Bring a little sunshine indoors with these beautiful butterfly window clings! Made with puffy paint and our free printable butterfly templates, this simple craft is a fun way to add colourful, fluttery charm to your windows — no special materials needed.
Whether you’re crafting with kids or just looking for a cheerful spring or summer DIY, these homemade window clings are so easy to make and so satisfying to peel and stick. They’re perfect for brightening up a classroom, playroom, or any sunny window in your home!
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How to Make Butterfly Window Clings
Watch the step-by-step video tutorial:
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
- Gather your supplies and materials.
Step 2: Print and prepare the template
- Print one of our free butterfly coloring pages. Find the link in the materials list above, with more details below the tutorial.
- Place the template inside a large plastic freezer bag. Tape the bag to your working surface so it won’t move.
Step 3: Make a butterfly with puffy paint
- Use black puffy paint to make an outline of the butterfly. Fill in the body, make the antennae, and go around the details of the template.You can use a toothpick to smooth out any of the lines that are bumpy.
- Then fill some of the sections with coloured puffy paint. We used purple here from the “Crystals” line, which has glitter in it.We recommend adding a generous amount to the center of the section, leaving a gap around the edges for now.If you try and get too close to the black it’s easy to smudge it. Your other option is to allow the black outline to dry for several hours first.
- Now use a toothpick to spread the coloured paint towards the black, filling the whole section. Push out from the center carefully.
- Then add white/clear crystal paint, or another contrast colour to fill the remaining sections.Again, use a toothpick to fill in the sections completely.
Step 4: Allow to dry
- Allow to dry for 24 hours. If the butterfly doesn’t remove from the plastic easily, let it dry another 24 hours before trying again. It could take 3 to 4 days to fully dry if you’ve used a very thick layer of paint.
- Once the paint is completely dry you can peel the butterfly off of the plastic bag. (The longer you allow the paint to dry, the easier it should get to remove the butterfly from the bag.)
- Your butterfly window cling is complete!Have fun making all kinds of butterflies in different colours and sticking them on your windows!
Helpful Tips:
- Use a toothpick to spread the paint: A toothpick helps to fill in each section completely. Just be careful not to smudge the black outline!
- Let the black paint dry first (optional): If you’re crafting with younger kids or worried about smudging, let the black outline dry overnight before filling in the colours.
- Reuse your freezer bag with multiple designs: You can fit several butterflies on one freezer bag. When you’re ready for a new design, gently remove the first template and slide in a new one underneath.
- Removing clings from warm windows: Warm glass can make it tricky to peel the clings cleanly. Use gentle but firm pressure — they’ll come off, though they might stretch a little. If they warp, just press them back into shape with your fingers.
- If you can’t get your butterfly off the bag: Cut the bag around the butterfly and stick the paint side of the butterfly directly to the window. (Helpful tip from a reader.)
Where can I get templates to make butterfly window clings?
We used several designs from our butterfly coloring pages — specifically #1 and #3 found under the “groups of butterflies” section. We also used #7 printed at 75% scale.
For smaller butterflies, we used group pages #4 and #5 as a base. These ones are too tiny to trace the detailed lines with paint, but they work perfectly as basic shapes where you can create your own designs inside.
For more free butterfly designs, check out our butterfly template post.
What paint do I need to make butterfly window clings?
We recommend black puffy paint, like Tulip Slick dimensional fabric paint, for the outline. For the colours, we used Tulip Crystals dimensional paint. This gives the coloured sections a glittery, slightly translucent look.
Any regular puffy paint will also work great for the colours — they just won’t be see-through.
What can I make my DIY window clings on?
There are a few great ways to make these window clings:
- Large freezer bags (like Ziploc): These are what we used. They’re easy to find, and the cling peels off smoothly once dry.
- Overhead transparency film: Firmer and reusable, with less wrinkling while painting.
- Plastic page protectors: Slide your template inside for easy tracing, just like with a freezer bag.
- Silicone baking mats: Another reusable surface that’s super easy to clean — just make sure you don’t use one you cook with! Plus you’ll need a clear mat, or else you won’t be able to use the templates.
These butterfly window clings are such a fun and cheerful way to brighten up your space — especially when the sun shines through those colourful wings! This simple DIY project is super satisfying, and once you’ve made one or two butterfly suncatchers, it’s hard to stop. So go ahead and fill your windows with a whole flutter of butterflies!
Here’s even more DIY window decor ideas:
Stained Glass Suncatcher Craft
Now available
Low-Mess Crafts for Kids Book
72 cute and fun crafts that kids and parents alike can enjoy. All with as little mess as possible!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon Canada
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