« Gifts for Young Kids: our favorites | Main | Great Stocking Stuffer Ideas »
Paper Stained Glass Christmas Trees
Published 12.04.2008 | Permanent Link | Comments (7)
By Marie LeBaron
These Stained Glass Trees add a beautiful glow to the kitchen windows, giving the appearance of twinkly lights on a Christmas Tree. With each triangle tree cut up like a snow flake, it leaves just the right holes for colored tissue paper to shine in.
Supplies for Paper Stained Glass Trees:
*art paper - green, brown
*wrapping tissue paper - all colors
*scissors
*glue - glue sticks work great
*optional embellishments - pom poms, sequence, etc.
First, cut your green art paper into a triangle shape for a tree. You can cut a large one from just one paper, or you can cut smaller ones to get more out of it.
Then fold your triangle 3-4 times. Now you'll cut it like you would a snowflake, with snips on the corners and at the folded sides. DON'T cut all the way through your triangle. Only make small shaped cuts. If your child is doing the cutting, try practicing on a scrap piece first, just so they don't end up cutting the tree in half. I was enjoying this process as much as my daughter. I was trying to create a fun shaped tree too. These crafts aren't just for the kids!!
Once your trees are formed with their holes, cut your tissue paper into small pieces. I lined all mine up on top of each other and made a large cut down one side, about 2 inches wide. Then I cut some of the tissue smaller to fit perfectly into the tree's holes.
Next, glue your tissue paper squares over the trees holes. This is another really creative part. You can form patterns with the tissue paper's colors or let the colors go where they may, just like a real lit Christmas tree. I like to use glue sticks, as there is less mess and my daughter is able to easily use it by herself, yay!
You can add any extra embellishments to your tree here. We glued a small yellow pom pom onto the top for a star. You could put stickers, draw more ornaments or a garland. We also added a brown art paper trunk too. Now your trees are ready for the windows. Tape them up and enjoy their colored glow shining down from the windows.
You may also enjoy:- Christmas Crafts: Snow Globe Soap
- Christmas Crafts: Life-sized Gingerbread House
- Christmas Crafts: Felt Ornaments
- Follow Us!
Vis RSS Feeds- Via Email
- On Twitter
- Show us some love and follow On Facebook
- Recent Posts
- Happy Pi Day: let's celebrate with some PIE!
- St. Patrick's Day & Spring Bling
- St. Patrick's Day Craft: Rainbow Friendship Bracelets
- Celebrate International Women's Day with a rocking Girl Power T-shirt!
- Make a Book for Read Across America Day
- Categories
- Ages
- Artwork
- Autumn Projects
- Back to School
- Christmas
- Contributors
- Easter
- Edible Crafts
- Father's Day
- Food & Treats
- Free Printables/ Downloads
- Gift Guides
- Halloween
- Hanukkah
- Holiday Cards
- International Holidays
- Jewish Holidays
- July 4th
- May Day
- Mother's Day
- New Years
- Passover
- Patriotic Holidays
- Rosh Hashanah
- Spring Projects
- St. Patrick's Day
- Thanksgiving
- Unusual Holidays
- Upcycled Projects
- Valentine's Day
- summer projects
- Archives
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
About this column
This is a year-round Holiday column. Kids love Holidays. As parents we have come to appreciate how Holidays seem to help structure our lives. Plus, any excuse to have fun sounds good to us!
We'll admit it, now that we're parents, we secretly look for Holidays to celebrate and between National, Secular, Unofficial and Bizarre Holidays, we think there are enough days out there to keep us inspired every week.
This column will be a place where you can get inspiration for how to enjoy time with your kids. Crafting projects and ideas will be posted on Thursdays by our brilliant contributors (see below). Other fun ideas will be posted here throughout the week as the inspiration hits us!
About our Craft Contributors
Ellen Luckett Baker is the author of the long thread, a blog about handmade goods. She has always enjoyed making things, but the flexibility of staying at home with her two daughters along with the creative inspiration they provide has led her to craft on a daily basis. Combining her love of graphic design and sewing, she has created an Etsy shop selling machine embroidery designs and sewing patterns.
Ellen lives in Atlanta with her husband and two young daughters. She holds a B.A. in Art History and a Master's of Public Administration with a focus in Non-Profit Management.
Cindy Hopper was fortunate to be raised in a family who appreciated the arts. This background led to a Bachelor's Degree in Art Education. With a keen eye for design and color, Cindy has continued her love of art and is now passing her creative skills on to her three children. Cindy's family and friends are the beneficiaries of her passion for fun and meaningful creative projects. Cindy's personal blog, Skip to My Lou, has taken her love of a project to new levels. Postings keep the family busy -– from testing new recipes for holiday treats to designing and building floats for a neighborhood parade to making fabric rolls to hold crayons to creating themed parties. Cindy seems to have an unending supply of ideas for gifts, parties and rainy days.
Marie LeBaron is a 30 something stay at home mom in Utah. Before life as a mother, she graduated with a teaching degree in Early Childhood & Elementary Education, after which she taught four years of Kindergarten. After her first child was born, she decided to read books and sing silly songs at home. She misses the classroom, but she now gets to bring the fun and learning into her home and ours. You’ll see her kids a lot in these projects as they are her guinea pigs and for whom she's creative. You can follow more of her projects at her personal blog Make and Takes.
Brenda Ponnay is a stealthy secret agent who juggles parenthood to her adorable daughter by day and freelance graphic design by night. Whether it's painting, baking, drawing, making castles out of card board boxes or just doing the laundry with flair, Brenda Ponnay has finally discovered (at the ripe old age of thirty-six) that what really makes her happy is being creative every single day.
Brenda lives in Southern California with her husband, daughter, three cats and thirty-seven pet birds. You can read about all her crazy adventures on her personal blog: Secret Agent Josephine.
Disclaimer
This column is only for entertainment purposes. Any recommendations or information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for advice by a trained professional. For a full statement of our site policies, please click here.
Comments (7):
Heather said:
So cute!
Posted on December 4, 2008 10:37
SAJ said:
so pretty!
Posted on December 4, 2008 17:09
Sheila said:
What a great idea! Thanks.
Posted on December 5, 2008 02:02
Rachel said:
Oh how pretty, I love them! I'll be linking to this.
Posted on December 5, 2008 15:47
Calee said:
When can I give my 21 mo old scissors? I'd love to do more than just paint and these look lovely!
Posted on December 5, 2008 17:05
Kristin said:
so pretty, thanks for sharing the idea.
Posted on December 6, 2008 01:45
Marie said:
Calee - You can give your child scissor whenever you feel they're ready. Just buy the blunt kind and be right there while they're cutting. Give them a plain piece of paper and let them try it and explore. It does take lots of practice. My daughter in this picture is 3 and still learning which way to hold her hand and fingers with the scissors. Sometimes crafting is not about the product, but the process.
Posted on December 6, 2008 11:00