they don't teach this in kindergarten

Winter is often a strange time for me.  Even though the weather has been awesome (60 degrees in December?!), I have still been a little bored and stir-crazy.  Usually, when the colder months come rolling in, I get my craft on.  I have been seeing a lot of people posting on Pinterest and other sites (here and here) about melted Crayon art.  I really like the way all of the colors blend together, and I knew I had to try it!  You simply use a hot glue gun to affix naked crayons onto a canvas and prop the canvas up at a little bit of an angle.  Then, use a hair dryer to melt the crayons into oblivion. 

I opted to paint the canvas black to add more contrast.  And I only picked out the colors I liked, instead of going for the rainbow effect.  The results?  I love it!  I just don't think this is what my Kindergarten teacher had in mind when we had "Crayon Time" in the classroom. 

Here are some helpful tips I found along the way:
1. Use a diffuser, otherwise the wax will splatter all over the place. 
2. Take your time!  You can have a little more control over the final product by directing the hairdryer in the direction you want the wax to run. 

Artsy Crafty Photographic Awesomeness

I love to create, whether it be food, clothes, knitted wonders, art, jewelry, music or what-have-you.  There is just something about combining the thoughts in your head and the hands you were born with to manifest something that was not previously there that is intriguing, mysterious, and fulfilling.  When it comes to gifts, it also adds a little "Bam!" that you can't buy in a store. 

For Matt's birthday last year, I wanted to give him something especially awesome.  Family is very important to him, and I came up with the greatest idea!  Off to Hobby Lobby I went and bought black resin letters that spell out our last name.  I set up my tripod and had each of us hold one of the letters in our hands and...Voila!!

One awesome picture!  The floating frame works great for this display, but you could use individual frames or a sectioned frame as well!