Sunday, February 13, 2011

Reviving Old Favourites

There are a million versions of today's projects but I wanted to show you mine to give you a break from paper crafts. ;)

First up, this post by Jennifer Hagfeldt reminded me that I had a huge bag of broken crayons in the cupboard and it was time to bake them. My son just loves to break crayons. I even bought him the chunky triangular ones as well as the chubby pip squeaks pencil crayons but he still manages to break them all. He even likes to peel the paper off!

I used a very simple recipe. First, I preheated the oven at 200F and broke the crayons into slightly smaller pieces so they would melt more easily. Then I used an X-acto knife to slice the papers open which made it easier for me to peel them off. I arranged the pieces into a muffin pan lined with a bit of olive oil. I put the crayons in the oven for five to eight minutes and once they had cooled, they popped right out.

I thought some of them turned out like beautiful galaxies and didn't really want to use them at first. I'm just happy that my son loves stacking them and colouring with them. He can't break them but he occasionally throws them which could be dangerous. LOL My husband asked me why I didn't make each one a different solid colour instead of mixing the colours all together. Well, that wouldn't have been very interesting, would it? :Þ

Next up is a little sewing project. My son loves this firetruck shirt but now it's too small and it's also stained with everything imaginable. Sometimes I wonder why they would even make a boy's shirt in white. LOL For the first two years of my son's life, he was outfitted in Carter's thanks to my sister and a few trips to the U.S. Carter's doesn't exist in Canada but I sure wish it did! They have the cutest baby clothing by far and the quality is amazing, too. Baby Gap, Gymboree and Children's Place don't even come close.

I bought a new grey shirt, cut out the embroidered image from the old shirt, pinned it in place and stitched it on. Now my son has a "new" favourite shirt!

At the peak of my son's obsession with this shirt, he wanted to wear it every day. He didn't give me that much trouble when I put something else on him but whenever it was my husband's turn, he would flat out refuse to wear anything but this. My sister has sent him two other "big boy" shirts with firetrucks on them but they aren't cute like this one. I wonder how long it will be before my son figures out that I can renew all of his other favourites!

I was never one to appreciate flowers. I don't mean that I don't enjoy flowers in their natural state, in gardens. It's just that I always thought they were a waste of money to buy in a bouquet but that changed in the new year. Last month, I told my husband that I'd like to start receiving flowers. It's really hard to surprise me so he can't give me flowers on special occasions. Last month, he bought me some red gerbera daisies and last night, he came home with these pink ones. Gerbera daisies are both his mother's and my favourite flower. In the morning, we asked our son if he liked the pretty flowers and he said, yes. Then we asked him what colour they were and he said, "Cici!" Cici is a pink car in the Roary the Racing Car series. Then he asked, "Where Roary flower go?" LOL Roary is red like the gerbera daisies I received last month. Isn't it cute how he associates his colours?

I'll be back tomorrow for Taylor Usry's BIG Valentine's Day Blog Hop! There are 50 participants plus 20 sponsors and prizes to be won! You will have until Thursday this week to complete the hop for your chance to win. The more comments you leave, the better your chances of winning!! Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I'll see you tomorrow!

22 comments:

Heather said...

Thank yo so much for those tips - the crayons, why had i forgotten that? The t-shirt, oh thank you. Never occurred to me, must do that for the next fav that gets too small!

farmhouse-story said...

love the t-shirt and bowls! how cool to get flowers each month!

G Peplow said...

Emily you're such an inspiration, I've never seen crayons made into little cup cakes before, brilliant idea. And! how gorgeous to use your sons favourite firetruck on a new shirt, love it, kids are funny about stuff!
Gerberas are one of my favourite flowers too, they are so bright and showy with such perfectly formed blooms. Cherish this time whilst your son is learning so quickly, it's magic.
Thank you for sharing the special stuff:0) xxx

Erin said...

I love daisies too! I have a white daisy tattoo on my right foot :) Beautiful pictures too!

Virginia L. said...

SWEET post, Emily! I love Carter's clothes,too! I often stopped by at the store in Factory Outlet in Birch Run! These were the days..I love how you repurposed the truck image onto the nw shirt! Enjoy the Gerberas....they are beautiful!

scrapsnsuch@gmail.com said...

What great ideas! I have seen the crayon one before made with a silicone heart pan - I should try to get one on V-day clearance. And the T-shirt idea is perfect! One of my sons loves Scooby fortunately I bought 2 T-shirts - one was supposed to be for his brother, but now we just rotate the 2 shirts from day to day ;>)

Janna Werner said...

I didnt know you could bake crayons in the oven!! They look beautiful, I think I would just put them in a big glass and look at them each day ;) Janna

Angie Blom said...

Awesome ideas.. We made those crayons last year for Valentines day in the shape of hearts for the kids in Kindergarten.. it was a big hit. I just love how you can recycle broken crayons. love what you have done to make a new top for your little guy.. and love those flowers. have a great weekend. xx

Angela said...

What a fun bunch of ideas and inspiration -- love the crayons (maybe it's ok to break them on purpose..?!)...the flowers are lovely (nice man of yours), and the shirt idea is definitely liftable!

Hey, Virginia up there in the comments must be from MI too -- Hi Virginia!

Lynn said...

Super fun post Emily! We've melted our fair share of crayons here too! And...I am with you on the no white shirts for boys...absolutely love what you did with his fire truck shirt. Someone from work just brought in a quilt with their daughter's favorite clothes sewn in each square from when she was little. It was adorable! Absolutely something she'll be able to pass on to her little ones.

Lindsey said...

I'm with you... why would you make the new crayons all one colour when you can make then multi-coloured! :D Great idea with the shirt, and beautiful flowers!

BabyBokChoy said...

we too, made crayons, only we stir them up in a bowl on the cooktop and the whole thing went brown. we ended up with icecubes of chocolate chunks looking crayons, nothing gloriously beautiful like your crayon cakes that is so photo worthy and scrap worthy, lol.

Emily (stampingout on SCS) said...

My boys love when we melt old crayons down into molds. We have some teddy bear and truck molds that make great chunk crayons!
I totally agree with you about WHY anyone would make a boys shirt white! LOL! Can't tell you how many times we have been out shopping, hubby picks up a shirt and I veto it because it is white! It should be illegal to make a white boy's shirt!

Sarah said...

My little guy seems to like breaking crayons almost as much as he likes coloring, which is a lot. I've been collecting the pieces for a similar project using candy molds.

And I dig the "new" firetruck shirt. I'm planning to rescue a few favorite t-shirts by attaching the sleeves and hems from other shirt to make them look longer, but your patch could be moved multiple times. Love it. Carter's has the cutest characters for babies and toddlers.

Smita said...

I loved the crayon 'muffin':-). Can they really color with it? Aaryan also peels off paper from crayons (even now) :-p. I have got to try this!!

Thanks for the inspiration. A little man's mom sure needs these tips :-p

Hugs,
Smita

Ujjwal said...

those colorful wax muffins look wonderful..and you are so right...baking them in one solid color wouldn't have been that much fun!! I love reading about your son and his cute little tantrums :D

Scrapcollectr said...

Love the break from cards...only cuz you made it interesting (always love your cards!) Great crayon idea...I once saw a little machine that takes broken crayons and forms new ones but your way seems so easy! The shirt...oh yeah, forgot sewing machines aren't just for cards! *smile* Good going with the flower hint...they are pretty to have around!
Happy Valentines Day! I will be back for the blog hop....

Karin said...

Great post Emily...Love Gerbers they have such happy faces ;)

Jennifer said...

Thanks for the shout out!! (= Your crayon cups look so CUTE! Great Photo!!! Love what you did with the shirt and gotta love Gerber Daisys!!! (=

Brenda said...

Only a man could ask such a silly question regarding the crayons! Really! Thanks for that reminder, I think that's going to be a fun thing to do with my daughter! Love how you recycled the shirt motif! Great idea! I love flowers too and would love to have fresh cut flowers in my home, BUT, my nose can't handle it!

Alice said...

you are a genius, Emily! love those pretty crayon muffins!! and what an awesome idea to reused that adorable image on your boy's shirt! you are amazing, girl! and ohhhh.... those daisies are soooooo pretty! your hubby is a keeper! =) thanks for sharing!

Sunghee said...

HOw clever clever! I've been meaning to melt the crayons as we have way too much, but still haven't found the perfect mold. I love the round one you used. And the firetruck, what a great way to reuse the image. wow~~!!! D is sooo cute!