Valentine Crafts For Kids:
Stained Glue Heart Suncatchers

      One of our best Valentine crafts for kids is this beautiful stained glue heart idea. They look like stained glass, but they are an inexpensive version, using glue instead. They are a fun and easy way for you and your kids to decorate for the holiday. They would make a great suncatcher craft, since they really do catch the light hanging from a sunny window! We’ve provided the instructions and a free heart template with four designs. So if you and your kids have been wanting to do some Valentine art projects, then these lovely hearts would be a great one to try!

Stained Glue Heart Suncatchers

 

• White string
  

• Thread
  

• Wax paper
  

• Tape
  

• Elmer’s Glue
  

• Paper cup
  

• Watercolors (reds & pinks)
  

• Paintbrush
  

• Scissors
  

• Optional: glitter

Print out the free heart template. Tape the template to your table and then tape a piece of wax paper over the heart template.

Now measure and cut each piece of string. The length of each piece of string is printed on the free heart template.

Put just enough glue in your paper cup to cover a piece of string. Saturate each piece of string with glue. As you pull the string out of the glue, use your thumb and finger to go down the string to remove the excess glue. See photo A.

Lay the string along the lines on the heart template. Try your best to keep any joints or ends glued together. To help with this, put a dab of glue on each joint or connecting spot to help reinforce them. See photo B.

Heart #2 – To see how we constructed this heart, see photos C – F.

Heart #3 – This heart will also need a small piece of thread (about 1″) to connect the small heart to the large heart. To do this, slip one end of this thread under the string at the point of the big heart and loop it up over the gluey string so it holds in place. Then do the same thing with the other end, only at the top of the small heart. See photo G.

Now carefully slip a long piece of thread underneath the string at the top of the heart. Pull the thread snug against the edge of the string and tape it down so it stays in place while you are working.

Let the strings dry for at least 12 hours.

Important note: It is very important to let the strings dry completely before the next step. If they are not completely dry, the color from the paint will bleed out into the strings.

Once the strings are completely dry, it’s time to fill in the spaces with glue and color them. Fill one space at a time with enough glue to nicely fill the section. See photo H. Before you fill the next space in with glue, mix some watercolor paint into the glue with your paintbrush. See photo I. It doesn’t take too much paint to achieve a nice shade of color. Just be careful with the amount because they tend to dry into a darker color. Mix the paint thoroughly. Now repeat this for each section of the heart. See photo J.

Let it dry for at least 24 hours, and it might even need a little more time beyond that. When it seems completely dry you can carefully remove it from the wax paper. See photo K. Make sure to peel the wax paper off slowly and carefully, while not bending the heart.

Tie a knot in your thread so you can hang it. Cut off any extra thread. There may be some extra pieces of glue around the outside of the heart that you will want to trim off.

Your stained glue heart suncatchers are now finished!

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We hope you’ve enjoyed this Valentine craft idea for making stained glue heart suncatchers. With your imagination and creativity, the design possibilities are endless! We hope you will have fun creating your own unique hearts (or even some other shapes) for Valentine’s Day. Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting everyone!

If you would like to see more of our free projects, be sure to check out the ideas shown in the images above.

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