Kaleidoscope in White

Did you know that a swarm of butterflies is called, among other things, a kaleidoscope?

I have long had a vision of letting such a rabble brighten a corner of my living room.  Since we also need some light in that corner, and there happens to be a hook the previous owners installed (from which, co-incidentally, we have hung our butterfly house where countless monarch caterpillars munched and pupated their way into winged glory) it seemed only right to hang a lantern there, and cover it with butterflies, too.

Armed with a friend's Cricut cutter, a few free butterfly svg files, and a dozen sheets of cardstock in "natural linen" and "white gold", I went to work cutting out my butterflies.

I hotglued the butterflies to a paper lantern, and for the wall installation used white poster putty.  Unfortunately the project ground to a halt when I realized I need about twice the number of butterflies to get the effect I want, but had run out of paper, and had managed to empty the local stores' stocks.  It'll take about a week to get the new shipments in, so for now, this is it:

I'd put up a few trial butterflies on the wall late last night, and when I woke up this morning, the 4-year-old had added a couple of spectators:

They are definitely staying up as part of this art installation.