How to Make a 3d Butterfly with Cricut {Free SVG Files}

Paper butterflies are really easy to make with your Cricut. They are great for hanging on walls, using on cards, cutting stickers and so much more! If you love butterflies, then you’re going to love this 3d Cricut butterfly tutorial.

Make sure to check out my popular butterfly gift card holder or butterfly boxes for more fun butterfly paper craft ideas.

Cricut Butterfly

You’re going to be able to use this butterfly SVG to create so many different butterfly paper crafts with your Cricut. Today, I’ll show you how to make:

3d butterfly
monarch butterfly
flying butterflies for the wall

flying butterfly svg, cricut butterfly, paper butterfly

Supplies Needed:

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Read my full disclosure policy.

To make paper butterflies with your Cricut, you will need:

Light or Medium weight Cardstock/Paper – this is a great variety pack if you need multiple colors.
I love using glitter cardstock for butterflies! If you don’t have this on hand, this is a great glitter variety pack to keep in your supply drawer.
This is the iridescent paper I am using for the monarch butterflies.
This is the double-sided gold glitter cardstock I am using and this is the white glitter cardstock I am using. These are my 2 FAVORITE cardstocks to craft with!
Cricut Maker or Explore Cutting Machine and your standard cutting mat.
Glue – This Bearly Art craft glue is my favorite glue for paper crafts.
Scoring Stylus or Scoring Wheel – this is optional, you can easily fold the butterflies as well.
Cricut Butterfly SVG

Download the Free Butterfly SVG

To get this Cricut Butterfly Template, enter your name and email into the form below and then click the “Get It Now!” button! If you have any issues with the form, then click here to open the form in a new window.

Please remember these are for personal use only. If you’re looking to sell products using these designs, please purchase a Commercial Use License here

How to Make Paper Butterflies with a Cricut

Watch the full step-by-step video tutorial to learn how to make different variations of 3d Cricut butterflies here:

Upload the layered butterfly SVG to Cricut Design Space. If needed, this tutorial will show you how to upload files to Cricut Design Space. Before editing your design, you will need to Ungroup your Layers. With all your layers selected, click on “ungroup”.

ungroup all your layers in cricut design space

3d Butterfly Tutorial

To cut out the 3d butterflies, you are going to use the template that has the 3 layers. So delete or hide the green butterfly as this is not needed.

If you would like to add score lines on top of your butterfly, you can do this by using the line tool in the shapes menu. But first you need to ungroup the butterfly. Click on your butterfly and select “ungroup”.

Add your lines where you want your Cricut to score. Then change the operation to score (if it isn’t already set to this). And attach your score lines to your butterfly layer. You’ll only need to add the score lines to the top butterfly layer. But you can just as easy fold these by hand.

Resize your butterfly to the size you want and cut your pieces out. After the butterfly layers are cut, remove from your mat. Then attach each piece together (going in order by size) using glue. Only glue the middle part of the butterfly, as you want the wings unattached. Before gluing the top butterfly, make sure to fold your wings in.

cricut butterfly, free 3d butterfly svg, flying butterfly svg

Once the glue has dried, you can begin to fold the wings to get your desired look. Add rhinestones or other jewels if you wish to add embellishments.

Monarch Butterfly Tutorial

The monarch butterflies are my favorite because this iridescent paper looks absolutely amazing under the black glitter cardstock. The color of the paper changes as the light on it changes making the butterflies super pretty and magical.

To make these monarch butterflies, you only need 2 of the files in the butterfly SVG template. Delete the green butterfly layer and the yellow butterfly layer. You can add score lines to the top butterfly layer, but they are super easy to fold as well.

cricut butterfly template, free layered butterfly svg

To assemble these paper butterflies, you just need to glue the top layer on top of the bottom layer. You can either glue them flat on top of each other. Or if you prefer a 3d look, fold the wings of the top butterfly up and then glue just the middle of the butterfly down.

You can embellish these with stick on rhinestones or jewels for a fun look.

monarch butterfly svg, free layered butterfly svg, cricut butterfly

Flying Wall Butterfly Tutorial

The wall butterflies are super quick and easy to make. These flying butterflies are great for decorating rooms or for making a pretty picture wall for parties or showers.

For this butterfly, all you need is the green template in the file, so delete the others. If you want to add score lines, you can or you can easily fold the butterflies by hand.

Once these butterflies are cut out, just bend the wings to your liking. And then use foam dots or something similar to attach them to the wall!

cricut butterfly wall decor, flying butterfly svg

More Cricut Paper Crafts You’ll Love!

If you love Cricut paper crafts, then make sure to check out my most popular paper crafts here:

Please share this design on Pinterest – it’s quick to do and makes a HUGE impact to keep SVG Nation’s designs free to you.

How to Make a 3d Butterfly with Cricut