Stained Glass Window Hangings

Here’s a great DIY decoration that you can make with the kids, courtesy of my husband. It’s suitable as both a Halloween decoration and a Christmas one if you make a few simple adjustments. I suggest adding a black paper crescent moon and black stars to the wool of the Halloween one, and replacing them with a big gold star for the Christmas version.

You’ll need a glue stick, some wool, some clear plastic document wallets (try to go for spoiled or ripped ones rather than new, as that way they’ll be getting a second life) and a selection of transparent coloured sweet wrappers like the ones you get from boiled sweets, Quality Street and Roses.

Draw and cut out a six circles from your plastic wallets. You can vary in size and even shape if you like. On three of the circles stick down shards of cut up sweet wrappers to resemble stained glass or Kaleidoscope  patterns, then stick down the remaining three discs, one onto each, sandwiching the stained glass patterns between the two circles. Make sure the discs are firmly stuck together before moving onto the next step.

Then use a hole punch to make small holes in the discs. You will be arranging them so they hang down together in a cascade, so whatever disc you plan to have at the top of the cascade needs to have one hole at the top and two more at the bottom, like this:

Finally thread some wool through the holes, linking the discs together and hanging as desired from a window, doorway or fire place. You don’t have to stick to the circle shape and can of course use templates and shapes to mark a certain occasion, ditto for the colours of the sweet paper (you don’t necessarily have to use transparent paper or plastic either, this design with work with others textures, though the light shining through does make them look extra special). For Halloween why not get your child to draw around their hands and feet to make ghost and monster body shapes that can be decorated as you choose, and make use of craft box staples such as glitter and googly eyes.

And remember to save all of this season’s sweet wrappers for use next year.