem to go with it which can be hung beside it or given rolled up as a scroll for a gift. Either way, children and adults alike will love it! You might also want to check out our Dream Catcher Vision Board post which combines two wonderful ideas into one!
POEM: This poem is a printable in the free download packet. Frame and hang it next to your dream catcher or roll it up and tie it with a ribbon and give with the dream catcher as a gift.
Special Thanks goes to Jessica Serrano-Gregg who shared the wonderful butterfly story which was one her abuela (grandmother) taught her as a child. We adapted it for the poem.
Dream Catcher Supplies
NOTE ON FRAMES: We used an 8×10 oval frame from Walmart. If you can’t find one of those, you could use any square or 8×10 frame and simply put scrapbook paper as the background and center your butterfly on it.
- Frame choice on Amazon.
- 12×12 frames on Amazon
- Cardstock scrapbook paper with gold in the mix
- Feathers (we used 10)
- Metallic Paints For frame we used Martha Stewart’s Gold for the feathers and Martha Stewart’s Champagne
- Cream or Ivory Paint
- Hot Glue
- Cord/String for hanging feathers
- Pattern and Poem download below
Download Patterns & Poem
Instructions
Gather your supplies.
Paint your fame if needed. We chose a cream color. 
After your paint dries give it a solid coat of Martha Stewart’s Metallic Gold or something similar. Her metallic and pearl paints are amazing!
Print and cut out the butterfly templates. Because the poem speaks of the color “gold” you may want to keep some of that color involved. We used a solid gold glitter type sheet for the largest butterfly. 
We traced our large butterfly on the back of our sparkle paper and cut it out. 
The other two butterflies were cut out of matching cardstock. 
Cut 8″ pieces of cord that will hold your feathers. We used 10 feathers and attached three to each of the outside cords and four to the inside cord. 
Paint the ends of your feathers with a metallic gold paint.
Glue three feathers along each cord, one below the other. 
These are the final feather groups ready to attach to the frame. 
One set of butterfly templates should fit inside the oval 8×10 frame as shown. (You can do this other ways too and just center them in the middle of a normal frame.)
Use a small amount of hot glue to tack down the butterfly wings inside the frame edge. In this set up there is no backing sheet on the frame. 
Fold your other two smaller butterflies so they bend upward. 
Glue the smallest one onto the mid sized butterfly as shown.
Then glue them to the center of the largest butterfly. 
Glue the feather pieces to the bottom inside of the frame spacing them evenly.
For the final touch, cut out the mini butterflies. 
Fold them as shown.
Glue them onto the feather groupings. 
lovely butterfly, thank you for sharing
I see this post has been on here awhile, but I wanted you to know I am excited to try making this as a Christmas present for my daughter. Thank you so much for this lovely idea!!!!!! I’ll check out the other topics on your website. Thank you again!!!!
Lovely! I have a friend who just turned 93 & she loves butterflies!! I want to make this for her. May need to incorporate the help of our local library as I don’t have a printer. Thanks so much for sharing!!
I’m sure she’d love that Jeanie. Good luck and thanks for visiting!
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This is adorable, I can’t see how to pin in tho…
Thanks Lisa! There’s a couple of ways. There’s a tiny little red P in the upper left corner when you hover over any picture and then there’s a entire bar on the left side of the screen that floats in with all kinds of things including a bit P for pinning on the left of your browser. Ü
What a beautiful variation on the Dreamcatcher idea. I did a tutorial on a lace one recently, but I’m definitely trying your version for sure Nancy! Just gorgeous. Mimi xxx
Thanks Mimi. I appreciate the kind words. Good luck!
really lovely! thanks for sharing on craft schooling Sunday!
Thanks Sara!
What a gorgeous idea, thank for sharing this, I love it. I’m pinning !
Thanks so much Julie!
Amazingly beautiful! I love how everything turned out so lovely. I really love the glitter but of course I like lots of shiny, pretty things! The poem really adds so much and it’s such a nice touch and very well written. This makes it so different from the other dream catchers out there…and I’m most certain it shall help many a children and adults( still helps me !) alike sleep better knowing that butterfly will carry away the worries and troubles of the day…. You did an amazing job and the tutorial is well written and easy to follow. Thank you for including me and a bit of my culture and part of my gramma in heaven as well…I’m sure she’s tickled pink ( as she would say hehe) to see this and is gloating on a glittered butterfly wing!
You’re so welcome Jessica. I’m beyond happy that you felt inspired to share that story with me over on Hometalk. Amazing how one small act can branch out and reach so many. Ü