Hot Car Crayons

"Boy, was it hot out today"

"How hot was it?" (the crowd answers in a sing-song voice)

"It was sooo hot, that we were able to make these melted crayon molds... in our CAR!"

Can you believe it?  Like so many other parts of the nation, we're in the middle of an incredible heat wave.  Our temperatures today here in Maryland hit 103F with a heat index of 117F!!!  While I was trying to keep cool inside with the kids, I remembered THIS awesome idea for melted crayons at Our Forever House.  (I found it on Pinterest, where else?)  

Here's how we did it:

I set my kids to work peeling the wrappers off some crayons (the Crayola ones seem to work best for melting).  We broke the peeled crayons up and put similar colors together in this silicone mold.

I put the mold on a cookie sheet and took it out to our van.

I set the tray with the crayon mold on the dashboard, and we went back inside the house to wait.

We came out a few times to check on them...

After about 20 minutes

After about 40 minutes

After about an hour, they were all the way melted.  I actually had to use potholders to carry the tray back into the house.

Pretty cool, huh?

I put the mold in the fridge for a few minutes to speed up the cooling process, then popped our new crayons out.  (NOTE: There will still be wax residue on your mold, so you'll want to save it for crafts only from now on!  I usually use the dollar store ones for crayon molds, and save my "nicer" ones for food stuff.)

Check back soon to see what we do with them!

{ NOTE:  As fun as this little crayon project was, I think it makes it all too clear how incredibly hot the inside of a car can get on a Summer day.  Always make sure your children and pets are NEVER left alone in a car. }

Sharing this unique way to make new crayons at:
Sun Scholars 
It's Playtime 
Design Dazzle 
Nap Time Crafters 
 Smilemonsters
Tatertots and Jello 
The Mommy Club at Crystal and Company 
Be Different, Act Normal 
I heart Naptime 
The Girl Creative 
Creative Jewish Mom 
Craft-O-Maniac 
Homemaker on a Dime 
Beneath the Rowan Tree 
 Running with Glitter
C.R.A.F.T. 
Skip to My Lou 
Today's Creative Blog 
Someday Crafts 
Night Owl Crafting 
Gluesticks

Easy Bandanna Top

If you want to know just how easy this cute little top was, let me just tell you that the entire thing was made by my 8 1/2 year-old daughter.  It was her first experience using a sewing machine and would be the perfect beginning sewing project for you or your older child.  For my rather petite daughter, it was a longer tank top, but could easily be a dress for a little one or a shorter top for a larger child or petite adult.  Oh, and the whole thing will cost you only a few dollars!

My proud little seamstress rocking her new summer top!

Here's how she did it:

1.  Gather your supplies.  You'll need two bandannas, two pieces of ribbon, pins, an iron and a sewing machine.

Our cool tie-dye bandannas were on clearance for just 97 cents each!

2.  On two corners of your bandanna, measure down 6" and press the triangles with your iron.  Repeat on the other bandanna.

Measure!

Press with your iron.

So it looks like this.

3.  Cut the triangle off on the ironed crease line.  Repeat with all four triangles.

Cutting off the triangle corner.

4.  On your cut edges, fold over 1/4" towards the wrong side of the fabric, then fold over 1/4" again.  Press down your double fold and pin in place.

I helped press the edges so she wouldn't burn her fingers.

But she was able to pin the fold in place.

5.  Now it's time to sew a little bit!  Sew your folded edge down.  She used the edge of the presser foot as a guide and removed the pins as she got to them.  Do the same with all four cut corners.

My old sewing machine is probably 5 times older than she is!

Her seams weren't perfect, and we had to stop a few times to get it back on track, but overall, she did great!

6.  Next, fold down the top of the bandanna (between the two cut corners) about 1" onto the wrong side of the fabric.  You don't have to worry about finishing the edge because it's already the finished edge of the bandanna.  Press down and pin in place.

Press to get a crisp edge.

Pin in place.

7.  Sew along the finished edge, removing the pins as you go.  Do not sew the sides shut, that's where you'll insert your ribbon.  Do the same with your second bandanna.

( No picture for this sewing step, we must have been too excited to finish to stop for the camera!)

8.  Put the two bandannas right sides together.  At this point, you can just sew up the two sides and be finished, but we found that it was just a little too loose and revealing for my almost preteen.  So, we took a shirt from her closet and placed it over the bandannas.  We lined up the necklines and then used it as a pattern to cut a little off the sides.

I marked the lines to cut with chalk.

And my seamstress made the cuts.

9.  Pin your sides together and sew.

NOTE: On our next shirt, we didn't make it quite this tapered and we liked it a little better.

10.  Press open those side seams and then turn your shirt right side out.

11. Using a safety pin to help, guide one piece of ribbon through the channel on the top of the back, and the other ribbon through the front.

12.  Tie the ribbons together at the shoulders and you're finished! 

So cute!

Pretty darn proud of her first sewing attempt!

This was such a fun little sewing project for the both of us and she's eager to sew some more now that she kind of has the hang of it!

Because I'm a proud mommy, I'll be sharing her cute shirt at:

Katie's Nesting Spot 
Fireflies and Jellybeans 
Gluesticks 
Thrifty 101 
Somewhat Simple
A Little Tipsy 
Sugar and Spice
Sassy Sites 
Sun Scholars 
Nap Time Crafters
Ladybird Ln
Tatertots and Jello 
Under the Table and Dreaming 
I heart Naptime 
The Girl Creative 

C.R.A.F.T.
Skip to My Lou 
 Today's Creative Blog
Sugar and Spice @ seven thirty three

Make-your-own "Lava" Lamp

I'm embarrassed to even admit how much time I've spent on Pinterest this summer.  I always plan on just looking for a few cool ideas after the kids go to bed, but the next thing I know, it's 2 a.m. and my mind is spinning with all my new "pins" and the fun I'll have with them.  The downside is that the kids have to deal with a tired mommy the next day, but the upside is that I find cool ideas like THIS Lava Lamp.

As soon as I saw it, I knew it would make it onto our Summer must do list.  I suspected my kids would get a kick out of it and they did!

Here's how we did it:

1.  Gather your supplies ~ cooking oil, water, food coloring, an empty water bottle, and Alka Seltzer antacid tablets.

Oops, the Alka Seltzer tablets didn't make it in the picture.

2.  Fill your bottle about two thirds of the way with oil then fill the rest with water, leaving about an inch free at the top.

Partially filled with oil

It was fun adding the water and watching the layers separate.

** NOTE ** We liked watching the water layer "sink" to the bottom, but we had to wait awhile for the bubbles to disappear for the next step.  Adding the water first, then the food coloring and finally the oil, wasn't quite as fun, but it was a bit faster.

3.  Add several drops of food coloring.  (If you did the oil first, then the water, it'll take a little while for the drops of food coloring to "break through" and tint the water.)

Mommy adds the food coloring.

4.  Take an Alka Seltzer tablet and break it into 3 or 4 pieces.  Then drop a piece in and watch the magic. 

The kids are looking annoyed that I made them stop for a picture first!

5.  As soon as the tablet hits the layer of water, it will start to fizz and the colored water will erupt!

4.  The bubbles will stop as soon as the tablet dissipates, but it will start up again as soon as you add another tablet.  If the oil layer starts to become cloudy with tiny bubbles, just let it settle for awhile and then you can do some more.

My kids loved it so much they worked really hard to be good so they could "earn" more antacid tablets to do it over and over again.