Rainy Days and Broken Crayons

We've been in our new home just about three weeks and it's rained every day except one. We've had a few days in a row recently where it's rained all day and was cold. I was hearing the dreaded "B" word way too often. 

"Mom, I'm Bored!" 

The kids still had their school supplies in their backpacks. We hadn't unpacked them in the move. It was just low on my to do list but we dug through them and found all the broken crayons that accumulate through a school year. We had tons of crayons between three kids. I'll kind of be happy when Yip and Yap hit middle school and they won't need crayons anymore. 

Anyway we peeled and broke up some of them, we still have lots more, and sorted them by color in a muffin tin I found at a garage sale. I popped it into a 200 degree oven for a few minutes. It didn't take long, maybe five minutes, to melt them all. 

I had tons of old brushes that I let the kids use to paint with the melted wax. A few boxes out of the recycling bin worked perfectly! Yahoo enjoyed following the circle imprints from a box that held soup cans. It looks very Kandinsky like doesn't it? 

I just love the texture that Yahoo came up with!! 

We did have to remelt the wax a couple of times but it remelted fairly quickly. And it kept Yahoo busy at least for about an hour!! 

I looked at the weather forecast for this week and it doesn't look like the rain is going away any time soon so I better start looking for some new indoor ideas! 

Sunday Devotions - Crayon Messages

Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall. Daniel 5:5

Crayon Messages 

When a message from God

would clear up confusion,

He could write on my wall -

or give the illusion.

But the writing that's there,

it's plain to be seen,

is a simple crayon drawing

that I've yet to clean.

Lord, help me to learn

I won't be receiving

a miraculous sign

wrought through believing;

when each day I can see

and yet don't apply

Your messages looking me

straight in the eye.

by Susan L. Lenzkes,

 When the Handwriting on the Wall is in Brown Crayon.

I love reading Old Testament stories. The fantastic signs and miracles have always captivated my imagination; Elijah's fiery chariot, Samson's superhuman strength, the detached hand writing on the wall. Sometimes it would be nice to get an extreme sign from God. Such a sign would definitely make me feel special. Being a stay at home mom sometimes lack in the "feeling special" department. Sometimes it's hard to remember that staying at home is important and God has trusted me with this special job of raising His children. If God wrote on my wall, it would be exciting...but I'd still have to clean it off.

I'm sure everyone, no matter their profession, at some point feels that they could use a sign from God. But they ARE there...we just have to look for them. Recently a friend's father had been diagnosed with cancer and I've been praying for weeks for his recovery. Just yesterday the doctor could find no sign of cancer. See, God IS listening.

I've been pretty homesick lately and have been looking forward to the time I can get back home to family in Indiana. Last week a cousin of mine from Oklahoma invited us to and early Thanksgiving dinner next weekend. To my surprise there will be family members there I haven't seen for years and years! What a blessing.

God knows my heart and He knows my needs and He will fill those needs in the best way possible. Maybe not through a flamboyant sign...maybe just through a simple phone call.

Dear Lord, Thank You for signs, old and new, that express Your love for us. Thank You for giving us labors on this Earth, no matter how great or small, the work we do is for You. Amen.

Marker Monday - Lifesavers Crayon

Our playgroup will be having a mini Christmas party in November, because we don't meet in December, and our group leader Melissa and I have been brainstorming little gift ideas for the kids. I decided I'd make striped crayons for them. 

I placed the broken crayons, one color at a time, in a tin can that I placed in a pot of boiling water. After the wax melted I poured a little of each color into an old prescription bottle. After each color was cool I added another and so on until the bottle was full. Once the crayon wax was cool I rolled the bottle in my hands, adding a bit of pressure, and the crayons slid out surprisingly easily. 

They aren't perfectly layered but close. 

Then I wrapped each striped crayon in aluminum foil.

I found a Lifesavers logo online and with a little work on a Paint program I came up with this label. I found that if I printed it off as a wallet size photo, it's just about perfect to wrap around each crayon. 

Feel free to use the above image if you'd like. 

A little cutting, a little tape and voila!! A Lifesaver crayon! 

The perfect little stocking stuffer! 

Marker Monday - Six Pack Plastic Thingy Art

I had a college art professor that gave me really good advice. 

When you are stuck creatively and you need to shake things up a bit, create an artistic problem for yourself. 

I've been in a bit of a funk for Yahoo projects so decided to follow his advice. 

Being inspired by the recycled art show, I found three six pack can holders and decided to come up with three different things to do with them. 

Project #1 - The Weave 

Using cardboard as a frame (more recycling) I poked holes around the hole with toothpicks and suspended the plastic with string. 

Then Yahoo and I jumped in the craft box and started "weaving" things back and forth through the many holes. If I can get Yahoo interested we just might get the cardboard frame painted sometime. 

Project #2 - The Rubbing

This a great preschool project since that age is more concerned with artistic process than product. 

I hot glued the plastic to another piece of cardboard and used the side of a crayon to produce a rubbing. I realized too late that the corrugation showed through on my rubbing. That's alright but next time I'll glue the plastic holder to a smooth cereal box instead. 

Two plastic thingies down, one to go. 

Project #3 - The Flower

I spray painted the plastic thingy with red spray paint.

Then I used a bamboo skewer to poke through the plastic and gathered it up in a bloom. Then I cut out green leaves from a cracker box and added a button for the center of the flower.

Three plastic can holders and three different projects.

Fun! Now, what should I recycle next? I need a new challenge. What are your suggestions?

 

Crayons

When Yahoo gets creative with the crayons...

...and starts exploring new canvases for her art.....

...I just want to plant a giant hug on the inventor of these.

'Nuff said.