DIY Beaded Sun Catchers

 

I wanted to share with you a guest post I did a couple of weeks ago.  It was a totally “crafty” thing, but it was fun to make.

A few weeks ago, my son, Luke, came home from church excited about something he had made in Sunday School.

It was a DIY beaded sun catcher {made with beads and a disposable pie pan.}

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It was such a cute, easy craft.  He said, “Mom, you should show this on your blog!”

I agreed, except I added a little twist to mine.

I decided to make a mobile for the fourth of July.

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Here is how simple it is…

First, line some metal pans with a single layer of beads.  {Any color you choose.}

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For fun, I used metal cookie cutters to create some stars.  Be sure to get some of the translucent beads so that the light will shine through them when you turn them into sun catchers.

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These can be baked in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or on the grill.  They do stink when baking, so if you do it indoors, I suggest you open some windows and turn on an exhaust fan.

To avoid the stink, I just melted mine on the grill.  You can set your grill on medium high heat and leave the beads on the grill until they are fully melted.  You want all of the “bumps” in the beads to disappear before removing them from the grill.  They should look smooth like glass.

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Set aside to cool.

Once the melted beads have cooled, you can easily pop them out of their containers.

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I used a small drill bit to drill some holes in my stars according to how I wanted to hang them.

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I used a piece of leftover wood I had in my house to create the top of my mobile.  I painted it white and drilled holes in the top and bottom.

If you don’t want to use wood, you could use something like foam board.

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Then I just used a blue sharpie marker to write “Happy 4th” on the wood.  I was going to use my Silhouette to make some vinyl letters, but I know that not everyone has a Silhouette, so I wanted you to see it is just as cute using a marker.

Aren’t the stars beautiful?  I just love them.  And my boys think they are the coolest!

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This is a super easy summer project that you can do with your children this summer.  Let them each make their own sun catchers using the color of beads that they choose.

 

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Then just hang them up inside or outside and enjoy their simple beauty.

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Have you ever made a beaded sun catcher before?

 

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I think it would be fun for kids to make a suncatcher for Dad as a Father’s Day gift too!

 

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6-June12

13 Comments

  1. Do you think one could place the beads to make American Flag design? Or would it lose the shape as it melted? I don’t have star cookie cutters but I’m thinking I’ll try to make a flag design in a round pan. Maybe Luke could try it and let us know?

  2. Oh what a cute idea. Thank Luke for this great idea.
    You are on countdown for you trip. Are you packed? Be safe!

  3. Fun project to do with my son, who is also creative. Great idea Luke! Good job Mum ;) It would be cool to see people posting their creative versions here, so we could all enjoy the different colors, ideas, etc.

  4. I showed this post to my 13 yr old daughter who is doing babysitting this summer. She took some beads with her to her next job and they made some stars & Texas shapes – those were the only metal cookie cutters we had. :) But she also did some pretty cute flowers, a letter I for her brother, a letter L for her sister and some other shapes. Just place the beads the way you want on the pan. The flowers were my favorite – she did one color for the petals and another for the center and is planning on making a necklace out of them. Thanks so much for the idea!

  5. Awww…love it Traci! I think that is so neat that Luke shared this and you all were able to do it together. He is such and joy in class, you have great sons and I am so thrilled that I get to be apart of their lives as God leads me to teach HIS people. Love your idea of putting them on the grill, I will so do this next time.

  6. I just showed these to my 6 year old son with the idea we would make the stars. He thought it was cool, but suggested we use glow in the dark beads! Kids have great ideas! We are going to give it a shot!

    1. I saw someone online that used the glow in the dark beads. It looked awesome. You could hang it in the window during the day and enjoy the glow in the dark beads at night!

      Thanks!

  7. Did some of these too! very fun! going to make some Christmas ornaments with the same idea the beads with the shiny metallic finish don’t work very well though

  8. I made these today with my daughter and they look really pretty… the only problem is that mine are not popping out of the star shaped cookie cutters. They are very stuck, I can’t get them out now matter what I try. Not sure what we did wrong????

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