Valentine's Day is NEXT WEEK!
Already?! What!
Wasn't it just New Year's?!
Well if you and your little ones are looking for a cute little craft, and something that you probably already have the supplies for, check out this fun project, and gets some hints on what NOT to do with this Pinstrosity that was sent to us by Aimee.
The Original The Pinstrosity
So this didn't turn out so well.
What happened?!
Here is Aimee's story:
"With the cold weather here I have tried to keep my 3 year old busy with some crafts. We have many broken small crayons so I decided to use them to make something new! I pride myself on being a good crafter :) so I never though this would fail. I WAS WRONG!!!
I had a variety of colors and thought it would be really pretty. That was my first mistake as it turned to a gross brown. In some places it was too thin and just crumbled apart and in some places it was to thick so the light wouldn't shine through. Maybe we will just stick to glue crafts next time!"
I had a variety of colors and thought it would be really pretty. That was my first mistake as it turned to a gross brown. In some places it was too thin and just crumbled apart and in some places it was to thick so the light wouldn't shine through. Maybe we will just stick to glue crafts next time!"
What's the trick to this?!
The original comes from Martha Stewart online (love!), and they use a small pencil sharpener to make little crayon shavings. You arrange the shavings onto wax paper (in somewhat thin layers) and sandwich the wax paper between kraft (their spelling, not mine) paper, and then use a iron on medium heat and gently press the shavings for a few seconds at a time making sure not to get the paper too hot. When you are done let it cool completely and then cut your hearts out, attach them to string and hang in your window!
I think what went wrong here was:
-Mixing too many colors.
-Making the shavings too thick or too thin when you lay them on the wax paper.
Other than that I think Aimee could have a winner on her hands!
Happy Crafting Pinstrosipeeps!
I use a cheese grater I keep it especially tucked away for when I make laundry soap or craft with crayons - aka anything that isn't food. It looks to me like too many crayon shavings were used. It really does not take much and to be honest even if it isn't 100% covered the wax paper looks pretty on its own. I also suggest for anyone that does waxpaper/crayon crafts to put down a towel and fold it over for a couple reasons. 1. So any extra wax doesn't get on your ironing board 2. So wax doesn't get onto the iron 3. to keep the iron from sticking to the wax paper... yes I've had this happen. Paper towels also work if you don't keep around junk towels.
ReplyDeleteBroken crayons are a joyful thing around here I've even gone onto places like freecycle and gotten broken crayons! So don't despair just a little hiccup. :)
The kraft paper should keep all of the wax away from the iron and your ironing board, so you wouldn't need a towel with this since that could add unwanted texture (if it was a terry cloth towel)
Delete"kraft (their spelling, not mine) paper" You might consider adopting it for your spelling as well. ;) It's the proper spelling, from the German word "kraft" meaning, roughly, "strong." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraft_paper
ReplyDeleteI third the Kraft paper being correct and not weird, and you can use full size grocery bags in a pinch, but a roll of Kraft paper will have a ton of uses.
ReplyDeleteThis can be a tricky craft if you don't follow the instructions properly. I used newspaper instead of Kraft paper, but the key is that you are not ironing directly on the waxed paper. Another note not mentioned yet- you do NOT remove the waxed paper after you iron. You need that to keep the heart shape. If you peel it off, the melted crayon shavings will just flake apart.
ReplyDeleteHere's my blog post detailing when I did this (successfully) after a couple false starts:
http://lindseyedits.blogspot.com/2013/02/crayon-heart-sun-catchers.html