Day 133: Sun Catcher

So, I must give credit where credit is due:  First, to my friend Susie who found this picture and reposted it on Facebook yesterday, and second to Courtney Luper (whom I do not know), that originally posted it to her facebook page.

So, instructions:

Sun Catchers!

So simple! Layer cheap plastic beads in cake pans (no lining required)
Heat oven to 400 and place cake pans on medium shelf. Bake for 20 minutes
Let cool & then just flip them out.
Drill a hole in it to make it a suncatcher! Great "craft" for kids (choose the colors, arrange them in the pans) to make as gifts for grandparents or teachers. You could use smaller ones as coasters. These look like glass but they are not breakable!

NOTE: Keep windows open for good ventilation

 

Yup, that's it... Mike got me a HUGE container of beads at JoAnns for Christmas, and we have used them here or there, but I still had the VAST majority left.  Well, i can honestly say, not any more.  We used most of them today.  But, we have beautiful sun catchers to show for our hard work!

We used 9 inch, non-stick pie pans and I told the girls to just fill the bottom of their pans with beads.  Easy, and surprisingly clean.  Once they were full, i forgot to taken pictures of this step, of course, I stuck them in a 400* oven, and then remembered after about 8 minutes that i didn't take pictures, so i took a picture as they started to melt :-p  After about 20ish minutes, they were melted enough, and 1 bead in one pan was starting to burn, so I pulled them out.  After about five minutes they were cool enough to flip out of the pans.  And all it took was a tip and they just slipped right out of the pan and onto the cooling rack.  After about another five minutes, they were done!

I won't have to drill holes because we only did a single layer and each girls' sun catcher has a couple of places right near the edge that is a small void of melted bead.  I'll just string a piece of fishing line through there and call it.

OPEN YOUR WINDOWS, because dang did it smell! lol