Flower Sun Catchers
These Flower Sun Catchers are not a last minute project because it takes time to dry the flowers so plan ahead if you are going to use these as a gift.
Supplies
Flowers
Paper and newspaper
Heavy books
Paper plate
Sticky backed plastic
Instructions
Sadly bright colourful flowers aren't usually around for long, but you can capture a few of them to keep. To do this, pick your flowers (make sure they are dry) and lay them carefully between two plain pieces of paper. Now slip these between a couple of sheets of newspaper, before sandwiching the lot between some heavy books. And wait... for a couple of weeks (sorry!).
Now cut the centre out of two paper plates (bend in the middle and snip to start you off) and then draw around this inner circle twice onto the back of your sticky backed plastic paper. Cut these out but make sure you add about 1cm around the edge so it's bigger than the paper plate hole.
Peel off one circle and stick it to the back of a paper plate so the sticky side is showing through the centre. Now you can get artistic and arrange your pressed flowers for the maximum impact - if you get stuck, pretend you're a flower - they’re great at creating a showy look.
When you're happy with the design, peel the back off the other circle and place it, sticky side down, on top of the flowers, sealing them in. Smooth this out and then add glue around the paper plate edge before sticking the other plate on top to create the frame.
Now you can either use sticky tack to attach your suncatcher to the window or else use a hole punch to create an opening through which you can thread wool, string or ribbon to hang up your suncatcher. As the light shines through it will illuminate the colours - and possibly confuse a few bees who might try visiting.
Tip: You can paint or decorate the top paper plate to make a more elaborate or colourful frame.
If you haven't caused enough mayhem yet:
You can try making a different sun catcher each month with flowers in bloom at that time. And why not use your pressed flowers to decorate place mats or coasters cut from card - just cover these in sticky backed plastic to protect them.
Contributor
Dawn Isaac is an award-winning garden designer and mother of three young children from Cambridgeshire, England. On her blog www.littlegreenfingers.com, Dawn charts the ups and
downs of finding gardening crafts and activities to excite her kids as well as her adventures in creating their own family garden.
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