Beauty is in the Eye of the Crayon Holder

When decorating the playroom, I was trying to come up with a theme that Blake would like for years and years.  My top choices were circus or Dr. Seuss.  I then realized that his tastes are going to change as he gets older.  If we decorated based on his 9-12month obsession, we would have a Wiggles & Wubbanub-themed everything. So, I decided to skip a traditional theme, and just surround him with vibrant and fun pieces.  I wanted artwork that was timeless and happy. 

I love the idea of incorporating DIY projects so that I can one day tell him, "Look, mommy made that for you!". So I began browsing Pinterest (obviously, where else would I go to for inspiration?) and Etsy.  I came across a whole section on Crayon Art - google it, its a real thing!  I love the idea of turning something so simple (a crayon) into art.  And so the fun began...


What you need:

• 1. 18x24 white canvas
• 2. 70 crayons (more or less depending on the canvas size you choose)
• 3. Hot glue gun & glue sticks
• 4. Hair dryer with a diffuser

Directions:

• 1. Organize crayons by color (any order you like).  Make sure you have enough crayons to fill the whole length of the canvas.
• 2. Hot glue the crayons to the canvas with the top of the crayon flush to the top of the canvas
• 3. Place the canvas over a newspaper or plastic tarp (we used an old Pampers box since we have a lot of those lying around these days)
• 4. Use a hair dryer on high heat and diffuser to concentrate the heat
• 5. Tilt the canvas at a very slight tilt in the beginning (~80 degrees)
• 6. Hover the hair dryer over the crayons, one section of colors at a time (this helps the crayon-drip stay in their own color section on the canvas)
• 7. You will see the crayon sort of "melt", and then you can begin tilting the canvas any way you like, depending on the look you are going for
• 8. Finally, use the heat from the hair dryer to blow the dripping crayon color down the length of the canvas and fill in any white spaces

This whole project cost around $25 (excluding the hair dryer).  The letters PLAY above the crayon art is also a DIY project. I will do another post on that in the future.  It was super easy to do!

If you like this post, please come back for more DIY projects and more!