DIY Crayon Garland

DIY Crayon Garland

Jenny of Hank + Hunt is a mom of two boys and a crafter extraordinaire!

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The boys and I really wanted to decorate for Valentine’s Day, but it is hard to find fun decorations. I was trying to think of something the boys would be able to help with, since they are 4 and almost 6 now and I want to start including them in our decorating. As I was putting away some party stuff the other day, I noticed some glassine bags. I pondered if the glassine was really just waxed paper, and it turns out they were! I’m not sure why I never really made the connection before.

I started thinking about waxed paper and the crayon art that my son Henry made in preschool, and decided to give it a try. The craft at school ended up muddled a bit, so we filtered the colors we used, and included some awesome neon crayons to make a pretty garland to chase away the grey days we have here in Seattle. We ended up with a Valentine’s Day garland that isn’t just “pink with girly hearts” as the boys described it, and I think it looks like watercolors. Win-win.

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You will need:

• crayons in similar shades (light and dark versions contrast best)
• old scissors
• glassine bags
• twine
• transparent tape
• paper towels
• iron

Peel away all of your wrappers. Cut the crayon at an angle to make thin shavings. Thick chunks should be recut or they will take too long to melt.

Fill your bag with almost a teaspoon, or a few hefty pinches, of a light color. Tap into one corner of the bag. Fill the other corner with a few pinches of a second, darker color. Tap the bag to get all of the shavings towards the bottom of the bag.

Set out a double layer of paper towels. Preheat your iron to your highest dry setting. Tap your bag to disperse the shavings and lay flat. Cover with a second double layer of paper towel and press the iron down. Move in small circular motions, checking regularly to see if the shavings are completely melted. If you have gaps, you can use the iron to gently press the melted wax towards missed edges or create the cool pooled edges at the top. We filled a bunch of bags first and then did my ironing all at once. It is messy, especially with kids, so do this over a hard kitchen floor to make it a simple clean up.

I trimmed off the curved tops of the bags and folded the top about 1/2 an inch down. I folded that in half again, inserted the twine and taped it down. I repeated this with my remaining “buntings” and immediately hung it in our dining room window. It helped our lovely view of the neighbor’s fall gardening.

We have a bunch of non-valentine’s colors picked out for our adventure today. This garland is simple, easy and so pretty in person. The pictures just don’t do it justice!

Original article and pictures take www.hellobee.com site