Making crayon fun!

For some of my Christmas presents I made my nieces an art smock and wanted to add something else with a personal/crafty touch. Rather than buy new crayons, I raided my crayon stash at work (I'm a full time teacher, so there were plenty of broken crayons in my classroom.) and had the kids peel off the paper for me. I took some silicone ice cube/baking trays from the local dollar store (and some borrowed from a friend) and made my own homemade crayons!

Note: This project did get a bit messy with crayon bits all over my kitchen floor and under my nails, so be prepared to clean up.

I baked mine for about 25 minutes about 200 degrees.

1- Peel crayons, break into small pieces and sort into colors. Or you can mix up the colors if you like.

2- Employ small children to help you break them- oh, so much fun!- and then sort them. Talk about a learning game.....productive and entertaining for mom and kids!

3- Lay out your trays on top of a cookie sheet or flat baking surface so it easier to remove.

 

4- Let your crayons cool in the pans and harden. then carefully pop them out.

5- Sort them out into little plastic baggies and you've got a great little gift!

 

 

Traveling with a Toddler Part 2: Coloring on the Go

So after showing off the Dino Land Travel Mat, I thought I would keep going with "Traveling with a Toddler" series. For today we have the FOLD & GO ART WALLET. 

This art kit is great to use while in restaurants or even waiting rooms. 

Disclaimer: If you want to make one of these for your own personal enjoyment, or that of your little one, or for gifts, go ahead. If you are making these for resale, please be kind enough to give credit of the design to The Woobie Shop and to buy the pattern for commercial resale. ~ Thanks. 

Here's how to make one of your own: 

1- Cut two pieces of fabric (7" x 11.5")  to be your base layers.

Then cut two pieces of interfacing (7"x11"). One piece is fusible fleece, the other piece is a light weight interfacing. Fuse both pieces of interfacing to the wrong sides of the base fabric. 

2- Cut out a piece of coordinating fabric (7" x 8") to be your pocket for crayons. Fold the fabric in half to become 7" x 4" and line it up so the folded edge is at the top of the pocket and all raw edges are touching. Use the piece of base fabric which has the lightweight interfacing on it. 

3- Use a chalk pen and measure from the left edge .5" and mark a line, then measure 2.5" mark a line, repeat 2.5", and then repeat again.

4- Pin the fabrics together and sew along the chalk lines to make the pockets. 

5- Take a piece of coordinating fabric (5.25" x 8.5") and fold it in half so it becomes 5.25" x 4.25". Stitch with a 1/4" seam allowance along both side seams, snip the corners (see picture below), turn it out and press.

 

6- Place the paper pocket about 3/4" away from the right side raw edge, pin it where you want it and then stitch up both side edges to secure it in place. 

 

7- Take the other piece of fabric (with the fusible fleece fused to it) and place it right side up. About 1.5" from the right side sew into place the large button for closure. 

8- Now lay the fabrics together with right sides touching. You want the button on the front piece to be touching the crayon pockets of the other piece. Pin the fabrics together and insert an elastic band between the fabrics opposite of the button with a little piece of the elastic sticking out. 

9- Sew along all the sides with a 1/2" seam allowance and leave about a 2" opening so you can turn it out. Snip your corner edges, turn out the fabric, press with a hot iron to get out the wrinkles and fold over the opening. 

10- Top-stitch around the entire perimeter of the art wallet with a 1/4" seam allowance to secure the opening you had and give it a finished look. 

11- I used mini colored pencils instead of crayons, but you can fill yours with crayons, mini-twistable crayons, or mini-markers for the writing utensils. I also bought mini-notepads at Wal-Mart in a packet of 3 or 4.

Enjoy! We sure do!