Thursday's Crafting: Homemade Window Clings

As Valentine's Day came closer, I started researching creative ideas for Valentines for my kids to give their friends. I found two great things for the boys (see pics below), but I couldn't find something for Abigail that I really liked. I ran across how to make your own window clings. I thought these would be perfect for Abigail, and they were! I'm going to explain how we made these, and then give a brief review. Warning: this is not "quick" craft, but it is fun.

Homemade Window Clings: 

What You'll Need: 

• Puffy Paint (in a variety of colors)
• Parchment paper

What?! That's it?! Yes! It is!! Woohoo!

Instructions: 

1. Outline whatever object you want as your window cling onto the parchment paper with the puffy paint.* 
2. Fill in the object with the puffy paint.**
3. Follow the bottle's instruction for drying time (usually 4-6 hours) 
4. Carefully peel the window cling from the parchment paper. The sticky side is the outside

Ta Da! Done! It's that easy for real! 

Review: 

* Because the sticky side is the outside, if you have words or pictures that need to be facing a certain direction, draw it backwards. Abigail and I learned that the hard way. It was interesting explaining to the boys why "B" "D" and "Q" (for example) were backwards. 

**When you fill it in, two things: 1) Don't make it too thin. It works, but not too well, and 2) try to make the paint flat as you fill it in. 

This worked great, was a ton of fun to do with Abigail, and wasn't really a big deal in the budget either. The kids loved getting Abigail's Valentine of a butterfly window cling too! 

Jed's Valentine 

J's Valentine 

Preparing Abigail's Valentines 

The final product

We made the alphabet...notice our mistake in not making them backwards?