Paint Your Own Castle Fireworks

It’s been quite a while since I shared a craft project on the blog. When on a recent craft store trip, I saw some glittery paper that reminded me of a craft project I used to do with kids I babysat as a teenager that could easily be Disney-fied…a DIY fireworks display! You just need a few basic art supplies (mine for this project totaled about $6) and some imagination!

What you’ll need:

• 2 pieces of colored paper (can be construction paper, printer paper, or craft paper)
• a paper towel or toilet paper roll (more than one if you want to use a lot of different colors)
• as many colors of paint as you want (I got the 79 cent basic acrylic paint at the craft store)
• adhesive (i didn’t have a glue stick handy so I used my glue gun)
• a pen

Instructions:

1. Start by tracing your castle onto the back one of the pieces of paper. Remember that you should trace it backward, so when you cut it out it will be facing the correct way on the other side. I tried and failed a few times to do this by hand, so if you’re drawing challenged like me, you could event print one out and just trace it.

2. Cut out the castle and glue it to the other piece of paper, which will be your background.

3. Take your paper towel or toilet paper roll and cut it into smaller pieces (so that you can use the same roll for multiple colors). Then, cut into each piece about halfway, at whatever thickness you want your fireworks to be. With your fingers, gently fan out the cuts to create your firework shape.

4. Going one color at a time, coat each shape in paint. You can use a brush, or just pour some paint onto a plate/paper and swirl it around. Press the shape onto your paper; you might have to use your fingertips to help push each little piece of the fan down.

And that’s it! You now have your own Disneyland fireworks display. Some pro tips for your own project:

• The thinner you cut your firework strip, the more they truly look like fireworks…but the harder they are to press down without getting messy.
• I’d recommend starting with your lightest colors and working your way darker. Or if you really want the darker colors in the background, let each color completely dry before applying the next one.
• If you really want to get sparkly, you could sprinkle some glitter onto the fireworks while the paint is still wet.