I saw this idea for crayon valentine hearts last year on my friend Ellie's blog and have been waiting to try it ever since. Me and Matthew had a great time making these this afternoon. There is a great tutorial here, but I'll give you the rundown on how we did it anyway.
OK, first of all, just find some old crayons and chop them up. Here's proof that there is definitely more than one way to use a wusthoff. Mine was a gift from Ryan. I'm sure he'll be happy to know it is coming in handy.
I'm sure breaking them would also be sufficient, but we like things quick and, ehm, violent. P.S. You probably don't want the five-year-old's help if you are using a wusthoff.
When you're done destroying your crayons, put them in a bowl and let the kiddo stir.
Your bowl of crayons is probably going to be a blinding conglomeration of random colors, depending on how many neon crayons you threw in the mix, something like this...
And then you put them in a little heart shaped mold pan. Ours is silicone, which I definitely recommend, because it makes them nice and easy to pop out. (No idea how we would have gotten these out of a metal pan, actually). You can get them in the craft section at WalMart.
And then you bake at 250 degrees for about fifteen minutes. Give them plenty of time to cool. When they're done, and you've put them together and added a cheesy Valentine crayon slogan, they will look something like this...
(If I was OCD about it, I probably would have coordinated the crayon colors to go with our paper colors, but, oh well, whatever.)
I also love that he signed them all himself. Don't you love five-year-old handwriting?
(He normally doesn't like to be "Matt," but he didn't have enough room for "Matthew.")
Ah, so much better than store-bought Transformer valentines!
edited to add: Most questions of the questions I get on this project are addressed somewhere in the comments, so please read through those before you email me. I am getting a LOT of email, and I would love to respond to everyone individually, but I have a new baby and very slow internet, a combination which makes individual responses nearly impossible! To answer the question I most commonly get, we attached the crayons to the cardstock using glue dots, which you can buy at most craft stores (even WalMart usually has them). Good luck! Thanks for linking back to me when you make these - I love to see other people's finished projects and if you don't link back then I will never see them!
Too cute! Last summer I made "crayon cookies" with my goddaughter - we used my old metal mini-muffin pan. The crayons came out no problem - after an overnight in the freezer.
Posted by: Amy | February 12, 2009 at 07:13 AM
So cute, what a great idea.
Posted by: Heidi Jarvis | February 12, 2009 at 10:38 AM
What a darling idea! I never would have thought of that. So clever. And perfect Valentines!
Posted by: Kara | February 12, 2009 at 11:10 AM
LOVES IT!
Posted by: Amanda | February 12, 2009 at 02:12 PM
Those are awesome! Now I know what to do with the broken crayons that I have been just throwing away! I'll definitely be trying this next year.
Posted by: Sara | February 12, 2009 at 02:37 PM
I like how he's wearing a monster shirt best of all!
Posted by: Katherine of it All | February 13, 2009 at 12:10 AM
fabulous! this is a hilarious blog! were they born in a barn? my boys were born in 2 baths & a hallway! very inspiring...
Posted by: maya | February 13, 2009 at 03:34 AM
So cute and congrats on appearing on the Crafty Crow!
Posted by: Jacqui | February 13, 2009 at 03:43 AM
very cute! How did you attatch them to the card?
I do adore 5 year olds handwritting!
Posted by: TAb | February 13, 2009 at 06:57 AM
I THOUGHT ABOUT DOING THE SAME...YOURS TURNED OUT FABULOUS! GREAT IDEA TO INCORPORATE THEM ON A CARD! VERY CLEVER AND SO MUCH BETTER THAN HANDING OUT A PIECE OF CANDY! THANK YOU FOR SHARING!!
Posted by: alexsirmacleod@aol.com | February 13, 2009 at 09:36 AM
Those are great. I've seen the crayon cookies before, but not in such an awesome presentation.
Posted by: lisa | February 13, 2009 at 09:46 AM
What a great way to use up all those broken crayons!
Posted by: jennifer | February 13, 2009 at 11:16 AM
This is awesome! I am going to try this as soon as I get a hold of a mold
Posted by: Isela | February 13, 2009 at 11:22 AM
what an awesome idea! love it!
Posted by: tish chow | February 14, 2009 at 12:50 PM
you are super talented....I think I may have to do these for my kiddos next Valentine's because the store bought ones are sooo boring....and now that I know I am doing it I will stock up BIG time when the back-to-school sales start up....crayons for CHEAP! I love reading about all your craftiness!
Posted by: Jennifer | February 14, 2009 at 06:00 PM
PLEASE PLEASE tell me how you CLEANED your silicon mold!!!! I tried it in my new silicon lego mold and I can't get the wax off/out of it. Any tricks?????
Posted by: nicolle boswell | February 16, 2009 at 10:26 AM
Once you use the mold for crayons you can not use it for food. I made these in bigger molds. My hearts were aout 3 inches wide and 3/4 inch tall. I wanted all red and had to add pink, and purple to have enough crayons. You need to mound them in the mold and they will settle. The smaller the pieces the better. Anyway, my 14 crayons cost me 6 boxes of 96 crayons. I did find them on sale for $5 each. I actually used the blue and green crayons for my sons birthday favors. I found a rocket shaped soap mold and made blue and green crayons. I guess It would have been cheaper if I didn't keep the colors in the same family, but I didn't want the colors to mix and become muddy. One key to keeping them from doing that is not to over cook them. And if you use the soap molds they can only heat to 225. So they take a long time to melt. If you heat them higher as I did your mold will warp. I just cut them apart and put sand in a pan and seated them in level. I kept the temp down and they came out great.
Posted by: Tammy | March 17, 2009 at 05:42 AM
I just saw this idea on the crafty crow. I can't wait to try these this year!
Posted by: Cathy aka The Attached Mama | January 03, 2010 at 01:54 PM
Hi. I just wanted to say that I absolutely love your blog. I love it so much that I mentioned this entry in my recent blog post.Thanks so much for your great ideas and this valentines tutorial. How clever! :) I hope you will take a look at my blog when you get a chance.
Posted by: Jenn | January 20, 2010 at 03:01 AM
This is such a great idea! This was the one my daughter picked for her Valentines this year. Thanks!
Posted by: Erin | January 27, 2010 at 05:24 PM
Hi! Just wanted to let you know I’ve got a new FEATURED BUTTON. I’d love it if you’d stop by & grab one: http://delicious-ambiguity-nennyk.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-buttons-party.html. I've also started TOT Tuesdays & would love it if you would link up some of your great toddler projects. Cheers, Jenn
Posted by: Jenn | March 15, 2010 at 05:56 PM
Awesome! I'm going to "convince" my son that these are the best idea every :) What did you use for the base? Looks like chipboard or something where your son signed ...
Posted by: Tracy | February 03, 2011 at 11:40 AM
What did you use to attach the crayons to the paper and how many crayons are required for a pan of 12? Such a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Chayna | February 09, 2011 at 09:04 AM
Just finished making some with snowflake shaped cookie mold. The mold was non-stick metal. They came out beautifully because they shrunk when cooled. They look so awesome! Thanks for the idea.
Posted by: Joey | November 26, 2011 at 08:02 PM
How did you attach the crayons to the paper? I;ve seen this question a couple of times but can't seem to see the answer Thanks!!
Posted by: C | January 11, 2012 at 05:35 PM