This year’s melted crayon art turned out pretty well. Students turned in old crayons and I took them home to bake in cupcake pans.   Last year we made Valentine heart versions, but this year I explained that teachers would love some flowers, too.  I think ours are pretty enough to give Martha Stewart’s crayons a run for their money.

Getting the paper off the crayons can be annoying. They come off of Crayola brand crayons the easiest, and soaking them in a bit of water helps too. Some of the hearts have defined layers, to achieve that effect allow the first layer to melt then add more crayons on top and bake longer.   Happy melting!

I have a well loved personal library for myself and one for my kids, but both are far too full lately. I decided to clean out a bit and with the spruce up came an idea for some bookends. Part of the fun in making something new is to do it with materials you already have. We have so many plastic animals that I thought I’d borrow a few for a new color and place to hang out. The bookends are empty boxes from our pantry wrapped in some colorful wrapping paper. If your books are too heavy you might want to fill the boxes with sand or a rock or two, we have a load so we did. I also reorganized a bit by size though I know little hands will be pulling them several ways. The animals were painted with craft paint, sealed, then hot glued to the top but can come off easily when we change things. What are you sprucing up this week?