Butterflies are perhaps the most universally loved and inspirational of all creatures. Over the ages, butterflies have become potent symbols of peace, rebirth and hope. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Chinese considered butterflies a sign of joy, love and spiritual transcendence. These symbols are, of course, a reflection of our admiration for them and for the amazing metamorphosis they undergo.
Butterflies are also wonderfully diverse in size, shape and colouration and can be found in most places on earth, from the barren sub arctic zones to the steaming jungles of the tropics to backyards in the world’s most populated cities. Nearly everywhere in the world there are beautiful butterflies to seek out, observe and learn about. From A World of Butterflies, text by Brian Cassie.
Butterflies Featured in the Kit
The Butterfly Princess pop-up card has a large cerulean blue, yellow and dark mauve butterfly as its’ centrepiece. It is a fantasy butterfly, but partly modelled on the ‘Ulysses Butterfly’ Papilio Ulysses, found in the Australasian rain forests. The males of this species are strongly attracted to any blue-coloured object. Habitat: Rainforest – within the forest and along the forest edges.
‘Adonis Blue’ Lysandra bellargus.
The Adonis Blue butterfly is closely attended by ants during its larval stage. The ants feed on the sweet secretions from the larvae’s honeydew glands, in return the ant provide a certain amount of protection to the larvae from predators. Description: Male, brilliant blue with light marking along the edge of its wings. The female is charcoal coloured with blue highlights. Habitat: Hot, dry, grassy slopes in predominantly limestone areas of southern England and central Europe, Spain and the near-East.
‘Orange Sulphur’ Colias eurytheme
The Orange Sulphur is one of America’s most common butterflies, it loves wide open spaces and clover and alfalfa fields in particular. Description: A medium-sized sulphur, yellow-orange to darker orange on wings which have dark borders. Habitat: Meadows, alfalfa fields, pastures and other open spaces. Orange Sulphar’s can be found throughout North America, from the South of Canada down to Mexico
‘Swallowtail Butterfly’ Papilionidae
This beautiful swallowtail is Britain’s most exotic butterfly. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly rare since the 19th century. For a long time it has been confined to parts of East Anglia where its only food plant, milk parsley, flourishes. The butterfly’s favourite habitat is wetland, such as the moist bog and fen found in eastern England. The swallowtail is common throughout the rest of Europe, Africa and Asia, but the British swallowtail is a unique subspecies found nowhere else in the world. Description: Beautiful yellow markings on classically shaped swallowtail wings. Habitat: Wetlands such as the fenlands in Cambridgeshire and East Anglia, England. There are about 700 known species of swallowtails in the world.
Blackbird
Wherever there are blackberries, you will find many different types of birds, particularly the blackbird, it is one of the most common birds in the British Isles. Blackbirds can be found in most gardens in Britain searching for worms or scratching through dried leaves looking for grubs and caterpillars – they also love blackberries.
Garden Snail
Due to the damp British climate, snails and slugs abound. They are the main diet for Song Thrushes, Wood Pigeon, and many other British birds. They come in a number of varieties and colours and can be found anywhere in Britain where there is foliage to be eaten. Gardeners dislike snails as they eat holes in the leaves of their vegetables, particularly their prized lettuce plant leaves.
‘Myosotis’ Forget-me-not
The forget-me-not is a common flowering plant throughout the British Isles. It is a moisture loving plant and has masses of small blue flowers, some with a distinctive yellow eye. They flower in Britain in late spring. Due to their love of moisture they grow in abundance around water.
Garden Fairy
This fairy is seen standing in a clump of purple coloured Mesembryanyhemum Tricolor, also known as the Fig Marigold. Every garden, wood, meadow and riverbank has its own families of fairies, whether you see one or not depends on the strength of your belief.
The Pack Contents
The Butterfly Princess pop-up kit consists of four sheets of high quality card with die-cut sections and a base-card. The Butterfly Princess and hedgerow consist of three main pop-up parts, the butterfly, a hedgerow with blackberry fruits and Orange Sulphur butterflies, and a row of parasol mushrooms. These three pieces are folded and glued onto the base-card in ‘V’ shapes that lever upwards into a pop-up position when the card is opened. A fourth card contains a selection of fold-up pieces including a selection of butterflies, flowers, songbirds, snail, and fairy. The kit includes full instructions and a detailed history of pop-up cards. The size of the pop-up card when folded together is 110mm x 150mm and fits inside the spring-lilac coloured C6 envelope which is supplied within the kit.
