Simple Holiday Light Screens – Elmers Foam Board

The holidays are a great time to dust off your DIY skills and get crafty, so grab your scissors and get ready to make some adorable light screens with Elmer’s Foam Board!  These are super easy to make and look great just about anywhere.  You can put them on your mantle in front of candles or a strand of lights for a cute display, hang in a sunny window or even combine two to make a cool paper lantern!

Here’s what you need:

Elmer’s Foam Board (any size)
Elmer’s Craft Bond Spray Adhesive
Elmer’s Washable School Glue Gel
Tissue Paper
Glitter
Stencils
X-Acto Knife

The first thing I like to do is to create my designs on the tissue paper so they can dry while I’m doing the rest of the work.  If you want to get the kids involved this is a great step that they can help out with, they’ll love sprinkling the glitter and seeing how their designs turn out!

You want to lay out your tissue paper and cut it into squares a little bigger than your windows will be.  Squirt out a glob of Elmer’s School Glue onto a spare section of board (or whatever you want), dab a little on a paper towel and spread it over your stencil.  Don’t make it too thick or you will damage the tissue paper, but make sure you cover the entire area.  Then sprinkle your glitter.  Be generous with it- you can always reuse the extra!

Let it sit 30 seconds, shake off extra glitter and CAREFULLY peel off your stencil.  Now you have an awesome design! Repeat this for as many windows as you will need.

While your designs are drying you can mark and cut your Elmer’s foam board.  I’m using an 18×20 Guideline tri-fold board. You can use any size you like, but I like the pre-folded boards because that’s one step I can cut out.  And let’s face it, with a toddler and an infant it’s ALL about cutting out steps!

For this specific project, lay your board down and make a mark six inches from the horizontal edge along the length of your board and cut with an X-Acto knife.  Make sure the fold is in the center or your screen will be lopsided.  After that cut out a window on each side.

This next step is optional depending on your preference.  paint your foam board with spray paint (if you want).  I like it both ways – plain white is classic, and black matches my bookshelf, so I’ll go ahead and make a painted one too.  I use quick drying spray paint, but if you use something different you can speed up the drying process by using a hair dryer!

Now that you have everything ready separately it’s time to glue on the screens.  Be sure to lay down a piece of newspaper so you don’t get glue everywhere!  Spray the back of your frame with a thin layer of Elmer’s Craft Bond spray adhesive.  I use this adhesive for all my crafts, it is very quick drying so it is ideal when you don’t want to sit around waiting!

Take your tissue paper and carefully place it over each window one at a time.  Make sure it is centered and the edges are smooth and tight against the frame.  If you have extra hanging over just cut it off.

Now turn it over and marvel at your awesome work!

Display these on a window sill, bookshelf or mantle for a cute handmade accent.  They look great anywhere, but where they really “shine” is at night.

Grab a strand of white lights, fold it up however your want and lay it down where you’re going to put your screens.  You can also use tea light candles (at a safe distance) or battery operated tea lights.  Then set your screens in front.  Voila!  Now you have an awesome holiday display that’s one of a kind!

Want to check out some more awesome crafts?  Visit Elmer’s crafting community or Facebook page.  View my trip to buy supplies in my Google+ album.

I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study forCollective Bias™ and Elmer’s. #GlueNGlitter #CBias #Socialfabric

Jess Toothman