craft thursday #1: tissue paper luminaries

 i'm back today with another fun summertime activity!

we had some friends over last thursday, which is craft day at this house. the kids were over the moon excited to have someone else to play with and i was very thankful to have another grown-up to talk with for a couple of hours. i know you know what i'm talking about!

like lots of kids, my children love playing on the wii gaming system. i enjoy it, too. but sometimes it seems like that is all my kids want to do. "can i play on the wii?" when that question starts to sound like nails on a chalkboard, the answer is always "NO!" and usually "don't ask me again!"

our summer list, which i will share soon, has lots of fun activities, like craft thursdays, to help mix it up a bit. i'm fine with my kids playing wii as long as that isn't all they are doing.

with our friends over, the kids broke into two teams and had a little healthy wii competition. this game had the kids sitting, standing, jumping, twirling, and all of us were laughing like crazy. it was a lot of fun!



today's craft comes from four flights of fancy.

the link takes you to her "how-to" about making mason jar luminaries. the examples look very similar to my halloween mason jar luminaries, but are made with mod podge and tissue paper, instead of paint. the end result looks very similar when you are using a solid color, as in her examples. what caught my eye, was another picture of a mason jar luminary that i saw using tissue paper and mod podge, only the tissue paper was layered to create a patriotic decoration, so layers of red, white, and blue. you can view those luminaries at for the love of. i think they are beautiful. both links are to blogs that are written by the same person.

i thought creating tissue paper luminaries would be a fun craft to start the summer off with. and once again, i had everything on hand and didn't have to make any extra stops with my rowdy rugrats in tow. (and i mean that with a mama's sincerest love and affection).

we also had some friends join us for this craft and it was easy to pack up the finished luminaries and transport them home. 

to make the luminaries you will need the following:



we used half pint jars with a regular mouth. these were two samples i made to show the kids that you could cover the whole jar or only part of it. i also find i need to do the craft first by myself, so i know how to best guide kids in crafting and i am better equipped to anticipate and help with areas that might be tricky.

 
(not the best picture, sorry)

when i gave the directions to the kids, i made sure to emphasize the two most important rules (after i remembered what they were!):

1. use minimal mod podge--you don't want a drippy, cloudy mess
2. paint the glue only where you immediately need it--basically, paint as you go!

i do not think you can over-emphasize these, because chances are they are going to go in one ear and out the other!

i also modeled how to paint and add tissue paper. my sample jar with red, white, and blue was only half way complete, so i modeled adding to that. just a quick little demo, because i had anxious crafters waiting!



the kiddos were free to make what they wanted. we talked about who they were making this for--was it a gift or for their own house? what colors did they want to use? if it was for someone, did they want to choose colors that person liked or did they want to go with a theme? i really wanted the kids to have fun with their crafting, but to also be intentional with their planning and creating.










(loudon was done so quickly, i didn't get a picture of him!)

in the end everyone made a luminary for themselves. some were a little more intentional with their planning and creating than others. :)

bristol cut out shapes from the tissue paper to make items that represented hobbies her family members have. loudon used only his favorite colors. taylor, zach, and ben just picked different shapes and colors and glued them on. zach covered the jar, taylor and ben left spaces.

no matter, i enjoyed watching the kids working on something other than getting to the next level in a video game!

if you are nervous about putting a candle in these, you could use the battery-operated candles. I saw a photo somewhere of this same type of craft, but they painted the metal lids of the mason jar with acrylic paint and closed the top. inside were battery-operated candles and the result was very pretty... like a stained glass lantern.

what kind of luminary would you make?