Crayon A'la Melt

My niece and I started this craziness of melting crayons about a month ago... when temperatures were warmer... when I had help hot gluing and melting... But, I had promised "the girl" that I would make one for her room and I wanted one (or two) and then we decided her teacher and maybe even her art teacher should have one. It's melted crayons and they are awesome...

I saw them on Pinterest, which someone had pinned from Etsy. I did mine a little different, but they still turned out great, in my opinion. So, I'll tell you what I did...

I bought 48 boxes of 24 crayons (do the math... LOTS of crayons!!!) and ten 16x20 canvases. I had measured out that it took 57 crayons to cover the long side of a canvas. Using the 24 packs, you actually only get 19 crayons. I take out black, white, grey, brown, and flesh. So, 3 packs of crayons minus the 15 un-useables will do one 20" side of a canvas.

Draw a line or set the canvas flat against something, because it's harder than it looks to get those little puppies straight! Seriously... that was difficult for me. Hot glue your crayons in to place and let it sit so it firms up. This takes like 10 minutes at the most, because it's hot glue and it's not 65 degrees in Missouri.

MELT THE CRAYONS OUTSIDE!!!! This I learned the hard way... I used a heat gun and started melting. Apparently the dye and wax and paper give off fumes and smoke. I wasn't burning or scorching the paper, but smoke filled the house... so MELT THE CRAYONS OUTSIDE!!!!

Prop your canvas up at an angle... play with this until you find the right angle for you... I was at about a 45 degree angle. I found if I held the heat gun fairly close and then applied heat from the middle of the crayon to the tip that the wax would melt at a speed I could control... now... if you sit in one spot too long you'll scorch the paper AND all wax breaks loose and it runs quickly down the canvas and drips off... oh yeah... make sure you have something under it like cardboard or a vinyl tablecloth... You don't want melted crayon on your table or concrete... MESS!

I also learned after 4 canvases (I did 10 total... sigh), that if you just melt each crayon a little to get it started... then second time across go for your drippy look... then let it set up and 3rd time you can fill in close to the crayons and build the drips.

I did not take a picture of the first canvas... it was crooked and a trial run. I forgot to take pictures of the 4 I did with my niece... BUT I have pictures of the 5 I completed last night... Now that I'm done, I think I know what to do if I ever decide to do this again...

So I have a TON of black, white, brown, grey, and flesh crayons left over... I went through 33 boxes of crayons and I have crayons left... lots of them... I'm not sure what I'll do with them, yet... but there are a few things I'd like to try.

I did use some black, white, and greys up with this:

It's for the girl's teacher. 

Tie Dye Cake and such

Last weekend was Miss Callie Allie's birthday. She turned the huge number of 9. We almost got her an Over the Hill balloon, but decided those are reserved for decade birthdays. Next year... 10... totally getting her one. Ha!

So... the cake... she wanted a cool, awesome, funky birthday. That's the description I got for the cake. From that I devised a plan for a tie dye cake and psychedelic icing. Oh yeah, I'm that cool, right? Ha!

The cake was made from a white cake mix and lots of food coloring gels. I used red, blue, and yellow thinking that would give me all the colors once swirled. That didn't exactly happen, but it still turned out pretty cool. This is a picture of the cake after leveling and before icing. The blue smear is because once the glaze was spread on top of the leveled cake... it sort of absorbed food coloring and went all weird on me... but whatever.

I started making the icing at about 7:30AM. I felt I had more icing mixed up than I would EVER need. I was incorrect. I had enough, but not an excessive amount. I iced the entire cake in white and then marked the lines for the rainbow type swirling. Yes, I know my rainbow is NOT in rainbow order. Let's say I was getting all crazy and rebellious with my rainbow. I had just the top of the top layer done and then thought... hmmmm... It would be awesome to take these swirls down and around. So, I blended and smoothed. I admit I have to say this turned out awesome. So after I iced the cake with the base colors, I used a pringles can to mark my big peace sign circles and a spice lid for the small one. A star tip to make the signs and then just a regular lettering tip to do the words. Wahlah... 3 1/2 hours later... decorated cake.

C had to work, so I got to pick up the girl from school. I said "Hey! We need to get your balloons." She says 'YES!!!!! NINE of them!!! I completely forgot about my balloons!" So, off we went. The ladies at the store had a kick out of her picking out which 9 balloons she wanted and was very patient with her. She chose and everyone in the store told her Happy Birthday. Then, her job is to hold the balloons and keep them under control on the drive home... She did good! It was hilarious seeing her consumed by the balloons.

Her face lit up when she saw her cake. She said "I don't like it. I LOVE IT!!!!" So, we had to take a picture of the girl with the balloons and the cake.

Just added this in because these are my two most favorite people in the whole world. I'd do anything for these two. Oh yeah... and check out the birthday hat on the girl.... we had to get different balloons for a glow in the dark thing we were doing and she saw that hat... LOVED IT.. had to have it... and who doesn't need a Birthday Eve gift... it's easy to want to spoil her when she tells you thank you a million times and never acts spoiled. 

Kind & Caring Touch

Touch Twin Markers has launched their challenge blog. A fantastic designer, Tami Mayberry, is among their talented design team.

Anyway... they have a challenge running from September 12-24, 2011 and a random entry winner gets... drumroll please.... da da da da da dummmmm.... a set of 12 Touch Twin markers!!! WOO HOO!!

So... I have to at least try, right?

Here is my Kind & Caring Peeps card. (Supplies list follows)

Supplies:
Paper: K& Co
Ribbon and Button: Stampin' Up!
Image: My Favorite Things Pure Innocence
Markers: Copic (I don't have Touch Twins... yet...)
Punches: Stampin' Up!
Border Punch: Martha Stewart
Doodling: Zig pen

Copic Colors (I was hoping you wouldn't ask.... a LOT!):
R20 for blush on face
E00 and E02 skin tone
E31, E33, E37 hair, outfit, and shoes
Y21 for necktie
B32, B34 shirt and blue badge
YG63 green badge
R29 red badge and heart

okay, maybe there weren't a million of them, but still... I colored the image like 2 days ago...

A day to relax and.... craft!

My wonderful MIL and I took a day to just play with paper. I LOVE playing with paper and I LOVE hanging out with someone that enjoys it just as much as me. It's a win-win.

Here are the cards I finished... I can mark the Halloween Card Exchange off the list, 2 cards I needed for CardSwaps, and some cards for Operation Write Home. I did snag three of the cards for my personal stash for those "Oh no, I forgot to make a card for _____'s birthday" times. I love them all... kinda funny, the tree, the flowers, and grass are her stamp sets. Love that we share well, too.

Craftin' up a storm

I did a Twinchie Swap at CardSwaps and was able to use all of the twinchies to create cards for Fall and Winter. Here are those creations: