Our Tissue Sun Catchers

    This last week has been a lethargic one.  I had two little girls home sick, both with different things (Elly had a nasty cough and weird rash, Riley was nauseous).  I myself had some mysterious illness.  It was a strange week.  Having said that I had kids home sick does not mean that they were super lethargic.  They were too sick to function at school.  Too sick to play their usual games, but not too sick to be board.  Crafts to the rescue!

    I have mentioned before but this year we have been feeding the birds.  The kids and Christopher and I are getting great enjoyment in watching our little feathered (and furred) friends come for their meals.  There is one drawback from this enjoyable sight, birds hitting the picture window.  I don't understand it because my window is filthy!  No sooner have I cleaned it, and there are grimy little face and hand prints all over it.

    The first craft we did was both for Valentines and to protect our little feathered friends.  We made sun catchers for the picture window.  I have to admit I think that they are quite pretty.  I am also pleased to report that since we made them and put them up in the window, we have not had anymore bird crashes.

    I cut tissue paper into small squares.  Honestly I used what I had around the house.  I then cut a fairly large heart shape out of waxed paper.  

    I poured some Elmer's School Glue into a small bowl and gave the girls each a paint brush.  They painted the waxed paper heart with the glue.

    When they had covered the heart in glue they placed the squares of tissue over their hearts.  When they had completely covered the wax paper in tissue, they put a coat of glue over top of the tissue paper, and then let that dry.

    The glue dried faster than I thought it would.  When the hearts were all dry, we carefully trimmed along the edges removing any stray bits of tissue.  The last thing that we did was to take a fine tipped permanent marker and trace each square of paper with a tiny "X".  The idea was to make it look like a patchwork quilt.  The girls thought it was fun, and I thought it made the hearts look cuter.

    The girls and I had lots of fun, but didn't waste any energy that we did not have.  We killed boredom and saved birds... a job well done!