Over the last few winters we have tried paper snowflakes several times. The first year we tried the Bee was fascinated but not able to cut them herself, so she got quickly frustrated. Last year she was able to cut them but not able to cut the intricate designs she wanted. This year she was finally able to cut the intricate designs she wanted and she was hooked. She loved cutting the snowflakes and spent the longest time cutting different designs each one getting more and more complicated. The Bean on the other hand had no interest in cutting snowflakes, she wasn't able to cut the designs and it didn't bother her in the least. Funny how different they are sometimes. She was however thrilled to paint the snowflakes so they made a great pair. After spending so much time at home this winter the bickering has been pretty bad so to have a project where everyone happily worked together was amazingly nice.
We started our snowflakes on sort of a whim, really my attempt to redirect the bickering came out as a suggestion to make snowflakes without much forethought. So when I went to the cabinet to get out some coffee filters to make our snowflakes, I was a little surprised to find that we only had recycled unbleached coffee filters. Coffee filters are the best for making snowflakes since they are already the perfect round shape and thin and easy to fold and cut. Fortunately the girls didn't seam to care, and once painted they looked so beautiful it didn't matter. To make the snowflakes we started by folding the coffee filters in half and half again and half again until we had a small triangle. We then cut triangles, half circles and lines into the triangle. This tutorial is really helpful if you are looking for snowflake ideas.
After we finished cutting, or really as the Bee was cutting, the Bean painted the snowflakes with liquid watercolors. We used blues and purples to give the snowflakes a wintery feel and the coffee filter sucks the paint up and blends the colors beautifully.
We worked on the snowflakes for two afternoons in a row and then had so many we needed to do something with them. My friend Genie has a beautiful snowflake garland at her house, so at first I thought we might try and make one of those, but then I remembered these beautiful window displays I had seen on the Artful Parent a while ago. So I found some contact paper, we only had white, and taped a large piece of white contact paper sticky side up onto the table. The girls and I then placed the snowflakes onto the contact paper, carefully smoothing them out with our fingers. In some places the girls overlapped the snowflakes and even included some that we never finished painting. When all the snowflakes were on we took the contact paper off the table and smoothed the sticky side onto the glass of our front storm door.
The finished mural looks so nice! It adds such a fun color on a gray winter day. I think maybe we will try and make some coffee filter hearts for Valentines next...
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