Upcycle Crayons into Unique Art

When I first saw this idea on Pinterest, I knew I had to try it. I'm a teacher, so worn-out crayons are plentiful in my life. :)

Time: 10-30 minutes

Supplies

Painted and dried canvas

old crayons

paint

hot glue gun

hair dryer

print-off of the image you want to use

Mod-Podge 

Steps:

1. Hot glue crayons onto the top of canvas 

2. Put your hair dryer on the hottest setting and hold close to crayons 

3. Continue melting until you get the look you want (I was so surprised by how fast they melted!) 

4. Cut out desired photo, paint it if necessary, and mod-podge it onto canvas (*note* it may be better to do this step before melting crayons) 

5. Let Dry then add whatever words you desire to the canvas 

Interchangeable Frames

My honey and I just got our engagement photos back, and we greatly needed a way to display them. Aaron mentioned that it would be cool if we had a way to change them easily since we have so many, so I got to work making these cute interchangeable photo frames.

Time: 10 minutes per frame

Supplies:
Old or cheap (Dollar Store!) frames
Spray Paint
Block letters (used for jewelry making and only $3 at Wal-Mart)
Hot glue gun
thick paper or fabric (I saw some really cute burlap ones on Pinterest)
Office Supply clips

Steps:

1. Spray paint frames and clips
2. Cut paper or fabric to size using the back of frame for a guide
3. Glue letters on paper or  fabric
3. Once the clips are dry, glue them onto the center of frame
3. Hang with ribbon

I made 8 of them to display down my hall, and I love them!

Upcycled Craft Night Bag

After 

This past Saturday, I went to a workshop by Stay Makes Cents. As parting gifts, she gave us these useful grocery bags:

Inspired by her talk on saving money, I decided not to purchase a much needed craft-bag to carry to my monthly Whichcrafters meeting (I've been hauling supplies in Wal-Mart bags for 6 months). Instead, I made my own out of our free grocery bag!

Time: 15 minutes

Supplies:

Recycled grocery bag 

Paint

Fabric scraps

buttons

hot glue gun (or sew) 

Steps:

1. Tape off the area that you want to cover

2. Paint area

3. While paint is drying, make a fabric flower (click here for the directions that I followed)

4. Glue flower on bag and decorate with buttons. 

5. Paint the words "Create" or "Make" or "Crafty" on the bag 

6. Let dry and then it's ready to go! 

Whichcrafters: Feather Hair Pieces

No, these aren't homemade fishing lures, but they will indeed attract some attention! These feathery beauties are 15 or so hair pieces that were made at last night's craft club!

As you can see, we each put our own personalities into them, but here are the basic steps to create your own. If you need some more inspiration, check out this fashion article from Redbook.

Time:
10 minutes each (you will make more than one, trust us.)

Supplies:

Feathers
Felt
Hot-glue gun
Quilting clip (aka hair clip or bobby pin)
Something decorative (pieces off of broken jewelry (Ashlyn's idea), buttons (Pinterest's idea), or pearls (April's idea)

Steps:
1. Cut a tiny piece of felt and hot-glue it to a hair clip (if you are using a bobby pin, skip this step)
2. Once dry, glue feathers on top of the felt
3. Once dry, glue something decorative on top of the feathers
4. If you are using bobby pins, cut two tiny slots in another piece of felt and slide bobby pin through

*Keep in mind to glue the feathers in the direction you want to insert your hair clip*

We had such a fun time making these, and we all wore ours to work today! :)

Check out our craft club page at: Whichcrafters