Mystery Cards Tutorial

I found this idea in a book called Make Cards (c 1992) by Kim Solga.

The only supplies needed are: cards (or paper folded into a card shape), a black marker, a black crayon & whatever you choose to draw or create with: crayons/paints/colored markers.

Simply color, paint or draw a design using your medium of choice. Leave an area open in your design for the "secret" message or picture. Here my 5 year old drew a cat. Use a black marker to write your message/picture. Pazely's secret picture is a rat inside the cat's mouth.

Now, color over your secret picture/design with a black crayon, pressing hard to cover the area completely.

This is how Pazely's crazy-neon-cat-thingie turned out.

The recipient of your card will need to use a coin to rub away the crayon & reveal the secret hidden message/picture.

Here's more of my mystery card gallery...

I used watercolors to create a polka-dotted tea cup. The message reveals plans for a tea party!

A secret meeting. Shhh!
Here is a pink stove with a secret message baking inside!

"You're sweeter than a cupcake!"

You could even create riddles with hidden answers.

What did the banana do when it saw the ice cream?

(Answer: It split!)

What a fun idea this would make for party invitations! It will also be perfect for some fun school lunchbox ideas I'm trying to gather for the coming school year! Really, a mysterious & secret card is perfect for any day!

**I also wanted to mention that I always try to reference a project or activity shown on my blog to its original creator (or the source I received the idea from) if it is not my own creative idea.

♥

Molded Crayon Tutorial

Today I had some more crayon fun! This time, I made crayons inside shaped molds--like a candy or candle mold. An ice cube tray would also work. This process is a little more involved than the muffin tin method, but it's still fun.

You'll need to gather tin cans. I also used one of the many rectangular shaped flavored coffee tins I have laying around. Peel your crayons & break them into bits. Toss the pieces into your cans.

You'll be creating a makeshift double boiler. Fill a saucepan with water & set your cans, filled with crayons, inside. I didn't have very many crayons inside my cans, so they kind of bobbed around. That's OK. Bring the water to a boil & then simmer.

I used a plastic knife to slightly stir the crayons & make sure the chunks were melting.

When your crayons are melted, get ready to pour them into your molds. The cans will be SUPER hot, so be careful & use a hot pad or oven mit. I found an inexpensive mold at the thrift store. This design wouldn't have been my first pick if I had a choice, but it does scream "summer!" so that's cool.

Now don yer mitts & pour away. Make sure it's on a flat surface. Those blue dollops on the mold are from the previous owners candle mess.

Let the mold set for several minutes. I poured a few colors into the dolphin mold. In using this method I found that the colors weren't as swirly & cool looking in the end product as they were in the muffin tin method. You COULD pour in a few different colors in the same mold & get a similar "swirly" look though. I think that was my problem--melted crayons burning my fingers in one hand, & the camera in the other.

Here's a view of the bottom as they're drying. Set the mold in your fridge or freezer until the crayons completely harden. Your molded creations will come right out when they're done!


Ta-Da!! I'm happy with the way they turned out! I'm definitely thinking of favors in goodie bags for kid's parties---you can get molds in a numerous amounts of designs. Oooh...what about a cupcake crayon????!!! I'd have waxy colored teeth for sure.

Cool Chunky Crayons Tutorial

I've been having so much fun this summer making all these creative projects that I've been wanting to try for a while. And this "Summer Fun Idea" tutorial is no exception! I made some giant crayons--I call them "color cakes" with some old crayons I bought at a thrift store. Two dollars & 50cents got me about 300 crayons. And yes, I counted them. I'm weird like that.


This is such a super easy project. I love crayons. But I found out that I love NAKED crayons even better!! They are so vibrant!


I actually have a thumbnail injury from peeling off so many crayon wrappers. So pace yourself & take breaks as necessary.

My girls helped me with this project. It was a great mellow craft to do--especially with my youngest one, who just had surgery on Monday & is still recovering & needs to not be active. She loved helping me peel the paper. We thought the paper scraps looked cool too!

Once you have your crayons peeled, grab a large or mini muffin tin. You can create whatever color combos you want. Break up the crayons & fill it to the top. To make "color cookies" (you'll see them later on) just fill up about 1/3 of the muffin tin.



Here's the mini muffin tin. I would recommend not using your muffin tins again to bake edible goodies in. Keep one strictly for messy craftin'. So, this would be a great excuse to head to the thrift store or a yard sale & pick up a used one!

If you'd like to, you can add ultra fine glitter to your mound of broken crayons. Oooh look! Pink & glitter....two of my favorite things!


Here are the crayons all ready to hop in the oven!

I'm pretty sure I baked my crayons at too hot of a temperature. I am impatient. I baked it at 350degrees. It didn't take long for the crayons to melt. If you cannot keep an eye on your crayons at all times, then lower the temp to about 225 or so & check on it every few minutes. If your pans are not non-stick put a SUPER TINY amount of non-stick spray in the muffin tin.

I pulled out the mini crayon biscuits to show what they looked like "mid-melt".

And here they are all melted! Let them cool for a few minutes.

This is what it will look like as it's setting. Now you can stick it in the freezer to COMPLETELY harden. The cold will also pull the crayons away from the sides of the pan & they'll pop right out!

Here are the finished color cakes.

Here are the color biscuits (made from the mini muffin tin). That pink & brown combo is my favorite!

The second row from the top shows the color cookies.

Pazely tried them out right away! YAY! They work!

These crayons are especially great for making crayon rubbings. We put different leaves & grass under the paper & rubbed with the new crayons.

Have fun creating your own crazy color combos!!