I was inspired by a sun catcher project that I came across on CrafTown. I had everything I needed already, so I thought I'd take a stab at it. It's easy and the end result is really cute...you can either hang these or simply tape them to windows. These sun catchers would be a great project for parents to do with their youngsters, but teachers can tailor this into individual student projects...they'd look really pretty hung all over a classroom!
SUPPLIES:
- Wax paper
- Tissue paper - in Valentine colors (white, red, pink, purple...)
- Valentine themed confetti - (or make some like I did with different shaped hole punches and pink construction or scrapbook paper)
- Mod Podge - I used the original gloss formula
- Paintbrush
- Glitter
- Masking tape
- (optional) Fishing line or a Valentine colored string - I like the fishing line because it's invisible and your hearts will appear as if they are floating
- (optional) Hole puncher - with a really small hole OR a Needle
- (optional) Clear Scotch tape
INSTRUCTIONS:
1.) Get all your papers together. Rip your lighter colors (and a few darker ones) into manageable bits. Cut out hearts (in varying sizes) out of your darker colors. If you are making your own confetti, choose a paper that will stand up to a hole puncher...I used a pink cardstock, but construction paper will work well here. With decorative hole punches (or just a regular ole circle punch), get some aggression out and go to town on that paper. Get crazy on it! In no time you'll have a bunch of useable confetti.
2.) Cut a length of wax paper and tape the corners down with the masking tape. This will keep your wax paper from moving all around while you paint it. Apply a layer of Mod Podge onto the wax paper with your paintbrush.
3.) Cover the Mod Podge with the bits of torn paper. The name of this game is layering, so overlapping is fine and dandy. When you've covered the Mod Podge up with the paper, add another layer of MP over the paper gluing and sealing all paper edges down.
4.) Add your hearts and confetti and when you are happy with your composition, paint over it again with another layer of Mod Podge. BUT...you want to paint over the hearts gingerly. You want them to be covered and sealed, but since the MP is sticky, the hearts will want to move with the paintbrush and fold over onto themselves. Just something to think about.
Let your lovely wax canvas dry completely before moving on.
5. & 6.) Now that the MP is dry, it's time to cut! I wanted to try to get as many hearts out of this piece of decorated paper as possible, so I worked in sections. You could do the same or make one HUGE heart. Fold over a section from the end and either lightly draw the half heart shape with a pencil or freehand cut the shape out.
7.) I got two out of that one section, but like I said before, you could just fold the whole wax paper in half, cut out one big heart and call it macaroni.
8.) Cut the excess paper from your previous cut away and repeat steps 5 and 6. You should end up with hearts that look something like.....
THIS!
Now...you could stop here, make some Scotch tape loops, add them to the backs of the hearts and beautify your windows.
9.) With your very small hole punch...well...punch a hole in the heart. Duh! As long as you don't punch the whole too close to the edge (you want to prevent easy ripping), you can pretty much place the hole anywhere. If you want them to hang cock-eyed or on a tilt, punch the whole to the top of either side. If you want it to hang straight, punch it in the center of the heart. Damn, that sounds violent! If you want to get "cray cray"...punch a whole at the bottom and hang the heart upside down. So many possibilities!
10.) Thread your fishing line (measured out the length that you'd like) and tie a knot. Hang wherever you please... preferably in a place that gets good light. This is, after all, a sun catcher. ;-)
I suggest hanging them at varying heights to add some interest. Can you picture a bunch of these hanging from a ceiling?! That would look very festive and beautiful. THE END.
Have fun and get messy!
:-) Miss Jenna
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