Holiday Idea of the Day, Crayon Wreaths

So I talked about making "toddler crayons" in a previous post.  I came up with a fun variation for the holidays.  In making crayons in a doughnut pan, the crayons are a little bit less stable so I came up with the idea to put two together.  Then, I had some pipe cleaners laying around (of course) so I made little bows for them.  You could use ribbon as well, that is just what was within arms reach at the time.

You can attach an ornament wire to these and they would make a great ornament gift (which can double as a crayon to doodle on wrapping paper when there is a lull on Christmas morning).

Homemade Crayons, Recycle and Re-use!

When Vivian Grace was going through her "everything goes in the mouth" phase, I got pretty frustrated with the constant attempted ingestion of crayons.  The options in the store were limited and I figured (as I usually do) that there had to be a better way!  Guess what?  There was!

There are many different "formulas" for what I call, "Toddler Crayons".  There are small ones, big ones, multi-colored ones and single colored ones.  You can add glitter, you can add branding, and you can play around with lots of different ways.  Here are the basics:

Supplies needed:

• Crayons.  NOT the washable kind.  If you have other children, chances are that you have a bucket of old crayons lying around...if you are in your first go around on the kiddie wagon, I suggest buying crayons whenever you find them cheap or on sale.  Again, may I stress, don't use washable crayons when doing this.
• Muffin pans - For my examples, I used small muffin pans, regular muffin pans, mini-loaf pans and doughnut pans.
• An oven
• An exacto knife
• A good movie or distraction while peeling crayons

First...peel the crayons.  If your child is older, this is a good activity for them to help with; however, if they are young or impatient I would pop in a good movie and take care of this with sharp objects.  I have found that, in general, crayons are a pain to peel.  I tried soaking them, etc. and it basically comes down to sharp things.  I will also speak from experience when I say BE CAREFUL!  If you have limited experience with exacto knives, go with something else!

I have found that, in order to keep from going over my work more than once, the deeper the better as far as slicing into the crayons.

Once your crayons are peeled, go ahead and preheat your oven to 275 (on most digital ovens you actually have to arrow down to get to that).



Here's the rub...how long you keep your crayon creations in the oven depends on the size of your vessel.  If you are using mini muffin pan (my preferred method), it's approximately 10 minutes.  Remember, there are lots of variables in ovens, a safe bet is to just set your timer to check on them every 5 minutes.

Your crayon creations are done when the tins are "chunk free".  Also, at least on my old beast of an oven, I have found that the outer tins melt quicker, so I tend to put more volume in them.

Once you remove the pan from the oven, let it cool completely and then I recommend throwing the whole pan into the freezer for about 5 minutes.  Once they are cool, they will pop out like magic.

Some variations:

• since the cooking temp is pretty low, you can safely put a string into the wax once it has started to melt.
• I thought the round ones would be really cute as wreaths for ornaments that can be used as crayons...and they really are, but they also break easier than the solid ones so you can either melt two of them together or just be somewhat careful.  Vivian doesn't really care if they are broken, even when they are broken in half, they still make great crayons.

Easy Chalkboard for Kids!

Materials Needed:

• plywood, pressboard or other flat smooth wood
• square wood to make frame
• chalkboard paint
• paint for frame
• wood glue
• wood screws
• circular saw/table saw/jigsaw (any or all)
• drill
• astroturf (only for my "special" version)
• hot glue gun

Total cost - on mine, less than $10.  In general, under $20

A few weeks ago I was at Tuesday Morning and I really thought I scored big when I found a little chalkboard/easel for $19.  Well, it's a great little find; however, as I tend to do, I thought I could make one that was bigger and better!

Turns out I was right...in my usual dig through the culled wood at Home Depot (if you don't know about this, you gotta check it out!) I found some tempered hardboard that had been torn/ripped.  Lucky me, it was FREE!  Now you can also buy it for a mere $14 at Home Depot...but it was nice to find it for free...

Here's the "unblemished" version available at Home Depot

Now the torn one I lucked out finding (since you have to cut it anyway, it didn't matter that it was damaged)

 

Now I am lucky enough to have friends with good tools, so I had someone cut it down to a square.  You can use a circular saw, table saw, jigsaw...or if you're really scrambling, a hand saw to cut it to whatever size you want.

 

After your board is cut, it's time for the paint.  You can buy a can of chalkboard paint for under $5 at your local hardware store.  Make sure that you apply several coats and that it dries well.

Also, the fine print on the can reminds you to "prime" the finished paint by covering it with chalk (rubbing with the side) and then erasing it.  I'm guessing that this prevents any of the first marks ending up being permanent (kind of like a screen saver for your chalkboard).

I also found (for 25 cents each) some square 1x1's in the culled lumber section which I used to make the frame.  I measured (and didn't do that great of a job this time) and then cut at 45 degree angles to make the frame.  For my next one, I will make the frame the same size as the board (maybe a little bigger) so that I can make this project simpler.  In my case, I made my frame fit around the board.  I have a chop saw (which makes my life wonderful), but you can use whatever you've got to make these angles.

Measured to make "frame" fit around the board...again, would do it differently next one.

Chop saw at 45 degree angle

Next, I used Elmer's wood glue to glue the edges together, I usually use screws but thought I would try something different this time.  I glued the edges and clamped them overnight.  Then it was time to paint.

After allowing the paint to dry, I put the pieces together.  As I stated earlier, I was a bit dismayed to find that making the frame to fit AROUND the board may have been a mistake, but I made it work out in the end.  Also, one of my 1x1's was a little skewed which left a gap anyway.

Now, if I had planned out my project/cutting differently I would be all done, using finishing nails to attach the board to the frame; however, I had to go a different route (which worked out just fine in the end but added a lot more time).  I decided to make kind of a "window box" for my chalkboard.  I first attached some braces to hold the bottom edges of the board (made with scrap wood and a miter saw/box)

Then I attached a 1x4 to the back side of the frame.  I made sure that the board actually was just a little bit wider than the frame.  Then I cut out two sides to my "window box" and another 1x4 that was the same size as the one on the back.  I grabbed some silver spray paint from the paint box and painted up the pieces.  I cut the sides at a 15 degree angle.

After this, I used a drill and wood screws to build the "window box".  Instead of adding a bottom, I thought I would give it a creative flair and line the box with astro turf (also something I happened to have lying around...lol)

To add the astroturf I just used a hot glue gun.

I then made an eraser out of little carpet sample squares and a ribbon loop.

Finished eraser, not too bad!

So my finished product ended up looking like this:

I've actually decided that I really like the "window" box on it...it is a good place to keep chalk (and anything else my toddler feels needs to go in there...)

And so ends the first version of make a chalkboard!