Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Crayon Hearts

I was inspired by Martha Stewart today.  My daughter and I had a fun afternoon putting these cute Valentine hearts together with a few things we already had at home.
Start with unwrapping some Valentine color crayons; pink, red, purple, and even some red-orange.  I went over board on this step.  We really only ended up using about 10 crayons, but hey they are ready and unwrapped for the next project.
Ellie used a pencil sharpener to create her crayon shavings while I used a vegetable peeler.
Place a piece of paper, brown paper bag or newspaper on your ironing board to protect it.  Then lay down a sheet of wax paper.  Lightly sprinkle on your crayon shavings.  Be mindful to evenly spread your crayons throughout. 
Apply another sheet of wax paper on top of the crayon shavings.  Then add another sheet of paper, brown paper bag or newspaper on top of that.   This will protect your iron. 
With your iron on medium heat, make several passes over the papers.  Check often.  Once  your crayons have melted and your wax paper seals then you are done.  Allow to cool.  We decided on a marbled look.  The more you melt the crayons the more the colors blend and disperse throughout.  For a marbled heart, be careful to check often and stop ironing just when the crayon melts but doesn't quite blend.
We traced hearts in three different sizes using our cookie cutters.  Cut them out.   Thread with string and hang them on a window.  The picture doesn't really show how the light shines through.  They are a happy addition to our Valentine festivities.

4 comments:

Theresa said...

So cute!! We are always trying to find new uses for our left-over stubby crayons...this is perfect!

Anne said...

What a great idea! This looks like a lot of fun and could be altered for any occasion. TFS!

morrow said...

The hearts are beautiful. And what a great project to do with kids. Like your blog a lot. I am really looking forward to getting into some more sophisticated art projects as my daughter gets older.

Maria Petrova said...

LOVE IT!