Sunday, August 3, 2014

The Majesty of Monarch Butterflies

When I'm not working at my day job, or working on my digital art and now pastel painting projects, I like to garden for wildlife.

My garden is registered as a Monarch Waystation and I've got lots of tropical milkweed, as that is the host plant of the Monarch butterfly, and the only plant that Monarch caterpillars will eat.

I was in the garden this weekend when I saw a Monarch butterfly flitting around.  I grabbed my camera, determined to get a photograph of it.

When I looked at the photograph full size on my computer, I could hardly believe my luck! Not only had I captured the butterfly, but right next to it on the same plant, there was a healthy Monarch caterpillar, munching away on a leaf!

I edited the photo by blending it with some texture for a more painterly effect and I'm very happy with how it came out.  It's been added to several items in my store, including this iPad sleeve.
 

Monarch Butterfly and Caterpillar iPad Sleeve
Monarch Butterfly and Caterpillar iPad Sleeve by 3DDesignsByJayne
Check out more Monarch butterfly iPad Sleeves at Zazzle
 
There are lots of Monarch butterfly designs on Zazzle, so I'm going to showcase just a few of them.

I love the black and orange of the Monarch butterfly against the beautiful purple of the asters in this mousepad from CardsbyCarole.


This card from the very aptly named Butterflysarebloomin is made more dramatic by the way the background is black and white but the butterfly and flower are in color.

Madam Monarch Butterfly Greeting Card
Madam Monarch Butterfly Greeting Card by Butterflysarebloomin
View more Butterflies are blooming Cards at zazzle.com

My final choice, among the myriad of Monarch designs on Zazzle, is this great bumper sticker from GardenDelightsArts which urges people to plant milkweed, to save the Monarch.  I need to get one of these bumper stickers myself!


Now it's your turn.  If your a designer on Zazzle and you have products in your store featuring Monarch butterflies, you are invited to your links in the Linky Tool below:

Use Option 1 in the Link Widget on the page of the Zazzle product/design you'd like to add. It will show up below as a small thumbnail and when clicked on, will link directly to your product.