Heart Crayons: How To

When your big brother starts school, you are suddenly left alone.  For the first time in your entire life you get to play with your toys without having to share, you can play with his toys without him getting angry, you can watch barbie movies, and dora... life is wonderful.

Then, about 4 weeks goes by, and you are bored.  b.o.r.e.d. 

Thank goodness it isn't 100+ degrees in Oklahoma anymore, and thank goodness mom's foot isn't broken anymore, because I have one of those bored little sisters on my hands.  Let's face it, when you are 30-something, playing with barbie dolls is the last thing on my to do list. You have to come up with something creative and fun, something that will keep a little one's attention long enough for me to get through an episode of DanceMoms online a load of laundry and clean a stinky bathroom.


Thanks to the wonderful world of Pinterest I stumbled upon this project.  I couldn't find directions, so I googled and sort of piece milled some together.  It's a wonderful project you can do with your kiddos.  Seriously, worth it. 

{you must overlook the crap photo bombing my pics.  Pillows, toys, rouge feet... sorry!}

 

Step 1:  Find a super cute, super willing helper.  One that is creative will help, but any will work.  This one was so stinkin excited.  When I told her she was going to get to pull the paper off of crayons and *gasp* break them...she was all in. 

 



 

 

Step 2: Gather up the crayon box/basket.  In our house, you will find crayons in crazy places.  Pillowcases, purses, daddy's work boots.  Emileigh is a packer. Sometimes, it's funny, sometimes it will drive you crazy.  This was the basket we chose to work with.

 

**note: I need to be honest.  I'm a crayon snob.  Crayola is the ONLY thing I will buy.  However, other folks gift crayons to my kiddos, they pick them up in restaurants, etc.  All of the crayons get dumped into the basket... The next time we make crayons, I will pull out the Crayola crayons and only use them... I'll show you why a little later down the post.**

 

 

 

Step 3: This was Emileigh's favorite part, peeling the paper from the crayons.  She LOVED that she could pull the teeny-tiny pieces of paper off and not get into trouble. She sat there for a solid 45 minutes working on it, watching cartoons.  I'm serious, I got some major brain-rot television shows catch up time. 

 

 

 

Step 4: Collect your molds.  I pulled out the hearts and the star-looking ones.  They are silicone, found at walmart, hobby lobby, michael's, etc.  The silicone won't hold on to the heat, so you won't burn the wax.  Plus, popping the finished product is easy peasy. We ended up just using the heart molds.  Yesterday, while looking for glitter at the walmarts, I saw some mini-gingerbread shape molds. I'll be getting those soon.  That will make GREAT Christmas gifts for Blayne's school friends.

 

 

 

Step 5: Break those crayons!  Emileigh's next favorite step, hands down.  I used this project as a teaching opportunity.  As we pulled the paper off of crayons, we talked about the color, then we broke it and put the crayon in the cup assigned for that color.  She did great!  We talked about how colors can be in all different shades, but still orange, red, etc. Plus, it made for really cool crayons at the end. :) 

 



- Just lay those crayons in the cup.  Easy... I'm not even kidding. We filled the cups until the entire bottom was covered, and we tried to get the amount equal in each cup.  We didn't put much science into it, just eyed it and had fun.

Step 6: Once you have the crayons in the molds and ready to melt, turn the oven to about 200-225 degrees. 

It will take about an hour for the crayons to completely melt together.  It looks wicked cool while they melt, my crayon maker (emileigh) kept asking to look at them.  She thought it was so neat that her crayons melted.  I'm not going to lie, it was fun watching her.

This is what they looked like about 30 minutes melting.  The bigger crayons took a bit longer, but that was okay, it make the end product amazing.

Step 7:  When the crayons are completely, or mostly melted, take them out of the oven and set them on the counter to cool.  I actually stuck them in the fridge for the last 10 minutes or so of the cooling process. 

When they are completely cooled, pop them out.  They were super easy to pop out.  Check out that marbling effect.  Isn't it COOOOOLLLL!!!  It's just different shades of the same color. LOVE.
Next time, we will put different colors together and see how that turns out.  Eeek- I can't wait.

**See the white part at the bottom of this picture? It's wax.  Cheap crayons use different coloring and wax so the color sort of bailed.  If you stick with crayola, I think you'll avoid this.  Since it was just a project for our enjoyment, we left it.  If we were going to gift these, I would cut that part off. Be a crayon snob. Buy crayola!**

 

 Dude- see how COOL this looks?  They were pretty big, too.  I love how the blue one came out, LOVE.

Here is my favorite little girl with her new crayons.  She loved them, she still does.  She colors with them all of the time. Best project yet!

Thanks for coming to my blog and checking out how to make this awesome project.  If you came via pinterest, leave a comment or your blog address! I love to find new awesome blogs to follow!

 

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T-shirt Scarf

I have been wanting to make a unique scarf for sometime, and tonight, I finally found the time and energy to get after the project.  The tots went over to my dad's so I had a few hours to be crafty.  This is what I made:

I first spotted a similar one from a blogger at, kevinandamanda.com  I thought it couldn't be too hard, so tonight, I dug out a few shirts and went to work.

I'm not even kidding, this is so easy.  Really.  You can do it in an hour watching your favorite show on TV.  It's super simple, and all your friends are going to beg for one.  

I think, perhaps, my friends might find one in their Christmas gifts from me this year.... maybe.

To make this beauty  you need to dig out some old (or new, but okay to cut up) t-shirts.  I used four, a crimson, white, gray, and black.  If you know me, you know I'm supporting my Sooners with this one :)

Find some sharp scissors, and you are ready to go.

The first step  is to cut the hem off the bottom of the shirt and set it aside.  Later you will cut them into six inch strips and use them to attach your rings together.

Secondly, cut eight strips from the t-shirt.  When cut, it will look something like this:

Not only is this project super simple, you don't have to worry about cutting in super straight lines or worry about jagged edges.

Once all of the strips have been cut out, the fun begins.

Take a piece of fabric and pull on it.  Stretch it out as far as it will stretch.  Magically, your fabric will go from flat and jagged to long and turned in.  Awesome, right?

totally bad picture- sorry!

Stretch all strips then wind them around your fingers to make rings.  Set them aside:

Once you have them all stretched, begin to assemble.  Put two rings together and tie with a piece of the bottom cuff.  I used four shirts, so I ended up with 32 rings.  Use as many as you like.  That's the fun!

I can't wait to see if you make one.  If you do, leave me a comment, or link.  I am super happy I stumbled upon the tutorial myself.  Good Luck and...well.... boomer sooner :)  

It's about time.

I used to be a crafty person.  I scrapbooked, made some simple quilts, got into the bow making craze.  This was all before we had children and my free time disappeared.  Maybe it was before facebook hooked me.  I'm not sure, however, I lost my mojo a long time ago.  I used to have all of the latest gadgets and paper and embellishments.  I had enough product to fill a dang room.  My problem: I spent more time organizing the stuff, then actually creating.

Fast forward six years or so, and that creative side is trying to make a comeback.  I surf blogs and message board gallaries and think- Hmmm maybe I could get back into (whatever it is I'm looking at). 

I stumbled upon etsy- and while that was pretty exciting- I'm not confident that I could actually sell my creations.  Although, that is really my dream!

So, my crafty-ness continued to stay boxed up hidden in a closet upstairs.  Once a week- sending SOS messages to my heart.

Oh- I guess I should throw in the fact that since October 2010, I have been a stay at home mom.  We went from a two income family to quickly (and suddenly) a one income family of not two, but four.  Needless to say, purchasing anything for fun was out of the question.  So, as time passed by, and items were changing, I just let them change... and I was left in the dust. 

Somehow it felt a bit ironic that I was an avid scrapbooker before we had babies, yet when they tots arrived- I stopped. 

About a month ago, I was surfing a scrapbooking message board and clicked on a thread titled "Pinterest invite needed." I'm a sucker for the latest internet fad, so I jumped on the boat and requested one for myself.

Let me tell you, this has brought my mojo back in full force.  Basically, it is a website where you "pin" pictures to virtual pin boards which in turn are shared with your followers.  It's not the typical facebook or twitter social network, although it has certain twitter aspects.  You just look through pictures and if you like it, or are inspired by something, you just pin it to the corresponding board of your choice.  Currently, I have 50 boards!! 

Here is my pinterest address:  http://pinterest.com/jentaylor03/

If you need an invite, put your email address in the comment section below.  I'll get an email sent with an invite included.

In the meantime- I'm off to clean out a closet upstairs to I can get crafty again.  I have found a couple of pictures online for some space inspiration.

love the built ins on this.

The shoe holders are genious

What ideas do you have for my crafty closet?

 

Crap Shows

I have been attending craft shows with my grandma since I was born.  I can remember when I was young, I hated to be drug to them.  Quilt shows?  the worst  Grandma likes to remind me that I used to refer to them as "crap shows" when I was young. 

Apparently, I outgrew that.  I love, love, LOVE them.  We really do not go enough.   My favorite are the shows in Arkansas the third weekend in October.  War Eagle, Hillbilly Corner, etc. 

Yesterday, we attended An Affair of the Heart in Tulsa.  This show is held at the Quick Trip center two times a year, once in Spring and another in Fall. 

I found some SUPER cute outfits for Em-J.  I am telling you, if I am ever lucky enough to win the lottery, a HUGE chunk will be spent at this show.

I really, really, need to charge my camera and stop using my Iphone... the quality is so much better.  But- you get the idea.

The show is still open today- go spend some cash!