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What would YOU do with 3 little ones (kids) and a bunch of broken crayons? Why, melt them down of course, pour them into a heart mold, and use them on Valentines. You might still have time to make this project for your child's Valentines.
Place paper cups in a muffin tin, drop bits of crayons, by color, into each cup. Place in a 250 F oven for about 20 minutes. If the crayons aren't melted yet, melt a little longer. :)
Then pour colors into the mold and let them set. You can pour two or three colors into the little heart molds but you'll need to work quickly. Try not to overflow the mold edges.
See if you can tell which one the "sort of center" orange/green one is in the next photo!
Yip, it was a definite experiment and reject!
After melting, molding and cooling your crayons, set them aside.
My daughter, Andrea, had asked me to bring the 'crayon kids' stamp sets from my retired Stampin' Up! stash, which I did. Time for some crafting!
She made an arch on an 8-1/2" x 11" piece of computer paper and stamped:
You color my world!
Then she and 5 year old Nora stamped the children and flowers using the Definitely Decorative Crayon Kids, Crayon Fun Upper and Crayon Kid Lower Alphabets.
I took the stamped art work to the local UPS store and reduced it by 50%:
and then by another 50% which I printed four times, cut apart, and layered on an 8-1/2" x 11" piece of computer paper:
Trim those four images into 4" x 5-1/4" pieces and layer them onto 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" card stock of varying colors. Attach your crayon hearts with Red Sticky Strip -- it holds the crayon hearts to the paper!
And you have darling Valentines for your pre-schooler to hand out to her classmates and teachers.
Isn't this a fun project! And your child will really enjoy working with you.
Be sure to click on the photos for larger versions.
February is Bake for Family Fun Month, Dog Training Education Month, Pull Your Sofa Off the Wall Month, Spunky Old Broads Month (I think I'm getting close) and Youth Leadership Month
The First Week of February is International Snow Sculpting Week The Second Week of February is International Friend Week The Third Week of February is Love Your Pet Week The Fourth Week of February is American Crossword Puzzle Week The Fifth Week of February is Peace Corps Week
February 3rd is National Wear Red Day and my grandson Zion's 3rd birthday February 9th is National Stop Bullying Day
February 11th is my sister Janet's birthday AND Ellen's birthday
February 14th is National Organ Donor Day, Valentine's Day and my son-in-law Dennis's birthday February 21st is Mardi Gras February 26th is Tell a Fairy Tale Day and my daughter-in-law Khrishna's birthday
Have a great month everyone! And since I didn't pack anything red this trip, I guess I'll just have to go out and get something RED to wear tomorrow.
According to folklore, Phil’s sighting of his own shadow means there will be 6 more weeks of winter. Had Phil not seen his shadow, it would have meant “there will be an early spring.”
If Phil’s forecast is right, it signals a dramatic reversal from the mild weather pattern affecting much of the country. Many parts of the central and eastern U.S. have seen temperatures 20 to 30 degrees above normal in recent days. On February 1, just 19% of the Lower 48 had snow cover compared to 52% at this time last year.
Historic odds heavily favor a forecast for winter to last deep into March. Since the Groundhog’s first prediction in 1887, Phil has seen his shadow 99 times and failed to spot it just 16 times. There are 9 missing years in the record, but Phil has issued a forecast without exception.
I'm loving the new products in the just released 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog. AND I'm vowing to use each one of them just as soon as I can for both my own pleasure and creativity and for yours.
Here's today's card:
Although you can't see all of them, I used 4 new products:
Hearts Collection Framelits Die, 125598, p. 6
Adorning Hearts Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, 125601, p. 7
I wish all of my readers and stampers and friends a safe, sane and wise New Year. I certainly hope that 2012 (yikes!) brings the best for you and your family. I know we will be having our challenges in 2012. I can only hope that we learn from them and respect the experiences.
And I hope the schedule we'll be having to keep will allow me some time to get back to my stamping and posting. You can't imagine how much I dont like this break in my creative and therapeutic routine!
To say my life has been wild and crazy would be an understatement. Once more our life is not our own. Not only are we dog-sitting for Molly, my grand-dog, but we're also on 'wheelchair repair' duty, taking stepson Jeff's wheelchair in for repair today. Never a dull moment.
While I'm not taking my few Christmas decorations for at least another week (no time!), I thought I'd share this year's favorite additions. You've seen one of them before.
(In different lighting -- with the camera flash --, below)
And I love the way that Melissa Stout, a demonstrator for Indiana, embellished her "Jingle All the Way". Her glass brick most likely came from Hobby Lobby. Their bricks are supposed to have a hole in the top or side (don't know since I don't have a HL nearby) for inserting either a short string of lights or, tah dah: jingle bells!
Merry Christmas to you all from me and my extended family. We celebrated together on the 17th at my sister's home this year. Location rotates year to year. Our parents would be so proud of their legacy.
For our final library stampin' afternoon at our Mi Wuk Little Library in the Woods, for 2011, I wanted to have some fun. Well, we always have fun but...........I wanted to do something different. And it was FUN FOR ME to see how much I challenged my stampers with this little project. We had a lot of laughs!!!!!
We made a lovely, non-Christmas, all-purpose type card which I'll share tomorrow, and a little Christmas ornament: a star. I've seen several versions of this ornament and I adapted several to come up with this version.
You will need
Five (5) 4" x 4" squares of Designer Series Paper, suggested that they all be the same design.
Two (2) 2" x 2" squares of coordinating card stock.
20" of coordinating ribbon
coordinating button
Red Sticky Tape
Click HERE to view my quick and easy tutorial. I've made 4 of these star ornaments now, and I have to tell you, each one takes less than half an hour. Adhering the Sticky Tape takes the longest. :)
I'll see you tomorrow with the card we made. Again, it's a great any purpose card.
Don't forget about the Clearance Blitz going on right now. Clearance items need to be ordered online! Ask me if you have questions about how to do that.
AS PROMISED, here are the various Shadow Boxes the gals made last Thursday evening at Jen's Holiday Party. All were made with the focal feature being the Merry Trees Décor Element, size small, $3.95, 121643, p. 229, Stampin' Up!'s Idea Book & Catalog. I got the shadow boxes, 8" x 8" and 10" x 10" square, black or white, from Joann's. Yes, I wiped out the supply they had on hand last Sunday.
Andrea and I had created two nice looking samples the night before so the gals would have a clue where or how they might get started on their own shadow boxes. Andrea's on the left is 10" x 10" square and mine, the one on the right, is 8" x 8".
Below is a prototype we just laid out on the work table:
And below again is another we just laid out on the work table:
And now for the projects of the evening. If I know for sure who made a certain shadow box I'll label it.
Above: I'm pretty sure this is Carol's with the addition of some beautiful Northern Frost Sizzlit Decorative Strip snowflakes made with Silver Glimmer Paper and the current Holly Berry Bouquet DSP, 10" x 10".
Above: Melissa, laying out her project, retired Designer Series Paper.
Above: Melissa and her mom, Peggy, are real pleased! 10" x 10"
I think this is Peggy's. Love her use of the retired DSP. :) 8" x 8"
Amy created this shadow box going in a totally different direction from the others. She used bits from the Christmas Lane Simply Scrappin' Kit, 124007, p. 26, Holiday Mini Catalog. 8" x 8"
This is a 10" x 10" framed shadow box. Who??? Andrea might have made this one for Stacey who was out sick. She sure missed some fun!
This is Christine's 8" x 8" shadow box, also using last year's Designer Series Paper. She has excellent taste! :)
This is Jen's 10" x 10" interpretation of Merry Trees.
Haven't these been FUN!?
All you need is some Designer Series Paper, a few ribbons and embellishments, like the Glimmer Papers in Red or Silver, and your Décor Element of choice. It's a pretty quick and easy project.
Last Thursday night I was privileged to conduct a fabulous Holiday Fun Class in Dublin at Jen's home. Jen and her 6 guests had a great time creating some gift tags (as a warm up), a gift box (with a treat from me) and finally, a shadow boxed Merry Christmas Décor Elements gift for themselves or a loved one.
We started off with these two tags created using Stampin' Up! Two Tags Die and the Big Shot:
STOCKING TAGS:
SUPPLIES USED:
STAMP SETS: Winter Post, Tiny Tags
CARD STOCK: Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Inside is the "to/from" on the top and Merry Christmas on the lower half.
SUPPLIES USED:
STAMP SETS: Many Merry Messages, Winter Post, Pennant Parade
CARD STOCK: Blushing Bride, Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
INK: Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink
ACCESSORIES: Big Shot, Two Tags Die, Punches: Petite Pennants Builder, Cupcake Builder, Butterfly, Dimensionals, 2-Way Glue Pen, Dazzling Diamonds Glitter, Early Espresso 1/8" Taffeta Ribbon
Details for how to create the angel tag can be found here. We made them in November at my cousin's Christy's Christmas Fun party.
KRAFT GIFT BOXES from the Holiday Mini:
L >> R, back row: Melissa, Carol, Carol's daughter's Jen and Amy; Jen was also making another set of projects for her sister Stacey who got a 'bug' and couldn't come.
L >> R, front row: Melissa's Mom, Peggy, my daughter Andrea and neighbor Christine
I provided each of the gals with a Kraft Gift Box filled with 4 pieces of 2-1/4" x 3-1/4"Holly Berry Bouquest Designer Series Paper and 1 piece of 3-1/4" square DSP, (each box had a different pattern inside), and a strip of Holly Berry Bouquet Designer Fabric, the brown print---with the option to use either of the other fabric prints if they so chose.
This was a really easy project: sponge all edges of all 5 pieces with Chocolate Chip Ink and a Stamping Sponge wedge. Then attach all five pieces to the box.
I had baked (not real successfully) a batch of Shortbread Cookies using the Sweet Press Cookie Press and the snowflake image. I'm going to try the Sugar Cookie recipe next time.
I thought it would add color to use some green sugar sprinkles that I had on hand. Bad idea. Not recommended. So I switched to plain white sugar before pressing the cookies. I had already rolled the balls in the green sugar.
Does anyone want to tell my son-in-law that his wife would LOVE to have a new oven for Christmas!? Not only is theirs quite dirty, it bakes quite unevenly. :)
Anyway, I wrapped several up in plastic wrap since I forgot my cello bags, and handed one to each guest to place in their Gift Box. Then the Gift Boxes were tied with the fabric ribbon for a vintage look. We didn't make the tag because I knew we'd need the remaining time to create the Shadow Boxes.
I'll be back tomorrow with our shadow boxes using the Décor Elements (Merry Trees), Designer Series Papers and various embellishments. It was so much fun watching each person's box develop!
