Old Crayons (and What to do with Them)

When my Blog with Friends buddies decided to use the theme “green” for our March linkup, I immediately thought of “being green” and focusing on how we can use old items around the house to create something new. I enjoy upcycling, and I look forward to days in the future when Math Man and I can get craftier and craftier (and by “Math Man and I,” I really just mean Math Man carrying out whatever it is I ask him to do and then me painting it or what not).

In the mean time, I love using what we have on hand to make stuff with the kids. The best part about little kids is that they are all about gluing some stuff to a piece of paper and calling it done (and beautiful).

But what’s really fun is having an older kid who can use semi-dangerous craft tools like hot glue guns and more so that you’re almost really crafting with a buddy rather than your kid.

We decided to take old crayons and a canvas we had in the closet and make one of those melted crayon crafts.

Because the theme was green, I felt like it would make sense to use green in my canvas. I searched Pinterest for inspiration. What I found was mostly rainbows and sunshines. I wanted to be a little different.

We went with shades of green and yellow, and then we added in some brown to create a grass and tree effect.

First we made sure we had enough old crayons to fill the bottom of the canvas. Then, Sassy Pants glued them all on. I was worried at first that she had made a bit of a mess with the glue gun. I simply forgot that we could remove the “strings” and clean up easily.

Once we had the old crayons on, it was time to melt them. I wasn’t sure what to expect as I’ve never done this before and only had a hairdryer for the heat.

It was interesting to see the difference in the melting speed. I suspect this was due to the quality of the crayons. Some were name brand. Some weren’t. I didn’t keep track as we glued them on.

The melting also didn’t happen evenly. I fully expected the melted bits to slide evenly down the canvas. They didn’t. At first, I was a little upset. Then, I decided it actually looked kind of cool.

With grass and a tree, we decided we needed something. It looked too plain on its own. So what do we have a lot of extras of? Buttons. Who doesn’t have a ton of buttons sitting around? (And why exactly do we all have a ton of buttons?)

Flash (3) offered to help separate buttons by color. For some reason, I didn’t have much of a variety in color. We were, however, able to find and make purple, pink, multicolored and black flowers out of buttons.

When I showed what I thought was the finished product to Math Man, he agreed that there was something missing in the “tree.” His simple suggestion: an owl.

This part wasn’t the easiest for me. I know what owls look like, but I still had to go to Pinterest for inspiration on how to create one with buttons. I ended up Googling “button owls.” I was amazed by how many images came up!

And so, here we are. Our melted crayon and button garden. I’m quite fond of it, and it looks great hanging in the living room.

Even though I made it with the intention of being “springy,” I imagine I will keep it hanging year round. It’s just too pretty to do anything else!

Sassy Pants wanted to make her own, too! With her new love for all things Harry Potter, she chose to create a canvas that illustrated her love for Hufflepuff (she took a quiz, and apparently this is the house she belongs to). She searched the pile of old crayons to find black and yellow — Hufflepuff colors!

I thought it turned out really cool! We used masking tape and simply peeled it off once the melted crayons dried!

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Be sure to visit my Blog with Friends buddies to see what they’ve created with the “green” theme!

“Green Egg and Ham” from Baking in a Tornado

“Green Bunny Poop” from Spatulas on Parade

“DIY Nugget of Fun” from My Heartfelt Sentiments

“Green: What does it really mean in English?” by Think in English

“Green Graduation Ice Cream Cake” from Eileen’s Perpetually Busy

“Cute Leprechaun Craft” by Confessions of a Part-Time Working Mom

“Ten Ways to Add More Green to your Pot of Gold” from The Liebers

“Mint Mocha Cupcakes” from Little Mama Jama

Tags: blog with friends, blogging, crafts, upcycling