Stained-Glass Birds

We've been having a little problem with birds hitting our front windows lately. It used to happen a couple times a year, but recently it's been happening a couple times a week. We have some feeders near the windows and we don't want to move them because they are fun to look at (and the cats really enjoy it as well!). I've noticed black bird decals on windows of some buildings and at the zoo, so I thought we'd try that at home. Of course, I wanted something more colorful. So I found a flying bird template (here), printed it out the size I needed, and traced it on black construction paper. Then I traced around it, about 1/4" away from my original tracing. I cut along the outside line first, then along the inside line so I had a nice thick outline of the bird. I put it on the inside of a laminating sheet and my daughter filled it in with colorful tissue paper squares.

We didn't use any glue. Everything just sat on top of the laminating sheet. You can also use contact paper, but I like how the laminator makes it extra glossy. She covered the entire inside of the bird.

We didn't worry about staying inside the black outline because it was getting trimmed after it was laminated.

Only one side will have the black outline, but you could always use a Sharpie to draw in an outline on the other side. I didn't mind. I just made sure the outline was facing in when I hung them in the windows. I also decided to hang up the black bird that was cut from the middle. The display looked beautiful this morning!

Yes, that is a squirrel down there eating all the leftovers! And no, I didn't wash my windows before putting them up. Don't judge me! We ended up making a couple more today for the bottom windows as well. Hopefully we won't have any more feathered friends flying into our windows!