Crayons

Crayons, how lonely they must feel

Stuck in that shaggedy old box;

But when someone uses one

How beautiful that picture becomes

Oh, crayons what a beautiful thing they can be.

                -Parker Travis

My brother wrote that poem when he was in early elementary school and my parents have had it framed in their house for years now. When I decided to tackle the project you're about to see, this poem came to mind and I wanted to include it somehow. I tried to cut the letters out using vinyl and my cricut dicut machine that I use for scrapbooking and making cards, but the letters didn't stick to the wax, so I think I have to scratch the poem from the project. He'll be happy about it because he wasn't excited about me using it anyways. In fact, when I asked if I could use it, he said, "you would really embarrass me like that?" Anyways, I saw this project online and loved the look of it. Take a look, see what you think!

I got a new canvas and a new box of 64 crayons. I layed the crayons out in color order that I wanted to use on the canvas and I got to hot gluing them onto the canvas.

Then I heated the crayons so that they melted down from the wrappers. I first tried the sun, but the heat wasn't direct heat and it didn't melt the crayons to the point that they were dripping. After the sun failed me, I got my hair dryer AND sat in the sun blow drying the crayons for about 20 minutes until I was happy with the way the "mixed wax" looked. There were a few times that I was going to stop because some of the crayons were completely coming out of the sleeve {just keep an eye on the ones you're heating directly}. The hotter the crayons are, the better they drip. I also found that heating the "body" of the crayon, and not just the point of the crayon provided better results.
A few notes to those of you who may get crafty and try this out:*When blow drying, make sure the canvas is as horizontal as it can be so the wax drips easier. *Make sure the hair dryer is pointed straight on the canvas, not at an angle because the wax will splatter in different directions instead of dripping straight down. *The longer you blow dry, the more the colors will mix together. When you start, the colors will not mix, but just drip straight down, give it time! 

Enjoy your craft time! I'm going to hang ours above Eden's coloring table in the living room {with hopes that I can put her coloring table in it's own room with her toys upon another move}