Friday, January 28, 2011

Upcycled Crayons

Upcycled Crayons. Perfect for little hands.

I went through Brooklyn's crayons and pulled out all the broken ones as well as all the restaurant crayons from Red Robin, Olive Garden, etc.

I peeled them and broke them into smaller pieces and separated them into color groups in old muffin tins. Then I baked them in the oven at 300 degrees in 5 minute increments until they were nice and melted. After they cooled a little I put them in the freezer to help them to pop out of the tins.

I forgot about them and after several hours they all looked like this! Oops!

I popped them back into the oven and remelted them. 
Apparently you can't freeze them for more than a few minutes if you want them in one piece. Who knew? Well, we all do now;)

Happiness.

Caramel Macchiato. Mmmmmm!

I love that the color is lighter on the top and darker on the bottom. 
It gives a sweet two tone look.

I can't wait to get these into my sons little hands!

I am linking up with some of these amazing blogs. :)

31 comments:

Marcelle @ Mimi & Mum said...

SO fun! We will be trying this. :)

Anna said...

Very cute idea! I was wondering why you kept posting on FB about peeling and melting crayons. :)

Anna
www.askannamoseley.com

Heather Gabrielli said...

I have done this twice now! At the end of the school year a teacher gave me a huge zip-lock bag filled with broken crayons. The boys helped me make them for Darren's second grade class. We put them in heart molds and gave them for Valentine's Day gifts. Such a fun ideal. When they came out of the oven we gave them a little swirl with a wooden skewer, they looked so neat!

Unknown said...

These look awesome! I would love to make these with the smaller muffin tins to make them a little more petite.

I would love to feature this on my blog! hummingbirdavenue.blogspot.com

Jayna Rae said...

When I was in junior high I used to do this, but add a wick, and maybe some scent. Voila! candle. Maybe not so non-toxic though. I am not sure. I don't think I was really concerned about that at the time.

leah mari said...

this is just awesome!!!!!!

Vanessa @ {nifty thrifty things} said...

great idea!!

Rachael said...

Wow! Brilliant! I'd love to have you share this on my linky party going on now :) http://www.lovelycraftyhome.com

Jan said...

I've been saving crayons for a couple of years to do this & still haven't...maybe soon?! ;-) I can have my 3rd graders peel the paper.

Tanya said...

Good tip on freezing to help release the new crayons, and also on not overfreezing! I'll have to try that.

Anonymous said...

Those are really cute. Almost makes me wish I had a little kid to make them for. Looks like a great idea for moms, as I remember I always had tons of broken crayons growing up.

Unknown said...

I need to do this. We received brand new crayons for Christmas and now the old one's aren't as much fun to use, of course. These would make great party favors, too. Thanks for the tutorial!

Unknown said...

You have a very fun blog! I just made some of these with my kids a couple of weeks ago! So fun!

Gwen @ Gwenny Penny said...

I love the look of these, Amy! I've been squirreling away restaurant crayons for a while now to do a project like this. They just look so fun:)

Anonymous said...

I love the two-tone look! And that brown one really does look good enough to eat! Thanks for linking up. :)

Cara @ Gardenview Cottage said...

cute idea! I had 2 HUGE ziplock bags of crayons that I just threw away - drats! I'll have to remember this for next time.

Bellawhoop said...

LOVE this idea! I know a few toddlers who these may make a good gift for!

Unknown said...

Great job...these have been on my "to-do" list for awhile now! I think they would make good gifts for classmates! Thanks for linking up @ Time to Shine!!!

~The Bargain Babe from *Zucchini Summer Blog* said...

So cute. Now I want to go make my own crayons and color. :)

Emily said...

What a great idea! I'm excited to try it.

Robin Ange said...

I love it and would love if you entered my linky party at http://tinyurl.com/upcycled31 if you have any more recycled/upcycled projects please link them up and let your friends know. I am trying to reach 100 upcycled projects this week and I would really appreciate you help!

tina said...

Jello molds work too :) My mom made them for me when I was little

Tiffany said...

I've done this too...so fun and so "green". I have melted them in tin cans and then poured them into rubber ice cube molds. I have made hearts, bears, skulls, trees, flowers, etc.

Macey at Olivia Renn said...

Great idea, thanks so much for linking up at Olivia Renn!

Brandy said...

So Fun! I love how they are two toned!

Brandy
Gluesticks
www.brandyscrafts.blogspot.com

Christina @ It's a Keeper said...

HI! I'm hosting a link up this week -- It's a Keeper Thursdays! I hope you can come over and link up!

Thanks!
It's a Keeper
http://www.everydaytastes.com/
http://twitter.com/itsakeeperblog
http://www.facebook.com/ItsAKeeper

Anonymous said...

What a great idea! I'm going to do this today, my kids were just asking me about doing a craft. While they're making noodle necklaces, I'm going to make some "new" crayons. Thank you!! -Heather at 500dollarwedding.blogspot.com

raveninthewolfden said...

I am adding this idea to my '♥Bookmarks' tab on my blog. If you wish for it to be taken off please email me at meomy{dot}socialbutterfly{at}yahoo{dot}com

Thanks!

Ginger said...

Its a shame my son would rather paint...Thanks for linking up to Mad Skills Monday!

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to let you know that I featured your crayons today! http://www.polishthestars.com/2011/02/link-party-monday.html

Unknown said...

great for toddlers!


Feel free to stop by and link up to my Make & Share 1st edition today and come back every friday thru saturday!

~ Christy

The most important thing she’d learned over the years was that there was no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one."
~Jill Churchill