A piece of clear contact paper being covered with colourful tissue paper in the shape of a tulip.
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Spring Tulip Suncatcher

BY DYAN ROBSON, AND NEXT COMES L

 

Mar 20, 2017

Nearly every single day for the past few weeks, my oldest son has been asking when Spring will arrive. Likely not soon enough as we are at the tail end of another cold winter blast complete with wonderful -30 C temperatures. Yes, really.

So this tulip suncatcher craft is the perfect way to help us brighten up these remaining dreary days of winter.

Sketch of a tulip on contact paper.

Here's what you'll need to make a tulip suncatcher of your own:

  • contact paper - I use vinyl book protector from Dollarama as it is super cheap! We used two rolls for this project.
  • tissue paper
  • permanent marker
  • tape

On the non-sticky side of the contact paper, use the permanent marker to draw the outline of a tulip, including the flower, stem, and leaves. Once the outline is drawn, tape the piece of contact paper to a flat surface with the sticky side facing up.

Piles of tissue paper on either side of tulip outline.

 

I like to use tissue paper for suncatcher crafts like this, but coloured transparencies work great too. The reason why I prefer tissue paper is that it can be scrunched and bunched to create neat textures and layers on the suncatcher. My kids also prefer tissue paper because it is fun to rip and tear. So when prepping crafts like this suncatcher, I always ask the kids to help rip up the tissue paper into little pieces. Alternatively, they can use scissors to cut the tissue paper, especially if they need a bit of extra practice with scissors.

For this craft, my five year old chose pink tissue paper for the flower and light green for the stem and leaves. Together he and I ripped the tissue paper into small squares before starting the craft.

Tulip outline with pink and green tissue paper.

Then he simply placed the pieces of tissue paper on the sticky side of the contact paper, staying somewhat inside the lines of the tulip outline that I drew earlier.

More green tissue paper being paster onto flower traced on contact paper.


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Pink tissue paper is added to flower traced on contact paper.

As soon as the entire flower has been covered, seal the suncatcher with another piece of contact paper. Then cut out the tulip and tape it up in a window. It looks especially beautiful in contrast to the white snow still hanging around outside, right? It is definitely making me want Spring to arrive as soon as possible!

Tulip suncatcher on window.

Article Author Dyan Robson
Dyan Robson

Read more from Dyan here.

Married to her high school sweetheart, Dyan is mom to two boys, J and K, who also teaches piano out of her home. On her blog And Next Comes L, Dyan shares her story of raising a child with hyperlexia, hypernumeracy and autism, amongst a variety of sensory activities for kids. You can find out more about their story on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram and Google+.