Waxing on about crayons

The smell of Crayola Crayons is intoxicating to me. They are childhood, plain and simple. The new boxes received on special occasions filled me with hope and ambitions; all those perfectly colored points lined up in tiered rows, just waiting to be extracted. When the boxes got worn, I had a tin where all the crayon remnants would go for easy access.

Lucy had a similar basket container of crayons when she was younger. Now, I have that crayon basket in the studio. I occasionally breathe in the scent of it's contents to remind me of my personal origins of creativity.

Here's a quick non-illustrative Valentine's craft (sacrificing only a few crayons!) that's easy and satisifying.

1) Make some shavings from red-hued crayons (oranges and pinks, too).
2) Collect them on a piece of wax paper (maybe as big as a cookie sheet)- fold the wax paper in half to make a "sandwich" of the crayon shavings, spreading them out evenly.
3) Take two pieces of brown kraft paper and your wax paper/shavings and heat up the iron.
4) Place one piece of kraft paper on the ironing board (to protect your board), then place your wax paper/shaving on top of it. Then place another piece of kraft paper over the wax paper (to protect your iron!)
5) Iron until the crayons shavings have melted. Don't have it too hot, just enough to make the wax near liquid.
6) Take the wax paper and let dry and harden a bit.
7) After the wax paper has hardened, cut out heart shapes. Each heart will be different, and kind of stained glass like.
8) Attach light weight string and hang from a window.

Best viewed with a snowy day backdrop!