Every evening is a night to remember with these twinkling night-sky light shades made out of cookie cutters and waxed paper. It's is a perfect project to make with children. They love cutting out the shapes and shaving their crayons to get the color on the waxed paper. Little imperfections only add to the design's charm. When the party is over, hang the lights in the child's room and make secret wishes.
What you need
1 strand of 50 clear mini-lights
Cookie cutters, as many as needed for your string of lights
Rubber vacuum cleaner belt, 3/4 inch (1.9cm) wide
Waxed paper
Craft paper
Wax crayons
Metal snips or very sharp scissors
Craft knife
Hot-glue gun and glue sticks
Handheld pencil sharpener
Iron
Felt-tip pen
Instructions
Preparing the cookie cutter frames
1. From the cutting edge of the cookie cutter, use metal snips to cut a square hole just large enough to thread a mini-light through. Center the hole in the side of the cutter.
2. Cut the vacuum cleaner belt into approximately 3/4-inch (1.9 cm) pieces.
3. Cut a 1/2-inch (1.3 cm) "X" in the center of each belt section with the craft knife.
4. Hot glue the vacuum cleaner belt pieces to the inside of the cookie cutter openings, centering the "X" in the opening you made.
Preparing the waxed paper covers
5. Cut the waxed paper into a 12 x 24-inch (30 x 61.5 cm) sheet.
B. Fold and crease the waxed paper sheet in half, then open it out flat on a piece of craft paper. Over one half of the waxed paper, shave the crayons with a handheld pencil sharpener, scattering the shavings over the waxed paper. Repeat with a second color.
7. Fold the clean half of the waxed paper sheet over the half with the shavings, then cover it with two sheets of craft paper.
8. With the iron set at a medium temperature (no steam), press the iron onto the sandwiched paper and shavings. Pull back the craft paper and check your progress after every second pass with the iron. Stop ironing when the crayon shavings have melted.
9. Let the ' waxed paper cool for approximately five minutes.
10. Repeat with the other pairs of color combinations, creating differently colored covers for each shape of cookie cutter (three different color combinations were used for the pictured lights).
Assembling the cookie-cutter lights
11. Place the cookie cutters on top of the finished waxed paper sheets; trace the cookie cutters onto the colored waxed paper with a felt-tip pen, then flip over the cookie cutter and trace out the other side (each cookie cutter needs two covers).
12. Cut out the traced shapes with a craft knife.
13. Hot glue the edges of the cut-out shapes to the cookie cutters.
14. Insert a light into the openings that were cut in the cookie cutters.
Excerpted from Decorating with Mini Lights by Marcianne Miller. Copyright 2002 by Lark Books. Excerpted, with permission by Sterling Publishing Co. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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