Today we have an Easter themed craft tutorial for you! It is beautiful, and so fun to make! It’s a stained-glass (looking) tissue paper Easter cross, for your home or school windows. Or glass door!
The kids have been working really hard with their school work, and will actually be done with their formal work in just a couple of weeks. So in preparing our hearts and minds for this Holy week, we decided to do some more lengthy study of the Stations of the Cross, and then get creative today and make a big Stained Glass (looking) Easter cross decoration for our Easter celebration come this Sunday. It will be fitting in faith and spring spirit, to leave it up as beautiful cheery decor, for several weeks following Easter.
There were really only 5 things we needed: a very large sheet of window cling, lots of colored tissue paper, a sponge brush, some Modge Podge and a pair of scissors.
I didn’t take photos of this part, but, we first drew out a large cross on the back of the window cling material backing-paper, using a board for the straight edges, and a round container for the rounded decor ends of the cross. Once that was done, the kids all grabbed sheets of the tissue paper, and starting ripping it into pieces 1-2 inches or so. (Might I add, the colors each of them go for are so predictable. lol)
Once we had plenty of pieces ready to go, I started spreading some Modge Podge, with a sponge brush, in small sections (on the front) of the cross at a time, going outside of the lines somewhat on purpose. Then the kids got to work, putting down pieces, overlapping each other, and rubbing them down.
When the entire cross was almost done being covered with pieces of colored tissue, I started on one end, and went over any uplifted corners, or flappy pieces, of tissue, just Modge-Podging them down good with my sponge brush. I LOVE Modge Podge-that stuff is great for so many projects!
We made the cross 20″x34″.
Once it was all dry, we cut it out!
It was a perfect fit for our front door, because we planned it that way. : )
With the main events of Holy Week still before us, we anticipate the somber and difficult remembrance of the journey Jesus has yet before Him-and we will follow Him all the way to His last breath.
But the radiating colors of this cross, brought to life by the sunlight, reflect the state of our hearts come Sunday, when we will celebrate our risen Jesus Christ, in all of His dazzling and promising glory.
We appreciate the 100’s of visits our blog has received in the past couple of days. As we all take part in this holiest week of the year, and end our personal Lenten journeys, may you feel your hearts full of peace, prayer, and the undeniable presence of the Holy Spirit, and find yourself in a deeper, and more meaningful relationship with Christ.
Love it! Will be great for my 4 & 5 yr old class.
I think this will be a perfect yearly project for my 2 year old grandson. Soon he will comprehend all we are teaching him, plus every family member will eventually have their own cross window cling!
What a beautiful idea, Chris! I am sure you will enjoy doing this craft with your grandson, as much as I did with my kids. It brings such a sense of joy and contentment, seeing the sunshine through the beautiful piece you made together, as well.
Thanks for coming by, and God Bless – Laura / House of Joyful Noise blog
Thank you so much for this cross. I am going to make a large one for my Sunday School classroom bulletin board and also smaller ones for the children to do during Sunday School. I cannot devote an hour to it but I will do most of the prep work ahead of time. Thanks again for your generous sharing.
I love doing things like this with my class. The only thing different I do is use contact paper, inplace of window cling paper – no need for modge podge..
Very clever idea, Madonna! yes, that would remove the need for using any Modge Podge. So the tissue paper sticks to the tacky side of the contact paper, correct? Now, how do you get it to cling to a window? Just hang it with a few pieces of tape? It’s a really great solution. For those who cannot find the cling material as well.
Thanks SO much for coming by, and sharing this option with our readers!
The Richard Family / House of Joyful Noise
I LOVE THE CROSS! Will go out looking for the cling now..still probably time to get it done before Easter..thanks so much..
Wonderful, Dianne! I hope you are (or were) able to find the cling material alright, and that your project brings fun in the making, as well as smiles on display! Thanks for coming by! 🙂
~Laura / House Of Joyful Noise
Where do you find the cling material? I’m assuming it would be something that Michael’s carries but not sure what I am actually looking for!
Hi JoAnne,
Clear blank window cling material can be a little difficult to find. We happened to have some as my husband is a letterer, and so has an account with vinyl suppliers.
But, I do believe you can find it searching ebay or amazon, or get some by the yard at this place:
http://www.fellers.com/#where=iD03D2312-FA7E-4643-C430083E4B3B2532
Hope this helps. Laura / House of Joyful Noise
I’ve done this with children as young as 1 1/2 years old in my classroom. We made a large one for the classroom and smaller ones for them to take home. Their families loved them and the children were so proud of their “pretties”! My daughter is going to do this with her 2 year old class at church this year too.
That’s so great, Johanna! It is the perfect cut and paste project for little hands. Who doesn’t love ripping up paper? Maybe we should make some little ones this year, also, too. Thanks for stopping by, and sharing! Please come again. : )
~Laura/House Of Joyful Noise
Awesome! I think you should be able to find all you need. And I LOVE the idea of the gingerbread Easter house!! I want to see both! I can’t believe I have never done a gingerbread house with my kids. How lame am I?!
I think we are going to do this today 🙂 I have to run to the craft store so I thought I’d pick up the window cling thing. hopefully they’ll have it. We are also going to decorate a forgotten gingerbread house kit. But instead of Christmas, it’ll be an Easter house. We’ll see if we get it all done AND a grocery run. I only have one coffee in me and it’s nearly 9am.
Love the cross and I was lucky enough to see it live! I can’t believe all of the postings you have, they are all wonderful and take me forever to get through! I love them all!!
Beautiful! I love decoupage, we’ve done it on jelly jars and vases. Have a beautiful and blessed Easter!
How pretty! I will have to save this idea for next year. I hope you have a very blessed Triduum and joyful Easter! Grace and peace to you … Sarah
This is beautiful. I knew I was saving all that tissue paper for something. Maybe tomorrow I can get out the glue and paper. All we have is ordinary Elmers. Do you think that will substitute for Modge Podge?
Thank you for sharing this beautiful craft. I did it yesterday with my kids and they loved it. The cross looks so pretty in our window! (we found our cling paper in a roll at Staples)
God Bless you & your family!
Just plain beautiful.
Where did you find window cling material? I have plans to make window clings soon but the tutorial I found uses clear contact paper.