When I was growing up, Valentine's Day was pretty low key at my primary (elementary) school. I don't remember anyone getting a Valentine card. After all, Valentine cards were only given to someone that you wanted to be your Valentine and most of us were too busy playing British Bulldog to worry about that sort of thing. It probably didn't help that I had short hair (mum said I was less likely to get nits that way) and was occasionally mistaken for a boy... .
Things are different for my two kids. The American way seems to be that everyone gives everyone else in their class a Valentine. So that's about 32 Valentines this year. So I'm getting an earlier start than last year.
.
Project #1: crayon hearts for my daughter's preschool class (instructions can be found here). I found the silicone heart baking tray on clearance at Michaels. Crayons came from the big bag of broken crayon pieces that is around here somewhere. I cut the pieces up further into more equal parts, but I don't know if that helped.
Pop in the oven, melt, cool and voilà:
I've still got lots of broken crayon bits left over. Maybe my son's kindergarten class might get some, too. Looks like I also need to give my kids lessons on not pressing so bloomin' hard when colouring with crayons...
.
No translation of the day today. I'd better clean up a bit around here if I want to stand a chance of getting a Valentine from my husband. That, and my mum has started reading my blog and, just like that, I can't think of any nice clean English slang off the top of my head... Hi mum.
.
PS. Both times my hard drive crashed I lost a bunch of my links. If you are wondering why you haven't heard from me in ages, please drop me a new comment: there's loads of blogs that I can not remember the addresses for and would like to read again. Thanks.
now THIS is a great idea for valentines for small kids. drat. just when i've already gone and bought the transformers punch-outs. well, i'll tuck it away for another time. i still need to try to churn out one of your little houses for elle's bday in april and i know how quickly that will roll around. stop giving me ideas!!!! ;-)
ReplyDeleteYour crayon cookies are terribly cute. I've been wanting to try it, but I'm a little concerned about ruining a pan and also being able to get the cookies out. I'll have to check my Michaels for clearance silicone!
ReplyDeleteDrats, my children are not breaking their crayons fast enough for me to make these. I did make three circle ones last year and that's all the crayon bits we have. We've put away the crayons for a while because the smallest is at the Choking Hazard Age and likes eating crayons. I am coveting the cute ones you made - lucky friends, your daughter's.
ReplyDeleteOh I love the crayon hearts! Once Brice has bits of broken crayon all over i'm going to make some! It's so nice to see that you got to blog again. You should head on over to Google Reader (www.google.com/reader) and get all of your blogs in there. That way you don't have to worry about losing blogs. And it tells you when a new post has been done instead of clicking on a blog a lot. ;)
ReplyDeleteThese look great! I've read about doing this project several times, but never thought they would turn out so cute.
ReplyDeleteBTW- you always crack me up with your husband's-coming-better-look-busy comments. I can SO relate! ;)
Great to have you back in blogland!!!
ReplyDeleteSuch a great idea with the crayons.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI've done the melted crayon thingy, but I used my wax double boiler that I use for candles, and I found that my silicone mould got quite stained. Did you have any problem doing it this way? And can you share what UK setting I should have my oven at?
Ta very much!
Very cute!! I might try this one out too!
ReplyDeleteFantastic crayon hearts - I'm sure all the kids will love them. x
ReplyDeleteMy daughter's turning 3 at the end of the month - these will be great for party bags, thank you!
ReplyDeleteOhh! Did not think of using these! I have used candy molds prior to this!. Great Idea!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE this project! I used to be a lead teacher in a school age child care classroom and the kids ADORED making these. What a sweet idea for Valentines!
ReplyDeleteThose hearts are so cute! We are totally making them this weekend so thanks for the "recipe" :).
ReplyDeleteMy 8year old son said "wow" and thought we must buy a heart shaped cake tray just for the job! so they must be good.
ReplyDeleteThose hearts look great. I've made them with disposable foil cup cake pans but they weren't nearly as cute as that!
ReplyDeleteooh they are fantastic!! I have some crayons left over from my son's childhood. Being a big 13 year old now, he's FAR too old to use them and merely looks distainfully at them when I suggest he uses them. Lucky I have neices and nephews to pass on nice newly formulated crayons to! x
ReplyDeleteYou must have way better quality crayons than us - we tried it a few month back, and the blessed things smelled bad, and then fell apart! And we have tons of the stupid broken bits.
ReplyDeleteI might try again now I've seen your fabulous efforts! Once more into the breach.....
Funnily enough, we were talking about these just today. Tiny Small wants to make some more ...
ReplyDeleteI have wanted to make something similar for a while now, but your heart versions are DARLING. What a perfect valentine gift for classmates. Well done.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the crayon idea!! WOW! They look fantastic!
ReplyDeleteHappy Valentines!
:)S
What a sweet idea! It would be nice to wrap them up in pink tissue paper and give them as gifts.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the inspiration!
Mary
Greetings form the UK. This is a genius idea, simply but soooooo much fun! I am definately going to try these.
ReplyDeleteNina
We did these a lot using all kinds of molds. Years of busted crayons - the thing is no one ever did anything with the cute molded crayons. But they were fun to make.
ReplyDeleteI had short hair as a youngster and was frequently mistaken for a boy. Once even in college when I worked as a "busboy" I had short hair, and we had to wear a white shirt and black pants. A few customers thought I was a lad. Tells you how flat chested I am as well doesn't it?
Lovely crayons. Hooray for British Bulldogs, we used to play this too, bet it wouldn't be allowed these days on health and safety grounds :)
ReplyDeletetwiggy x
Now I finally know what to do with that silicone heart muffin tray I was given a few years back... Love the read and yellow heart crayon.
ReplyDeleteI mean red and yellow...
ReplyDeleteI tried something similar with crayons a long time ago. being me, I wasn't too careful with it and mixed all the colours up thinking we'd get a lovely rainbow effect. Doh! It ended up looking like something you don't want me to describe - lol! I think yours are great. How do you feel about your mum reading your blog? Only my hubby knows about my blog and he never reads it!
ReplyDeletethis is a great idea! I love the idea of giving these as valentines!
ReplyDeleteTo avoid the thing you don't want to describe color, be sure to avoid mixing any complimentary colors like blue and orange, red and green, or yellow and purple, which all create brown when mixed. Staying in the same color range, either warn or cool will probably produce better results like the ones here that are so impressive.
ReplyDeleteLove the blog by the way. I especially loved the fabric dollhouse. I wish I could sew this for my niece(my daughter is too old)- alas I do not sew. I could draw her a picture of it though!
Feel free to drop by my blog anytime and borrow if you find anything useful!
PS I love the way your accent comes right through in you writing!
A huge improvement over the candy that so many kids hand out at our school (nice idea, but multiplied by the size of a class and suddenly it's Halloween all over again). Dean has been thinking about making bookmarks to hand out but needs to make his mind up soon....
ReplyDeleteI love these hearts- what a fab idea!
ReplyDeleteJust discovered your blog and have thoroughly enjoyed seeing what you make and your wonderful translations. I am also an English woman living abroad and the fanny pack shocked me too the first time I heard it!
ReplyDeleteI hope that those Valentine hearts are a success.
I love the whimsical nature of your craft projects and your blog. I'm adding it to my favorites list. Thanks for sharing so many warm thoughts!
ReplyDeleteI've always wanted to make these but can't bring myself to break up perfectly good crayons. Maybe some day.
ReplyDeletecute idea! Everyone has Valentines on their brain. I posted mine today too. Snails and lollipop flowers!
ReplyDeleteDon't leave us hanging with the translation of the day.......we all LOVE THAT!
This is such a cute idea. It would make a great gift instead of giving candy. Do you mind if I mention it on my blog on Friday?
ReplyDeleteThis is such a cute idea. I tried it once but alas the mould tray I used was apparently not silicone. The results were...just plain gross!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog and leaving the helpful hints about the crayons!!!
ReplyDeleteplus...re your latest comment....Imagine that ! I didn't think you'd get creme eggs over there!
Crayon hearts, how gorgeous! I just ran a post on this exact same melty crayon thing, how funny. I think I, quite possibly, enjoyed it more than the kids.
ReplyDeletewhat a great idea for all the bits and pieces of crayon laying around my house :P thanks! great idea to recycle and reuse...kudos!
ReplyDeleteVery clever idea. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete