Crayon you be my valentine?

I've been obsessed with making my own crayons for a year or so, and Valentine's Day 2012 motivated me to buy the molds and jump in. We bought 3 kinds of silicone molds (they're chocolate molds) on Amazon--hearts, dinos, and the Alphabet.

Essentially all you have to do is peel the labels off all of your gross, stubbly crayons (you know you have buckets of 'em), and put them in the molds. We like to group like colors together. That way, you get a pretty harmonious marbled effect, instead of a crayon that looks like mixed up playdoh (you know what I'm talking about. Blech.). About 10 minutes in a 250 degree oven, then let the wax cool and pop them out. Super easy, but wow! I am in love with the outcome! (Note: It can be longer than 10 minutes (and in the case of the dinos and letters we needed longer and had to keep adding crayons so there would be enough wax), but you start to lose your marbled effect after that point.)

So I saw some crayon hearts floating around pinterest, and decided to make valentine crayons for Blaine's Kindergarten class. The fun thing is that he was totally into it, so it really became a family project, not just Mom doing something cute (you know what I'm talking about). In the meantime, I had recruited design help from Emily Yates, Design Goddess (I just named you that, Emily, how do you like it?). She created the darling labels. So, in the end, we gave hearts to the girls, dinos to the boys, and letters for the teacher and her aide--Mrs. B. and Mrs. Q.

Aren't they so fun?! We were thrilled with them and can't wait to use them in later years with the other boys. And I have all sorts of ideas swirling in my head now that I can make my own crayons...

As for me, I made my valentine a few little heart notes, and stuck them to the wall with red polka-dotted washi tape. They were mostly sentimental, with a little steamy mixed in.

Re-cap of V-day Party 2012 soon!

xo,

anne

Artists' Notes

#1. Yesterday afternoon while we waited for our pizza dough to rise, we painted.

Artists' mother: "Wow Blaine, that looks nice."
Artist: "Heavenny Father would say, 'Wow Bane, what are you painting?' And I would say to Heavenny Father, 'I’m painting a dinosaur.'"

#2. For Katie, and anyone else interested, here is a closeup of the egg. I put a glob of hot glue on the egg, stick both ends of the ribbon to it, and push a button on top. Make sense?

#3. Rog's art. Destroying all of his pants.
Time to become a bi-ped, buddy.

Happy weekend!

The Teacher in me

People always told me that my education in teaching would come in so handy as a mother. But so far my ability to teach fractions didn't help me teach my babies how to breastfeed nor did my knowledge of balanced literacy aid me in potty-training Blaine.

I know, I know. When they are a little older, I will use it more. I'll teach them how to read with better strategies than "just sound it out," and I'll even be able to pull from my classroom archives for fun art projects, holiday games, and science projects.

But lately I've been feeling like a loser because I don't teach Blaine enough. And even though I'm trying to be better about doing something fun with him each day (like an outing or a craft or a game), I still find myself letting the Super Readers teach him his letters more often than I should. (Not that I don't endorse PBS, becasue I totally do. But those shows should reinforce him what I teach, and not the other way around.)

And yesterday I realized that I don't have to wait until my children are older to be teaching them more pro-actively. I realized that--just like when I was teaching-- all it takes is a little planning and preparation. (Duh.)

So today I scribbled down some fun lessons and activities on strips of paper and stuffed them into plastic eggs. Every day from now until Easter, Blaine will get to choose 2 or 3 eggs and we'll do whatever they say. (Anything from "eat a chocolate egg" to "paint a picture of a bunny" to "practice your letters with your alphabet magnets." Oh, and since the teachings of Jesus are some of the most important things I feel I should be imparting upon my children, a lot of them say things like "act out the story of Daniel in the Lions' Den," and "Learn about Jesus's resurrection.")

Obviously this is nothing revolutionary. I just know myself. I know that if there isn't a fun incentive for Blaine--like getting to open a plastic egg every day--that we won't do all the magical things we should. I'll get too wrapped up in making beds and vacuuming stairs (which I did today, I am extraordinarily proud to report). I've said it before and I'll say it again (mostly to remind myself): I don't want my children to look back and say, "Mom sure kept the kitchen floor clean." I want them to say, "Mom sure read great books with us and took us to do fun things."

Actually. I want them to say both.

I love easy and cheap.

I've had a couple people tell me they don't have much (or anything) in the way of Valentine's Day decor. That simply won't do! So I thought I'd suggest some ideas. As for my decorative dish towels (actually a gift from my friend, Lori)--yes Joan, those are from Target (no big surprise there. Count on Targ to deliver the darling). Most of my other stuff is of the homemade variety.


Taylor designed these for me a few years ago, when my second-grade classroom had a little window that was just begging for a snazzy seasonal display each month. They're super easy and cheap to make. Paint terracotta pots white with acrylic paint. Obviously the only other things you need are some fake flowers and conversation hearts (these ones are going strong since 2005). Here's the only trick:
Put the stem through a disc of cardboard so that you only actually have to fill the top inch with conversation hearts.

Next. My craft with my nieces the other day were these little wax paper & crayon hearts. These are always a hit. Martha's instructions are here.
Some of my suggestions from trial and error:
1. Get your shavings as small as possible for quick meltage (definitely a word).
2. Use some old rags (Martha says craft paper) to protect your iron and ironing board. I would use 2 rags between the ironing board and first sheet of wax paper, and 1 rag between the top wax paper and your iron.
3. After years of melting the wax and then cutting out the heart, this year we tried cutting out the heart first. I thought it worked much better because it seemed to seal in the melted wax.
4. I tend to be a pushover and let the girls dump in a ton of wax. I don't recommend this. It is messy and hard to work with!
They are super dar and fun to hang in the windows. Here are Soph and Liz showing their handiwork off...

More ideas? Please share!