Melted Crayon Canvas Art

I've seen this idea floating around Pinterest for years, and I finally tried it out this weekend.  I wanted to make something artsy to decorate a little side room that is currently serving as Rhys's art room. I thought this idea would be a perfect fit, plus I was able to repurpose 3 canvases from his old nursery that have been sitting in his closet since our move!

Long story short: I love the end result, but this project does take some patience.  It takes a few minutes for the wax to heat up before it starts melting, but it's oh so satisfying when it finally does!

Materials
2 boxes of 64 crayons
3 white canvases (12x12 inches)
Glue gun
Hairdryer
Drop cloth or newspaper
Cardboard to help support the canvases

To start, I emptied my two packs of crayons and sorted them by color.  I left out most of the tan/brown crayons and the rest fit perfectly across the three canvases.

After I sorted the colors, I arranged them evenly across the top of the three canvases and started gluing them down.  I took off two crayons at a time and just made a small strip of glue to hold down each crayon. I tried my best to line up the wrappers to keep them all uniform.

Next, I took one canvas at a time and propped it against a piece of cardboard in the garage.  I put a drop cloth down to catch any wax that might spray, but I didn't have any problem with that.  I used the lowest setting on my hairdryer and focused on heating up 4-6 crayons at a time.  The high setting probably would have moved this along quicker, but it would've given a more splattered look instead of the cleaner lines I was trying to get.

I let the wax drip a few inches before moving on to the next group of crayons.  I kept the end of the hairdryer pointed at the tips of the crayons, so most of the lines dripped straight down.  Sometimes I used the hairdryer to help a streak of wax melt a little more, or to gently tap a crayon if the wax wasn't dripping.  Overall, it was a very easy project, but melting the wax takes some patience if you want it to drip in clean lines.

Here's the end result!! I love the way they turned out, but would have liked longer streaks if i'd had the patience to keep going :)

Also, shout out to my husband for finding this beautiful light by our office window and suggesting I shoot in here!

I could have taken pictures of these all day!  The colors look so beautiful!

Dr. Seuss Pillow Letters

A few months ago, I bought this Dr. Seuss fabric panel with the intent of making some sort of wall hanging for Rhys's new room.  It sat in my stock pile while I worked on other projects and I finally pulled it out this weekend!  Rhys loves playing with his felt toys while I'm in my craft room, so I decided to turn this panel into something he could play with.  I sorted through my felt stash and realized that I had felt colors to match the letter block colors!  I think these would have been super cute with a white Dr. Seuss Fabric (here or here) as a backing instead of felt, but I love the pop of the contrasting colors on the back!

This was such an easy project!  I cut the letters out into 6x6 inch blocks, and then cut 26 squares of felt in the same size.  I pinned a felt piece to the front of each letter, then sewed around all four sides of the letter block, leaving a small opening to turn each block right side out.  This is a great beginner's sewing project, because you can just follow along the straight edge of the letter like the green U block below.

Here are a few pictures I took with my cell phone during the process.

Once I sewed all 26 pairs of letters and felt, I cut off all the corners and turned them right side out.  I stuffed all of them with poly fill and then parked myself in front of the TV while I hand stitched the openings closed.  I love the way they turned out and I can't wait to give them to Rhys for his birthday!

Little Princess Busy Mat

This is the first item I'm sharing that will be listed for sale in a future Etsy shop!  Woo hoo!  I am slowly building a stock of things to sell, including some felt food and more play mats.  I was hoping to open it this summer, but personal projects and planning for Rhys's birthday have slowed my progress.  I finished this mat a few weeks ago and couldn't wait to share it!

This mat is a little different from others that I've made.  I put a layer of quilt batting in between the felt and cotton to give it more body, and I used satin ribbon to tie the mat closed.  There are four activities to keep busy little girls entertained.  The felt shapes velcro onto their matching shapes or can be stored in the pocket .  The I Spy window is made with clear vinyl and there are 5 princess icons hidden in the beads.  The three zippers are great for little fingers (Rhys loves them!) and the strings of beads include three animal beads and are secured to the mat with eyelets.

PS - I'm in love with this princess crown fabric and I'm also making a blue and pink version that will be listed as well!  Keep an eye out at the end of summer and hopefully I'll have a shop open!