Marvelously Messy : crayon

Sunday, June 27, 2010

4th of July Craft Collection

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I've been busy as a bee making some 4th of July Crafts, wanna see??

Rag Wreath and Ra Ra

Tin Can Craft

Iris Folding Star Craft

Here's a simple Betsy Ross-ish flag ( I made 12 stars instead of the traditional 13). For this craft all you need is:

Small rectangular piece of wood

red, white, umber, and blue paint

paintbrush

I just found a good picture of a Betsy Ross flag and went to town. I sketched it briefly with a pencil and then painted the stripes area all white and the stars area all blue, letting the areas dry before adding any more. Then, I added red stripes and white stars. I did this on all sides of the wood block for some consistency. When everything was dry, I did mixed some raw umber and water and did a light wash over the whole piece to give it some aging. I let is dry and Voila!! All done.

Just today I made a little 3d star garland. Simple and easy. HERE is the link for the 5 point star pattern. It's really basic and if you have the time I am sure you can do something A LOT better than what I did. Still, it's fun!!

Last but not least is a fun one for kiddo's. I currently host a craft time at my local library and this was our most recent project (that we'll finish this week). What you need to make it is:

Crayons

Card Stock

Black Paint

Color a piece of card stock with as much crayon color as you can like this:

You want every bit of paper showing through covered with crayon. Once finished, paint it entirely with black paint and let it dry. Once it is completely dry, use something pointy to scratch your design on the surface. I went for fireworks to go with the 4th of July theme. The trick to this craft is that the paint cannot adhere to the wax from the crayons, so it is easily etched away. Fun, eh??

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Friday, May 14, 2010

Sandpaper Crayon Craft

Here's a little craft that my Munchkin and I enjoyed today. I found an article here on how to do crayon transfers with sandpaper and regular crayons. Our house is filled with thousands of lounging crayons bits just waiting to be crafted into something new. This was the craft for us!!

What you need:

Sandpaper

Crayons

Fabric

Iron

Tinfoil

Start by making a crayon drawing on the sandpaper and be sure to press down HARD. You want that paper covered with wax.

Iron your fabric to get all the wrinkles out and then flip the design over. Put a piece of tinfoil that is slightly bigger than your design under it to make sure that the wax doesn't seep into the back layer of the fabric (if you're doing a shirt). Get that iron out and iron away. Try not to put it on the "charbroil" setting (like I did).

The Munchkin made this. Too cute!!!

I worked on some butterflies. I wanted to try a Morpho (since they've been on my mind recently ).

I made a fun selection and placed them on the shirt, colored side down. Then I ironed away. Have you seen my iron?? It's awesome. Goodwill, of course. :-)

Once you've ironed the drawing, gently peel it away and let the fabric cool. To wash fabric with crayon transfers, you *can* use a washing machine on cold....but I would reccomend handwashing with cold water and setting it out to dry. Do NOT put one in your dryer. Nope, nope, nope. Bad idea.

You can see that the Morpho didn't quite come out as well as it could have. I think it *MAY* have had to do with the fact that I used a variety of crayons....some name brand and some not. I would suggest trial and error to see which produce the best results for you. I, only the other hand, was not paying enough attention. :-)

This is a great kiddo craft, except for the ironing. Make sure that there is an adult around to use the iron....other than that, you're good to go!!