 Friday afternoon, I had the pleasure of spending time with a precious group of home schooled girls who have formed a group called, “Keepers”. They are all ages and are polite, gentle, giggly and ready to tackle anything that is put in front of them. I was asked to do an art project with them that could be accomplished by all ages, even the very young, and so I decided that mock stained glass windows were just the thing. The beauty about this project is that there is no right or wrong to it and even tiny fingers can paint glue and tear paper. I loaded up the car with supplies, including a roll of newsprint for covering the dining table where we would be working. Most newspaper offices will sell you their end rolls of newsprint which offer you a plentiful supply of the paper for everything from covering tables to long murals for tempera paint. Our office charges by the inch thickness of paper on the roll.
 Cover the table with newsprint or an old tablecloth and place the stained glass pattern onto the table. Lay the plexiglas over the pattern and center. Place tape at either side of the plexiglas onto the pattern to hold the plexiglas in place. Using a Sharpie pen, trace the pattern onto the plexiglas. For thicker lines, go over the lines again. Remove the tape and pattern and turn the plexiglas face side down (side with the drawn pattern down).  Pour Elmer’s glue into small paper cup and add enough water to make it easy to paint – about 3 parts glue to 1 part water. Using a paintbrush, paint the glue mixture onto a portion of the traced pattern on the plexiglas. Tear pieces of tissue paper to fit shapes and lay onto the glue. Paint over the back of the paper, once on the plexiglas, with a thin coat of the glue mixture.  Offer lots of different colors  Continue painting each section of the drawing with glue and add different colors of paper according to what part is being completed. Be sure that the back of the papers are painted with the glue mixture as well.  This is one time that “staying inside the lines” has absolutely no application! Colors can overlap, glue can get splattered. It doesn’t matter.  Young children are really successful with this project because it does not have to be exact.  A dove is starting to emerge!  The youngest one has finished. A damp cloth easily removes any wayward glue. When the glue has dried, hot glue the plexiglass into the frame by placing little dots of hot glue in each inside corner of the frame. Display on a wire easle or add a hanger and hang in the window on a suction cup hanger that can be purchased at Hobby Lobby or Michaels. Be sure and choose a window that does not have direct sunlight as it will fade the colors of the paper.  They all did such a good job, don’t you think? This is an easy and fun project for kids of all ages. I hope that you get a chance to try it. |
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Archive for the ‘Unique Gift Ideas’ Category
A Fun Project For the Kiddos
Monday, May 9th, 2011
Craft Corner: Stretching a Buck
Monday, February 28th, 2011
 I thought that I would take a little break from cooking and canning and share something fun that I like to do for bridal showers, graduations, weddings and birthdays. Spring is a comin’ and that means all kinds of those things! I am sure that some of you have seen these roses made, but I like to add a little zing to the presentation. The roses are quite simple to make and it is so fun to see the look on the recipient’s face upon receiving a bouquet of “money roses.” And it LOOKS expensive!! All you need to make the roses is: ~Crisp, new bills in whatever denomination you choose (I use dollar bills – yes, I’m cheap but I can make more flowers!) ~Floral wire ~Floral tape ~Leaves from silk flowers ~Glue Dots  Choose which side of the bills that you want to be facing up and determine how many roses you will be making. You will be using three or four bills per rose. I usually do $20 into 5 roses. Prepare to make the center petals for each flower. Using a toothpick, roll the corners of the bills, that will be the centers, around the toothpick and roll until you have rolled past halfway of the short end of the bill. Repeat this process on all four corners. I do the center piece in two different ways: Either using it with the corners rolled toward the inside or with the corners rolled to the outside. I just judge which way will look better for what I want to do. You will see what I mean later.  Roll all of the rest of the bills with the corners rolled under, away from the the top.  For each bill, cut a piece of floral wire about 24″ long and fold in half  Pinch the center of the bills that will be the middle of the roses – in this case, the ones with the corners rolled to the inside  Put a wire over the pinched center of the bill and twist wire tight with no more than two twists and lay aside in a pile   Put wires over all of the other “petals” with the rolled corners rolled under the bills. Twist them tight as above and lay them aside separate from the ‘middles’.  Place one “middle” in the center of one of the bills that will be petals and hold the wires together.  Place a third bill perpendicular to the second bill and hold the wires together. You can add a fourth petal perpendicular to the third for a fuller rose. Press/pull the bills together from the base to tighten the flower. Twist all the wires together   If the center petals have the corners rolled inward, use a glue dot to pull them together in a point. If you choose to use all bills with the corners rolled under, use a glue dot on the two edges of the center bill to pull the two sides together.  Place a few leaves around the bottom of the flowers and, using floral tape, attach them to the base and wires.  Use several layers of floral tape down the wire to produce a “stem”.  I like to arrange my “roses” in a tall, cylindrical floral vase that costs all of $3 at Walmart. They come in all different colors and it is fun to fill the bottom with colored rocks or glass. Sometimes, I will put two one dollar bills in the bottom facing out just to add some interest. Here, I have added a few silk flowers as the base of the arrangement and then put the “roses” above them. The arrangement is surrounded by a cello bag, also from Walmart, which is gathered at the top with a rubber band and then tied with a bow and ribbon.  This one is a little more onate with multiple silk flowers, berries and curling ribbon. I put glass beads in the bottom and then took green tissue paper and pushed down inside the vase with the corners hanging out around the top of the vase so that it would act as a backdrop for the arrangement. In this arrangement, the centers of the roses are rolled under like the rest of the petals. Just thought I’d show the difference. These roses look like they are difficult to make, but they are EASY and you can do it in one afternoon. And talk about a conversation starter!! |
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