Avoid The Winter Blues with These DIY Flower Suncatchers

Keep the garden alive indoors during the winter months! Inspired by Hands On As We Grow, we decided to capture the California spirit by making some homemade suncatchers. Suncatchers are a whimsical, dreamy way to use up refuse you may have hanging around the house (this also doubles as New Year’s cleaning). Use wilting bouquets and unmatched mason jar lids to create some old-fashioned decorations that will keep Lil’ Sprouts entertained. These old-fashioned suncatchers have an irresistible retro vibe. Lil’ Sprouts will enjoy the tactile aspect of this activity–and of course seeing their project filtering in the light when they’re done!

Materials

• Contact paper
• Petals (look for flowers and plants that will easily lie flat)
• Scissors
• Mason jar lids
• Marker or pencil
• String
• Tape

Directions

1. Cut a piece of contact paper a little larger than the mason jar lid. Trace the inside circle of the mason jar lid in pencil or a light marker, so that you can keep track of what will be visible. Trace a second circle along the outer most side of the lid.
2. Peel away the backing on the contact paper.
3. Begin placing flowers and petals inside the smaller circle.
4. Cut a second piece of contact paper, slightly larger than the mason jar lid.
5. Peel the backing away on the second piece of contact paper, and place it over the first piece of contact paper, smoothing out bubbles with a hard edge (like a credit card or ruler).
6. Cut the contact paper into a circle along the outer circle.
7. Place the circle inside the mason jar lid.
8. Take a small piece of tape and tape the string on the inside of the lid.
9. Hang suncatchers in windows and let the garden (quite literally) illuminate your life!