Merging... and Pinterest

Look different?

I decided to merge my blogs. 

I have been meaning, for a while, to get back to blogging about crafts. Also, I have been wanting to start writing reviews and posting pics of the parks around here, if only for my own reference. It really didn't make sense to have two blogs, so I decided to just merge them. Same stuff, different page. And more crafts and pictures. 

I have a back-log of crafts to catch up on, but I decided to try a pinterest project that wasn't a recipe, so I figured that I would start there. 

Here is what I did:

I took painters tape, and made a design for each child. I put Ellie's name on a large sheet of paper, a "G" for Greg on another sheet. Ellie's was on a large drawing pad from Mellisa and Doug, Greg's on construction paper. 

Then I gave them paints, and told Ellie (helped Greg) to cover the whole page. 

After it dried, I removed the tape. 

This is what the results look like:

Some notes:

The construction paper worked much better than the drawing paper, which was thinner. It was a little hard to take the tape off, but I don't know of any kind that would be easier. 

Greg did some "drawing" with the wrong end of the brush- I really liked this effect! 

Overall, this was a super easy project, and the kids had fun. 

Pinterest and Valentines

Last year, we did the box of ready-made valentines from Target. They were Phineus and Ferb, and came with tatoos. Classy, right? 

This year, since I have gotten into Pinterest, I decided that I wanted to do something a little better. 

So, I thought, heart-shaped crayons would be cool. I mean, you cut up some crayons, melt them in the oven, and presto! you have nifty crayons. 

Well, it sort-of went like that. 

I spent a total of $2 on this project, so that was awesome. I bought a box of crayons from Michaels (actually, I bought 4, since I have toddlers, and $1 boxes of 64 crayons are awesome, even if they aren't Crayola!) and a silicone cupcake pan in the shape of hearts. The silicone pan is a must. 

The project went like this:

1. I looked on pinterest, and found this link. 

2. I peeled and chopped up crayons. A lot of them. For peeling crayons, either soak them in water or use a potato peeler to cut a line down the side of the paper. Don't use your fingers. It takes forever that way. The chopping took a long time. I used a really sharp knife, and cut the crayons into about 1/4 inch pieces. Apparently, I could have just broken them up with my hands, and that would have worked just as well. The chopping was the most tedious part. 

3. Pre-heat the oven to 230* and fill the cups about 1/4 to 1/2 inch with crayon bits. Take out when crayons melt. It took about 15 minutes, I think, I was using a toaster oven. 

4. Let the crayons cool completely, then you can pop them out of the silicone mold. 

5. Repeat as necessary. 

This took a couple days (spread out, since I have 3 kids) to get it all done. The melting took the longest- I should have splurged and bought two molds, since you have to wait until the crayons are all the way cool to pop them out and do another set. My mold also only held 6 crayons. 

I made 18 crayons, and they turned out pretty good. They looked much better on the side that was on the bottom of the pan than on the top. 

Here are some photos:

You can see in the last pic how the part that was on the top in the mold did not turn out smooth, the way the bottom did. I don't really have any solution for this. 

 

Listowel Park

At 71st and Quivera, this is one of the "pirate" parks. While not the biggest park, this one its going to be one of our favorites, I think. The playground is quite close to the parking, which is nice because I don't have to load the toddler in the stroller- just let him out of the car. There is a nice shelter, lots of places to sit, bathrooms, and a nice walking trail that would be great for bikes. There are also tennis courts, a baseball diamond, and a roller hockey area. The park is set off ofQuivera, with parking on 71st St. This is a nice and clean park, really good for the toddler set. Older kids might find it a bit tame. There are no swings at this park.