Valentine's Day Craft: Crayon Hearts

I think we all have, at some time or another, made something like these in grade school.  For some reason, the fascination of being able to turn ordinary wax crayons into pieces of art ("pieces of art" is being used liberally here of course) has never ceased to amaze me - maybe I'm just a simple kind of gal?  They look really pretty when the sun is out, but true to form the sun wasn't cooperating when I was taking the picture (sigh.)

Any old crayons will do, but be forewarned, the shaving of the crayons takes a few minutes and little people get impatient quickly when something interesting is at their fingertips, so distraction is key!  Um, gotta love those old Superman cartoons!

There was some grumbling from the little fellas about the fact that we were working with pink crayons ("but Mama, pink is for girls!"), but once they got over that hurdle and realized doing this craft meant getting "dirty" by playing with all the crayon shavings, they were more than willing :o)

So, after your shavings are ready you need to create a heart template to trace later on.  A quick way to get an even shaped heart is by folding your paper in half and drawing only half of the heart's shape.

For each heart, you will need two pieces of wax paper (to sandwich the shavings between).  It is really important to make sure that all the shavings are at least 2" from the perimeter of the wax paper.  If not, then the wax will bleed out from between the wax paper sheets when you iron (that gets really messy, and can permanently stain).   

I used an old towel on top of the ironing board, then a layer of newspaper.  Then I placed the two layers of wax paper (with the shavings between) on top.  Cover that with another layer of newspaper, then iron the top newspaper.  Check after 15-20 seconds to see if your crayon shavings have melted.  

If you want a more transparent "stained glass", iron longer (but don't forget it will bleed out of the wax paper more too).  Next take a Sharpie marker and trace around the outline of the heart.  Then cut it out.

Punch a hole then thread a strand of ribbon through and then hang it in your window.

Of course, no one can do it quite like Martha (look how perfectly hers are hung!):

Check out this idea for a quick Valentine's Day treat bag!

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