Are you busy decorating the house for the holidays?? We sure are!! The girls helped me decorate the front door for Winter over the weekend. It was a real group effort!
Since painting inexpensive coffee filters is such a popular activity in this household, we decided to use that approach. Again. Speaking of coffee filters, over the next couple of days we’ll be featuring LOTS of holiday craft projects that use them. Be sure to grab some so you can craft along with us!!
I always love how bright and colorful they look — so cheerful!!
I cut them up into snowflakes. They are very thin, so I cut a whole bunch of them at once. Very quick and easy! Clara helped stick them on the window! We used double sided tape. I put pieces of tape on the window, and she placed the snowflake on top.
Emily helped draw lines on the snowflakes with marker!
And when Clara wasn’t looking, we tried something I’ve never done before — painted on the window with acrylic paint!! The last time we visited the art store, Emily asked what type of paint they use to decorate the windows, and it turns out it’s acrylic. It worked really well, and washes off easily with soap and water! (It may stain clothes/furniture, so be careful.) It’s a great project for the older kiddos!
We added snowflakes and a border of holiday lights — it was SO much FUN!!
While we were busy working on this, a few neighbors drove by… slowed down to look, and gave us big smiles!!
I love how something as simple as coffee filters and paint turned our ordinary door into a unique piece of art! I can’t help but smile every time I open the door!!
By the way, the tree was cut from a roll of plain ol’ brown paper. Festive, fun, and very frugal!
Have fun!!
The winner of the Sip-Me mug giveaway from Poloppo was Mimi and the winner of the French Toast school clothes giveaway was Mom of 2! Congratulations!!!
There’s still time to enter our 2 year blogiversary giveaway for a super-fun pizza party prize pack courtesy of CSNStores.com — Get your entry in here!
November 29th, 2010 on 5:29 pm
Beautiful!
November 29th, 2010 on 5:57 pm
Thank you, Phyllis! xoxo
November 29th, 2010 on 5:34 pm
I love the window art. I’m very tempted to follow suit.
November 29th, 2010 on 5:57 pm
Do it! Do it! It’s so much fun!!!
November 29th, 2010 on 5:37 pm
So pretty! I wish you were my neighbor =)
November 29th, 2010 on 5:57 pm
I wish we were neighbors too — we’d have SO much FUN!!
November 29th, 2010 on 5:42 pm
I’m grocery shopping tomorrow, so I’ll be sure to add coffee filters to my list
November 29th, 2010 on 5:56 pm
Yay!! That makes me so happy!
November 29th, 2010 on 5:43 pm
Wow, how cute the possibilities are endless! I wish mine were little again. BTW I was reading some of your old posts about liquid starch. Do you know about it’s amazing use of adhering fabric to walls and other surfaces? Old MOPS speaker used it to create inexpensive borders, mock italian blue marble tile back splash, etc. You just cut out what you want to put on walls dampen it with slightly watered down starch, stick it to walls wipe up runs and let it dry. Sounds right up your alley.
November 29th, 2010 on 5:55 pm
That sounds totally awesome, Kelly!!! I’ve got to give it a try — thanks!!! xoxo
November 29th, 2010 on 5:45 pm
Dear Valerie,
You’re going to be the one to test just how easy it is to wash off the paint, right?
Love,
Mark
November 29th, 2010 on 5:49 pm
Consider it done! Also, we may have some very colorful windows this holiday season… I’m tempted to paint the bay window in the kitchen.
November 29th, 2010 on 6:07 pm
I remember the speaker saying it’s important to wash the drips off right away and not to let them dry because they could “add” to your efforts. Who knows Mark, with your crafty wife what she could make out of even the drips. Kelly K.
November 29th, 2010 on 8:29 pm
LOL I’ll be sure to keep it in mind — thanks!
November 29th, 2010 on 6:30 pm
That door is gorgeous!
November 29th, 2010 on 8:30 pm
Thanks, Petula! You should do this — it’s so much fun!!
November 29th, 2010 on 6:35 pm
I LOVE it! Absolutely beautiful. Thanks for your awesome ideas — you’ve turned COLD, long winter days into treasured memories.
November 29th, 2010 on 8:30 pm
That makes me SO happy!!! xoxo
Have fun!!!
November 29th, 2010 on 6:48 pm
Love the window! I will have to grab coffee filters so I can craft along with you
November 29th, 2010 on 8:31 pm
Yay!! It’s going to be so much fun! I think you’ll be surprised how many different things you can make with coffee filters.
November 29th, 2010 on 6:51 pm
What a wonderful way to get out of having to wash the windows…hmmmmm…
November 29th, 2010 on 8:31 pm
I will do pretty much anything to get out of having to wash the windows. LOL!
November 29th, 2010 on 7:04 pm
SO PRETTY! I would love to be your neighbor too! And, that makes me think of Mr. Rogers – won’t you be my neighbor?
We like to use coffee filters for crafts too!
November 29th, 2010 on 8:33 pm
Oh, it would be awesome to live near you!! xoxo Hope you can join us for some coffee filter crafting fun!
November 29th, 2010 on 7:45 pm
simply gorgeous. We are almost ready to “gussy up” our storm door. And I think we might find some wall space this year to create a fireplace and mantle……oooh and then of course we will need make pretend marshmallows on a stick!…..and the ideas just keep flowing. LOVE your blog.
November 29th, 2010 on 8:34 pm
Wow, Amber, that sounds fantastic!!! It’s going to look so warm and cozy! What fun!!
November 29th, 2010 on 8:24 pm
SOO pretty!!
November 29th, 2010 on 8:34 pm
Thanks!!
November 29th, 2010 on 9:38 pm
Love! I’ll be linking. (eventually, sigh.) I’m glad you keep bringing this up – little one has been asking to paint a lot lately, and I am much more mess and setup time adverse than you. :>) I think this’ll be perfect. Though her painted papers seem to end up a wet, soggy mess… any tips for minimizing that with the thin filters? (of course, I will go back and check the other posts you’ve done with these, too.)
November 30th, 2010 on 7:04 am
Thanks SO much for the link, Lenetta!! I’ve been thinking of you and hope your family is doing well! We love painting on coffee filters because even though they are thin, they are designed to hold up to a lot of water. You can let Goose go nuts with the watery paint, and they won’t take long to dry. Very little to set up too — just filters, paint and maybe a cookie sheet or something to paint on. Have fun!!! xoxo
November 30th, 2010 on 3:20 pm
We tried it today, and she wasn’t too sure about painting on the filters but I let her have some paper and then I started painting filters and that helped. We haven’t done much painting with water colors (see mess comment above…) so she doesn’t really have the hang of how to get good color on the paper. But we had fun, and we’re both looking forward to cutting them into snowflakes!
November 30th, 2010 on 5:54 pm
That’s fantastic!! She’ll get the hang of how the paint works in no time, especially if you’re painting along with her!
I’m SO glad you had fun!!!
November 29th, 2010 on 9:58 pm
This looks terrific, but I can only imagine what my husband will say to the idea of using acrylic paint on the windows. Probably something along the lines of him cleaning all the time the messes I make
By the way, we received your package today – Anna was thrilled.
November 30th, 2010 on 7:41 am
LOL It would probably give him a heart attack!
I’m so happy you received the package!! Yay!!!!
November 29th, 2010 on 10:37 pm
Hmmmm, how to incorporate that into any of the books we’ve got. I’m sure I can think of a way.
November 30th, 2010 on 7:42 am
Great idea!! It would fit so nicely with any snowflake or winter themed books — have fun!!
November 30th, 2010 on 12:04 am
The best are the giant commercial coffee filters! They work well for cutting out chains of shapes similar to paper dolls. We too have “borrowed” this window tree idea and I just love pulling into the driveway seeing it. I’m sure it brightens my vampire neighbor’s day (that is if they peek out the blinds)!
November 30th, 2010 on 7:43 am
OOooooo… I need to get my hands on some of those!! They are SO much fun to craft with!!!
I’m so happy you guys have a tree on your window too!!
November 30th, 2010 on 8:44 am
What a beautiful winter tree!
November 30th, 2010 on 10:50 am
Thanks, Anya! It was a real team effort, and it always makes me smile!
November 30th, 2010 on 9:12 am
That looks so beautiful
Can you post a tutorial on how to keep the kids from ripping everything off the window and scattering all over the house?
Or is it just mine that do that?
Looking forward to all the coffee filter crafts! We have a ton of them as hubs bought the wrong kind and then we started just using a reusable one anyway.
November 30th, 2010 on 10:51 am
Ha! I don’t think I can help you with that, but I’m so happy to hear you’ll be crafting along with us!! Yay!!!!
November 30th, 2010 on 9:57 am
I love it! Might try to do part of our front window, while the toddler is sleeping
November 30th, 2010 on 10:52 am
It’s SO much fun!!! Enjoy!! xoxo
November 30th, 2010 on 10:45 am
Beautiful! Makes me wish we had a glass storm door! At least we have a couple low windows the kids could try this on!
November 30th, 2010 on 10:53 am
Fun!!!
We’re going to tackle the window in our kitchen next… I can’t wait!
November 30th, 2010 on 12:04 pm
Very cute!
November 30th, 2010 on 5:42 pm
Thanks so much, missie!
November 30th, 2010 on 1:01 pm
Those snowflakes are so colorful! I can’t wait to try this one!
November 30th, 2010 on 5:42 pm
Yay!! Have fun!! xoxo
November 30th, 2010 on 1:31 pm
ooo very pretty! You can use craft paint as well. I did that w/ our thankful tree this year. It took a little bit of elbow grease to get off.. but no more than sticky finger marks and doggy nose prints
November 30th, 2010 on 5:44 pm
Oh, good to know! Thanks!!!
November 30th, 2010 on 3:24 pm
Has anyone tried those markers for writing on the windows? I’m just thinking that it might be better for my little ones than giving them paint?
November 30th, 2010 on 5:41 pm
I do NOT recommend giving little kids paint for the windows, but it is a nice project for the older kiddos. We have tried window markers and they tend to dry up pretty quickly. You’re much better off with window crayons — they work well and they don’t dry up the way the markers do! You can find them at Target! Hope this helps!! It’s SO much fun!!
December 1st, 2010 on 7:30 pm
I’ve been reading your blog for quite some time but lurking in the comment area.
This post made me jump out of lurkdom! I love it! It makes me wish we had a glass door to decorate!!!!!
December 4th, 2010 on 5:44 pm
What a beautiful window decoration. They did a great job.
December 19th, 2010 on 8:59 pm
We paint our windows all the time but we do it on the outside so that they are easy to clean, just hose them down and a bit of a rub. We also add a tiny bit of dishwashing detergent which makes it easier to get off. This may not work if your window is really exposed to the elements (I’m in Australia and it is summer so no snow or rain!).
January 18th, 2011 on 4:07 pm
Love this idea, but I am guessing by the green grass outside you do not live where it is very cold. I would love to do this but in frozen Minnesota our glass doors frost up in the winter time, making this not so practical. I guess I will wait until May when we are in the clear of freezing, 3 1/2 months and counting! Idea to all who live where it is frigid, let your little ones draw in the frost on the glass doors, the cold on their fingers is a great sensory experience.
February 16th, 2011 on 2:22 pm
I tip I learned from being a school teacher and I would paint the windows in my classroom was to add a couple of drops of Dawn to the paint before painting and it comes off easier.