Today we just wanted something quick and easy. I wanted to do something that didn’t take a lot of prep work, or require a bunch of time to do or clean up afterwards. I got out our beads and our crafting muffin tin and we made a sun catcher and decorative tree ornaments. These literally took about 20 minutes start to finish and most of that time was melting the beads.
Supplies you need:
- beads (pony beads, translucent beads)
- muffin pan
- optional: gems
- a way to melt the beads (grill or toaster oven are recommended because the melted plastic is not good to breathe in. You can use an oven, BUT you need make sure you open the windows and get some fresh air moving
- drill or glue (depends on how you want to hang them)
- string
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Make & Bake your Sun Catcher
To make this craft you just fill the bottom of a muffin pan with beads or gems. To make other shaped sun catchers or tree ornaments, use a cookie sheet lined in foil and place cookie cutters on it. Then fill the cookie cutter with the beads of your choice. Bake either option in a 400 degree grill or toaster oven for 8-10 minutes. It is not recommended to use your home oven to make this craft. Breathing the air from the melted beads is not good for you. So PLEASE USE CAUTION if you choose to do this in your kitchen oven. Make sure the windows are open and you have good ventilation.
You will be able to tell when the beads are melted completely because they will be smooth in appearance instead of lumpy.
Chill & Admire
After melting the beads, take them off the grill and let them cool inside the muffin pan. This process takes about 10 minutes or so. Then, flip the muffin pan over and press on the the bottoms of the cups. The melted beads should fall right out of the pan. If they don’t come out easily, use a butter knife to go around the edges.
Now you can either drill a hole in the top to run a string through them, or you can just glue a string to the top to hang your sun catcher or tree ornament wherever you want. Or you can just play with the bead discs (that’s what my kids wanted to do for now!!)
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