Craft Tuesday: Tackling Crayon Art

This project was fun. Awesome, super fun. Almost therapeutic because of the simplicity of it all, and all the colors are just so crazy and cool.

Alright, so I have seen this crayon art ALL over Pinterest. It is awesome and everyone wants to do it. There are two methods to do doing it that I know of: 1)Hot glue the peeled crayons and use a blow dryer to melt them. 2)Run crayons through your hot glue gun.

My friend Brittnee and I decide to tackle this project together, in a two-part adventure. This is part-one. We opted to try the hot glue gun method first because we figured it would give us more control over the colors and where we place them. Plus, at the end we wouldn't have crayon chunks hot glued onto our canvases.

Well, it didn't go as smoothly as we thought and I definitely have some suggestions for you if you are going to try the hot glue method. First of all, use a new glue gun (or a glue gun with no glue in it) that you are using ONLY for crayons, because this WILL get messy and you will probably never be able to use your glue gun for regular gluing again (unless you really, really clean it well). I bought a new hot glue gun the day after I did this project. I will probably be able to salvage my other one, but I use mine for LOTS of stuff, and I need nice, clean one for all the other projects I do. Second, you really have to test out the waters to see what heat setting you want to use and how your glue gun will be most effective when it comes to pushing these crayons through.

Wax melting out the side means burnt fingers :(

Our biggest problem was that my glue gun wouldn't "grab" onto the crayons to push them through, so we had to push them through with another crayon. Then the wax ended up melting out the side AND through the glue gun hole, so it was a little...leaky. This got messy and frustrating. Perhaps if you use a glue gun that uses the small glue sticks this problem would be solved. If you are buying a cheap little glue gun specifically for this project (which is not a bad idea at all) then I would recommend you try that kind.

Okay, now that I have told you all the ways that ours was difficult let me show you how awesome, and INCREDIBLY FUN this project was. Seriously. Most fun I have had doing a craft in a while. Of course, it could be because I had company this time!

You will need:

• Crayons. Lots of crayons
• Hot glue gun (that you are willing to part ways with)
• Canvas(es)
• Heavy drop cloth you don't mind getting melted wax on
• Patience

We had two 7x14" canvases. The first canvas we used as an experiment canvas. We tested the different ways the wax melted and got used to "waxing." Of course, you could use a heavy piece of cardstock or cardboard to practice on, but our canvas came in a two-pack, so we figured, why not?

By laying the canvas flat and holding the gun perpendicular we were able to achieve a very cool splatter look. It was fun and stress relieving to just have at it. Then of course, we messed up our awesome painting by experimenting with the dripping effect, which is what we all see and love all over the internet (especially Pinterest).

While holding the canvas at various angles (we laid the end of the canvas on top of our upright crayon box) and pushing the crayon wax out at the top end of the canvas, we got that sought-after drip look. Hooray!

Now that we knew our way around this project, it was time to start the second canvas. Our goal was to create a tree - a weeping willow to be exact.

First, we used a light blue crayon to quickly mark of which areas we wanted to be background, tree trunk, and branches. We used several shades of blue in the splatter technique to create the background, a sky actually. While that wax was still hot we used a blue crayon and spread it out and mixed it up. Ended up pretty neat I think.

Next we began the tree trunk. Using about 8 crayons in various shades of brown we ran the crayon through the gun, moving it from side to side of the designated trunk space. When we had finished with all of the crayons, I used the hot tip of the hot glue gun to "carve" a heart in my tree trunk. Using the tip of the gun to remelt the wax is a great trick. If you have a big clump somewhere and you want to break it up, that's a great way to go about it.

Next, we flipped the canvas over so that the other end of the canvas was now propped up. We began dripping the greens out next so that the wax dripped towards the tree trunk. It took me about 2 crayons of green to flush all the brown out and then on top of that I used about 4 more. In other words, every single green and brown crayon went into this piece, and several of the blues too. Of course, we could have chosen to do reds & oranges and made the tree an autumn tree. (Hmm. Maybe I'll do that for my next one!) I tried to fill in as much of the white space as possible, but wasn't able to.

All in all, we were very pleased with how this crayon art (or "waxing") turned out. Though I burned my finger on hot wax, I think it was well worth it!

If you do attempt this, please be careful not to burn yourself and make sure you have something to protect the surface you are working on. Wax does come up, but this wax is HOT and could do heat damage.

Craft Tuesday: Christmas Card Ornaments

Do you have old Christmas cards that you can't seem to part with, but you really have no idea WHY you are keeping them?  I know lots of people that do and THIS is the perfect craft for all of us. Ornaments for your tree (or for a friends) that are so simple to make! Instead of old cards, I used some of the Christmas card fronts that National Geographic sends to lure you into buying their beautiful cards. It worked so well! Completely free, and I was using something I would have normally thrown away.

This idea I found originally on Martha Stewart's website, so I can't claim too much credit for "discovering" this craft, but I can take credit for doing it, successfully, and slightly modifying it. Hooray!

You will need:

• Christmas cards (or just their fronts)
• Hot glue gun (or other quick drying adhesive)
• Yarn/thread
• Small circle to trace
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Pen

Before beginning, let me tell you that the way I did this varies from Martha Stewart's "Holiday Card Ornments." I designed mine so that you can use 10 circles (1 card front) and not 20 circles. I did this just by cutting out the middle row of 10 circles. So if you want to make yours bigger, take a look at how she does it!

Pick your cards well. If you look at my selection of cards you'll see that I had some I did not end up using. They were fairly monochromatic- black and white, with a splash of red. Those pictures cut up wouldn't have looked as festive, so I skipped those and used the more colorful, detailed images.

Trace your stencil to create rows of circles on your card. I would suggest drawing the circles on the back of the picture so that you don't get pen marks on the pretty side. On each card I was able to fit 12  circles (3 rows of 4) and then choose my favorite 10 to use. Keep in mind what your picture looks like  and if there is one particular part of the picture you want to keep in tact. I made my circles about 2" big. If you have a circle cutter/punch then you can use that. Mine was not staying locked at 2" so I had to do it by hand with some good ol' Fiskars and it worked just as well, even though the edges weren't perfect.

After you cut out your circles, draw an equilateral triangle that fits inside your circles. Mine was about 1 1/2" on each side. It's easiest to make a triangle template out of paper or cardstock and then trace it onto each circle. These triangle lines will be the lines that you will fold on. If you have a scoring blade, score on these lines before folding them for a neater fold. Guess who doesn't have a scoring blade? Me! Still turned out fine, so don't worry about that. Once all of the triangles have been drawn/traced, fold towards the side of the card that you want to show (see picture above).

Now it's time to glue them together! I used my hot glue gun on a low heat setting and put a small dab on one flap of one circle, then stuck it to another circle, with 2 top points touching (think of the way pie or pizza slices meet in the middle). Create a rounded ring of 5 folded circles using this method then repeat. Once you have two pieces like this, use the hot glue to attach the available flaps to one another. Now your ornament in constructed! To really make your ornament polished looking, shellac it before moving on to the next step.

Next, use a small hole punch (like an eyelet hole punch) or a large needle to create a hole to thread pretty yarn or thick ribbon through. Tie it up and your ornament is complete.

Hang it on a tree, top a package, or give it to a friend! Hopefully you were as successful as I was, if not more so! I would love to see your completed ornaments or other Christmas card projects. Submit then for Let's Brag Thursdays and maybe you'll see them posted soon! :D Happy crafting!

 

Some other ideas:

• Every year when you send out a Christmas card, turn on of those cards into an ornament. On the string, attach a small piece of paper the says the year. This way you will have a collection of all your your Christmas cards too!
• Use these ornaments as jar/vase fillers, instead of the traditional glass ball ornaments.

Craft Tuesday: DIY Rope Pencil Holder

With only a few materials, you can make a pencil cup, bowl, anything really, following these steps. I was in need of a new pencil holder, but if you need something else, it's pretty easy to switch out your "mold."

You will need:
Rope (I used a thin hemp rope. The thicker, stronger the rope, the sturdier the cup or bowl)
Hot Glue Gun
Tape
A mold (a sturdy glass, like pyrex, cup or bowl)

Start by wrapping a piece of tape around the end of the rope, and cutting that taped piece in half. Set your hot glue gun on LOW. I started with mine on high and ending up getting big globs of glue (this could be because I used a small rope). Fold it over and place a dab of hot glue on and hold until it dries.

Begin looping the rope around, applying strips of hot glue about 1 inch long. Press the glued section down and apply more glue. Repeat until the size of your circle is 1 full rope width larger than your cup.

Now that you have reached this point, continue in the same fashion. Apply the glue in 2 inch strips.

Tap down the rope with something small. I used the wooden handle of one of my foam brushes.

Continue doing this, occassionally removing your glass mold, to prevent it form getting stuck in there permanently.

If you are doing a straight cylinder (like the vase I used) then you might not be able to get your mold back in all the way. That's fine, as long as you can get a portion of it in. If you are working with a bowl or something that gets wider as it goes up, you probably won't have to worry about that.

Once you reach your desired height (mine was 4 1/2" high) then tape and trim this end, and tuck it under, placing hot glue on the inside.

Ta-Dah! After it dries (which will be very quickly with hot glue), load up your pencils and enjoy!

You can use this same technique for many other projects, so use your imagination! Make a fruit bowl (out of heavier rope), or do a whole coordinating desk set (paper tray, paperclip holder, etc). Go nuts!

Craft Tuesday: Paper Towel Roll Upcylcing!

I use a lot of paper towels. Probably too many. I have been trying to cut back and use more dish towels, but sometimes it's just easier to use something disposable. So what to do with all these paper towel rolls? Hmm. How about I make some wall art!

I have seen it done before with toilet paper rolls, which are exactly the same material (and diameter), but the rolls are different lengths. Paper towel rolls are 11" long, while the toilet paper rolls are about 4.25" long. So, if you are cutting your rolls 1" thick, then that makes it a bit tougher, doesn't it? You end up wasting that little bit of roll... well, I suppose you aren't wasting it (it was trash previously), but you are making an unnecessary cut!

I made mine to hang in my bathroom, which is kind of my low-budget room. But once you get a glossy coat of spray paint on this bad boy, you can hang it anywhere!

For this project, you will need:

• 6 paper towel rolls (they're not all pictured. I used about 60 pieces, with 11 pieces per roll, I had some left over)
• Hot glue gun (a very strong crafting glue will work too)
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Pen/Pencil
• Spray paint (not pictured)

First, flatten your rolls. I dragged the ruler across the creases to make them neat and crisp. Mark off every inch on each side of the paper towel rolls, then connect the lines, creating 1" sections down the roll. Cut at each line.

This is where you can get creative. Play with what you want to do. Here are a couple of different designs I played with. I really like the random look. Just spread them out and then group them back together. You can adjust to make certain pieces do something specific, and then have random around it too.

Don't be afraid to cut the roll slices to different shapes and sizes to give it a layered look. The flower-like design that has the rolls cut in half looks really good. Imagine if you continued to add those halves. It would look like a rich, layered flower! Make sure to think about what colors you want. Do you want your whole piece to be one color? if so, you can wait until after you glue it all together to spray paint it. If you want individual pieces to be different colors (for example, if you are doing a grouping of four sets of four like in the last picture, maybe you want one of the sets of four to be a different color, whether it be the corner set or that center set) then you will need to spray paint the pieces before gluing them together.

After you decide on a design and how you are painting it, execute accordingly. If you are painting first, make sure to wait a full 24 hours before gluing. If you are gluing and then painting, make sure the glue is fully dry (which is pretty quick with hot glue) before painting.

It has been a busy, rainy week for me, so I have not had a chance to paint mine yet. As soon as I do I will post pictures of the finished project! Get excited!

Craft Tuesday: Hot Glue Gun Art

Okay. So I was on Pinterest (as I always am) and saw this GREAT idea to decorate old glass jars and bottles with your glue gun and then paint them! How awesome is that? Yah. Not that awesome as it turns out. The glue chips right off of the glass. So, the gears in my head start turning. What if you do it on a canvas? Hooray!

For this easy, quick project you will need:

• Hot glue gun
• Glue for your hot glue gun
• Canvas (I used a 12x12)
• Pencil
• Spray paint

After you decide on your design, use your pencil to sketch it onto the canvas.
Now, before you put the glue on the canvas, I would suggest tracing something to practice handling the glue gun. It helps me to hold it so the glue gun is at a 90 degree angle to the canvas. After you have the hang of it, go for it! Trace your pattern carefully.

The great thing about hot glue is that is dries SO quickly! Pick away those pesky little glue strings and make sure all your glue is dry, and then spray paint.

The finished project will look something like this! This one was actually painted with 3 or 4 coats of acrylic paint, which took FOREVER. I just didn't like the design nearly as much on the one I spray painted. Keep in mind I am not much of an artist when it comes to drawing, and of course this project does rely on a little bit of drawing talent... but if I could do it, I PROMISE that you can too.

This is just super easy and is a great thing to hang in bathrooms, hallways, and little kids rooms. Try doing a series of them, each one a different color with similar (or identical) designs. You can also tape the canvas off and do several colors on each canvas. The possibilities are endless, and I would love to see what you come up with! Submit pictures of your hot glue gun art and I will post them on Show-Off Thursday!