DIY Crayon Art

Last week while I was wasting my time on Pintrest I came across quite a few pins on crayon art.  The first thing I thought of was....can I steal all of the neighbors kids crayons and possibly their science project.  I guess that's why I don't have kids.  Well since I don't have any kids I had to buy my own stuff.  My sister has kids so this would be a great project for her and the kids.  Hey I could've stolen their stuff!  I wanted to try my own.  I saw a lot of rainbow art and a few like the one I created.

So here's what you need to steal get:

A artist canvas, you can buy one for practically nothing (or at least 40% off with a coupon at Hobby Lobby or Michael's) or you can "re purpose" your kids old art project.  Again why I don't have kids.  

A glue gun and glue sticks

A hair dryer or a heat embossing tool.  

Crayons, go ahead, the kids won't miss 12 of the 13 greens they give you in a box of Crayons.

Something to protect the floor and also a back drop to protect your walls.  That's where the science project comes in.  Those 3 fold things that the kids write all their baking soda volcano info on is what I used.

It's really easy, let's get started:

Glue your crayons onto your canvas with a glue gun.  I used a high temperature glue gun.  Don't worry, it won't melt the crayons. 

Set up your backdrop and protection on the floor.

Now here's the fun part.  I started out using a blow dryer but it took too long to get the crayons melted and it also moved around the wax too much.  The heat embossing tool melted them much faster and you had more control over the wax and where it was going.  Be careful with the heat tool as I set a few of the crayon tops on fire.  The thing in the middle holding the canvas upright so it won't slide is just some cardboard I taped together and then taped to the protective sheet on the floor.

Here's what you'll get when your done.  It took about 10 minutes to do it all.  Don't worry that your crayon paper gets discolored during melting, only worry when it starts smoking like mine did.

 Wait for it to dry.  I gave it about a half hour.  That's only because I had to take a shower, it could be less time though, who knows.  I flipped it over, gave the white canvas that was showing a quick spritz of light blue shimmering mist and glued some of my quilled flowers I made to the canvas.  Ta Da! 

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Go grab your kids or their stuff and make some art!  Have fun!

Monica

Upcycle An Old Shutter

Again I was wasting time on Pintrest and found some great ideas for re purposing a shutter.  I thought they were really cute ideas but I didn't have a shutter laying around.  I was at my local thrift store when I came across.......you guessed it, a shutter!  I think there is a sneaky crafty fairy that knows what I want to make and finds things for me.  Ok ok, I purposely went to the thrift store to find a shutter, I'm just trying to justify my shopping habits.  But hey, it was only $1.00!  

It was easy and fun so here we go!

Here's what it looked like when I purchased it.  I removed the hardware (I'm saving that for another project) and then I threw a bunch of soap and water on it and scrubbed and scrubbed.  I think the dirt had been on there since the 70's.  Then I let it dry.  Quick note....wood expands when wet and cheap shutter wood doesn't un-expand (I know un-expand isn't a word and there's a word for un-expand but I just can't think of it so please make un-expand your word of the day!).  

After it was dry I couldn't open or close it easily anymore.  I think it was in shock at being so clean.  Ok maybe I just shouldn't have practically soaked it in soap and water.  In hindsight it's a good thing it doesn't open easily now.  I'll go into that later.

After it was clean I painted it.  I love getting packages in the mail but I really love reusing the boxes for future crafts.  Again I'm trying to justify my shopping habits.  I didn't have a color of paint that I liked so I made my own color.  I used acrylic paint in white, some green color and I threw in some gold and silver.  Quick note....throwing in metallics to regular acrylic doesn't make it sparkle.  Who knew?  I'm not a painter.  Anyway here's what it looked like when I was done painting.  I applied 2 coats of paint.  Oh another quick note...if you are mixing your own "custom" color (lol) and plan on doing more than one coat, make enough for all of the coats.  I loved the first coat of paint color but do you think the second came out the same, nope.

I let the paint dry overnight.  Remember how I mentioned that the shutter wouldn't open or close easily after I cleaned it?  Well after the paint dried it doesn't open or close at all.  I had this all planned out, really!  I'm kind of happy that it doesn't open or close because my reason for using it doesn't require it (nor do I want it to) open or close.  I'm just lucky that there was enough spaces between the stuck shutters.  I finished it off with some of my quilled flowers that I attached ribbon to as the stems.  I'm using it to hold my favorite cards but you can use it to hold new mail that comes in or photos would be cute in it too. 

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Happy crafting!  Monica