Something for the Grandma-Nana-Grammy-Noni in Your Life

I know Grandparents have their own day but I still like to give something to my moms on Mother's day too from the kiddo.  When it comes to Grandparents, home-made is always better.  Especially when they live far away, although I know my mom treasures Bear's handmade gifts too!

For Christmas one year we made hand print snowman ornaments and for Mother's day we made these super nifty sun catchers!

So easy to make, got the idea from blogger mom over at WorkmanFamily

This was our test one, if you want pretty pictures, go to the blog mentioned above.  I will update with nicer images after we make the final products to ship out tonight! See prettier pictures below!

You will need:
Clear Pony Beads - I got a 1lb bag from Jo-Ann Fabric for $2.99 with a 20% off coupon (print coupon on their website)
Round Metal Pie Pan - Ours had a brand name embossed on the bottom.  Find one without because it shows up on the final sun catcher.  Glass also does not work.  For tonight we bought the toss away ones that have a bumpy pattern on the bottom - I think this will help refract the light when they are done
String - Yarn, twine, fishing wire, etc.  Pretty much anything will work.
Philips head screwdriver OR a drill.  To make the hole I didnt want to drag out the drill so I just used a screwdriver and some elbow grease to make the hole.

How to:
Preheat oven to 400 F.  Fill the bottom of the pan with pony beads.  Bear liked that part.  Then turn each so the hole is aiming up.  That part is easier for older kids.  Bear did some but lost interest so Mommy finished. Put in the oven for 15-20 minutes on the middle rack.

Now light a nice smelling candle.  Bear took a bath during this part.  I am not going to lie, you are melting cheap plastic, it will smell.  It's not really bad and it doesn't linger so you can open a window or wait it out and be fine.

Take it out to cool.  You will know when it's done when all the holes have melted and it looks like a nice even shiny puddle.  After about 5 minutes it will be completely cooled and will literally fall out of the pan.  Don't grease it or anything (this is why we use metal instead of glass or ceramic).

Bear thought it made a cool plate.  On our tester the edges were a little brittle so make sure your kiddo is careful, you can sand down the edges with fine sand-paper if you want but try not to rub elsewhere because it scratches easily.  Drill or make a hole 3/4 of an inch from the edge, tie a string and DONE!  We are going to write Bear's name and the date in sharpie above the hole to make it more keep-sakey.

Other variations:
We made little ones I thought would be cool on wind chimes from a metal cup-cake pan.
Use sparkly clear beads for extra shimmer.
Instead of a hole you can glue a suction cup so it sticks right on the window.
We made some all one color and some mixed colors.

This is a pretty easy project.  Once you do it once, you'll want to do it a million times!

Love,
PlusPeace