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Homemade "Stained Glass" Project for Little Ones

Grace wanted an art project to do.

Something different.

Don't ask me how this popped into my head, but it turned out be the different she was looking for.

Supplies are easy and mostly things everyone has on hand with one exception.

The colored cellophane sheets were something I had ordered from Amazon not to long ago, we don't always just have these in the house. I suppose craft stores might also sell it.


Supplies:

Two sheets of paper (Any color, but we chose printer paper because it is a bit thinner which makes some of the cuts easier.)
Good scissors.
Crayons, markers, or paint. (Grace wanted to use crayons)
Tape or glue. (Grace wanted to use tape)
Colored cellophane sheets cut into various sizes in select colors.

1. Decide ahead of time how big you want your hanging "window" to be.

2. Place the two sheets of paper together and fold them in half together short-ways.

3. Outline the outer edge of your "window" keeping in mind that it will double in length when unfolded.  Then draw another outline an inch or so inside the border, this creates a frame. The two lines are important, we forgot the second line and ended up not having as thick a frame as we had originally wanted.

4. Cut out the "window" along the outside boarder, leaving paper folded.

5. Fold paper in half or smaller again creating a new seam. 

6. We found it helpful to draw the outline of our shapes along the seam first,  keeping in mind to draw half shapes since they will become full after unfolding.

7. We also drew a line along the middle between the seams so that we made sure not to cut to deep into the middle.

8. Carefully cut out the outlined shapes. I needed to help Grace with this stage of the cutting because the paper was quite thick making cutting more difficult.


9. Unfold so that the "window" is now only folded in the original half.

10. Again outline the desired shaped along the seam, taking care to leave space between the new shapes and already cut out ones.

11. Cut out the rest of the shapes along the seam.


12. Unfold the "window".

13. Separate the panels.

14.Color or decorate the outsides of each panel. (The panel that was used to draw the outlines and boarder guides can be flipped so that the markings face inward, but be sure to flip the opposing panel so that the shapes line up.)


15.Tape or glue various cellophane sheets over the openings on one of the panels.


16. When all of the openings have cellophane,  glue or tape the other panel on top, making sure the openings align.

17. Cut a short length of string or yarn and tape one end on each side of the panel you decide is the back.


18. Hang your beautiful "stained glass window" in front of a real window to let the light shine through and dance in rainbows on the walls or floor!


We actually did this a little over a week ago, but Grace forbid me from posting this until she left for her sleepover at Nana's house, as she had made it as a gift for Nana. :)

It was fun and easy!

Happy weekend everyone!

Comments

  1. And how lovely it looks hanging in the window balancing the other "stained glass" hanging my mother made in the nursing home years ago! First thing we had to do was make the aluminum foil frame before we hung it!

    She did a beautiful job.

    ReplyDelete

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