Wooden crosses are covered in coins – “Paid In Full” Easter Craft.
Materials Needed:
Copper paint (or your choice of metallic paint)
Wood cross (I ordered mine from Mr. Woody’s Etsy shop )
paint brush
coins (your choice)
glue
The first thing I did was raid my children’s piggy banks – literally. I was trying to find “pretty” pennies and those are apparently hard to come by in our house. This was an excellent opportunity for me to explain what this craft and Easter was all about to Reece and Bryce.
Next step was painting the crosses. You can paint them any color you want. I knew I was going to be using pennies, so I used a Martha Stewart copper metallic paint that worked beautifully.
They really only needed one coat but I had to wait for the first area to dry before I finished painting. Since this is multi-dimensional, should anyone be viewing it from the side it will look cohesive.
The next step is to lay out your coins. Figure out if you want heads or tails showing, or both. If you want all of one type of coin or different colors.
Once you have the coins laid out you can start gluing them on. Having the cross painted allows you the option to not cover the entire surface should you desire.
I really liked the look of the copper pennies by themselves but you can add dimension and color by adding another layer of a different coin – I used nickels.
I think these turned out really beautiful and I love the symbolism.
LuAnn Braley says
Those are so pretty! And covering them with coins brings home the “PIF” message!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Thank you LuAnn!
WTF says
For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
1 Timothy 6:10
Samantha Robbins says
I love these crosses! They look even better with a bit of cranberry juice splashed on them to remind us of the blood he spilled for us. My sons loved making them.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Thank you Samantha!
Rebecca says
I am making these now as gifts and took the time to find pennies with the year that our family members were born!!!!!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
That is such a sweet idea Rebecca – love it!
esther says
Great idea for Good Friday/Easter! Thanks! I went through the trouble of trying to clean the dirty pennies, only to get dirtier pennies from not washing REALLY thoroughly. To avoid the trouble of cleaning pennies, you can get SHINY, BRAND new pennies from the bank!! Makes beautiful crosses and totally shiny!! No cleaning necessary!! Also, painting the crosses is costly and a bit of a pain. I don’t think that part is necessary if you are pressed for time or $$, since the coins cover the front of the cross nicely. Thanks for the brilliant idea! Now just trying to figure out to get a sign “Paid in Full” on it…maybe I’ll put it over the cross, taped on the wall. =)
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
The bank! Who’d have thought! That’s awesome Esther – have fun with the sign!
crazywoman/Billie says
I too love this idea!! So wonderful to find Christian crafts! I also re-pinned it!
I recently bought a wooden cross at Michaels (or Hobby Lobby), and wasn’t sure just what I was going to do with it. Thought I might just leave as is. But now, I think I will make one of these crosses. It is just a little bigger than the ones you bought, but i think it will work fine. Mine is 4 1/2″ X 8″.
Now to round up some pennies!
So glad I found this!! Thank you!!
I wish I had one of those fancier crosses. Maybe I’ll get one of those one day.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Thanks for the pin and for stopping by!
Lisa Oswald says
Does anyone have a suggestion on what type of glue to use besides hot glue? Will be working with 1at graders.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Hi Lisa! Elmer’s Glue-All or Tacky Glue should also work!
Lisa {Sweet 2 Eat Baking} says
Aww, these are beautiful Trish. And so many combinations to play with too.
I’m not religious (just my upbringing) but I’ll pass along this idea and help out to my childrens’ elementary school. Would make the perfect Easter craft (with cardboard bases) and I have a ton of pennies and small change saved. 🙂
Melissa Richards says
I would like to do this with the kids next Easter and I love the message BUT I’m not the best when it comes to the Bible or scripture. Dh and kids go to church anytime the doors are open but I struggle……anyway, can someone recommend where I can find scripture or a simple book to read with the kids that would relate to the cross/sin debt message? Or maybe I can have grandma do the craft w/ them….
It looks very very pretty!
Jen @ EmbellishingLifeEveryday says
Love this! I have a shoe box full of pennies. Now I know what to do with some of them! I just shared with my readers today how I want to keep the real meaning in Easter for my kids. This is a project that is getting added to my list! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Wordstock says
I am finding a lot of stuff on your blog that appeals to me. The “Paid in Full” says so much and I am off to my local craft store. I am going to add a simple tag tied to the cross with ribbon with the paid in full message.
I found this on Pinterest too and am so glad that it linked to your site. Happy Easter
Christy says
You know after a while you see the same crafts over and over with only slight changes. I love this because it is 1) such a great object lesson and visual reminder of what Christ did for us and 2) it’s just doggone original and creative!! Thanks so much!!
Anonymous says
You can clean the pennies by placing them in cola for a while.
Anonymous says
I would like to do this for a group of 13 fourth graders. Has anyone used anything other than pre-made crosses? I need an expensive base for these. I was thinking of tongue depressors, but need more suggestions.
Sharla says
Thank you so much for sharing this. I will be making these with the kids this week as we prepare for Easter…love, love, love it! I will post pictures and link back here when we are done.