Need a combo craft and decoration for this All Saints Day? Try out this faux stained glass that needs just four supplies!
I don’t know what rabbit hole I was searching when I came across faux stained glass techniques on Pinterest. Inspired, as usual, I wondered for about 5 seconds on the Catholic application of this new-to-me idea. Saint stained glass!
Grab your school glue, acrylic paint, a zip lock, and a Saint coloring page from TheCatholicKid.com, and let’s get crafting.
I was burned out on making Saint pumpkins. I love them, but they are a ton of work when you make at least 8 different versions every year, and then duplicate them 4 times each to hand out to your friends. The living room, craft room, dining room, and the floor all end up littered with tiny scraps of multi-colored felt. The outcome, of course, is tremendous. But, I needed something different.
I ran to our closet where I still have wedding centerpieces, or at least their components. I grabbed a handful of the now emptied acrylic frames we used with printed vellum photos. These would be the perfect receptacles for faux stained glass. No leftover acrylic frames? No problem. Just dig out a zip top bag, or even a sandwich baggie. It won’t matter what size you have.
Whatever size you find, adjust your coloring page printout to fit. For more detailed Saint images, I suggest zooming in, or ignoring the finer lines.
Once you’ve got your printout and your bag, snag a bottle of school glue. It’s best if it’s not full so you have room to mix. Open the cap, and squeeze in some black acrylic craft paint. I’m guessing other paint types would work just as well. Mix these as best you can right in the glue bottle with a long-handled baby spoon, dowel rod, or unsharpened pencil. You can also shake it a bit. Ours really didn’t mix all together for several weeks, but it will still work just as well even if there’s plenty of white glue left unmixed on the bottom.
Slip your printout into your bag. You can even tape the bag down to the table for smaller kids, just so it doesn’t move on them while they try to work. Trace the lines you most want to highlight.
Let it dry.
Fill in the spaces with more glue/paint mix applied with a paint brush or a q-tip. This time, try a clear glue for a more see-through effect if you have it. If not, the white glue should still do the trick.
Once the color layer is dry, you can go back over your black lines to make them pop, or you can leave it as is. If you turn the ziplock inside out, you’ll have a waterproof decoration you can hang outside with a light behind it. Attach them to your windows, put them in old plastic containers with a battery-operated votive along your walkway, or hang them in a tree.
