Teachers Appreciation Week Idea: Crayon Monogram

I saw these crayon monograms all over the internet, and decided to make one for my son's teacher for Teacher's Appreciation Week. It appeared pretty easy to make, but was I mistaken.. oh yes.. especially for letter 'M', where the crayons needed to be cut so tiny. And I had to make 2 of these, as both my son's teachers had their name with M.

The steps are straight forward:

1) Print out the alphabet, and cut it.
2) Cut the crayons to fit the alphabets. I would really advice to stick the crayon with hot glue, prior to cutting. If you are thinking of removing the crayon wrapper, then you'll have to use something other than hot glue, as it'll make crayon melt.
3) Take a thick cardstock paper, cut to the size that would fit in a frame, and glue the alphabet on it.
4) You can either choose to use a shadow picture frame, or a regular photo frame with the glass removed.

Have fun with crayons and be prepared to clean up all the mess left after all the cutting :-)

Teachers Appreciation Week Idea: Pencil Holder

With still two more days remaining in the 'Teacher's Appreciation Week' , I wanted to share this pencil holder that I made for my son's preschool teachers. With no energy to shop these days, I wanted to make something with stuff I already had at home. So, decided on making this personalized pencil holder from milk bottles. It can also be used as a vase. 

These are actually starbucks coffee bottles, washed and dried. You can also use mason jars instead.

For personalizing it, I used chalk board contact paper, as I did not have vinyl handy. I used Cricut to cut the alphabets out of chalk paper. It comes with an adhesive, so its easy to position and reposition it on the bottle.

For longer words,  I cut out an oval on cricut, and used chalk Ink Markers to write on it.

Added chickpeas/garbanzo beans to stick in the pencils. Embellished with a ribbon, and pencil holder is ready.

Thanks to all the teachers who are making a big difference in our little ones life.

Kids Canvas Banner

I recently volunteered to make few banners for 'Festival of Fun' function at Kabir's school. For the main banner, I wanted to make something that could be reused every year. So, I opted for the canvas banner. Bought rolled canvas from a craft store and got to making it.

You need:

• Rolled Canvas
• Primer(white)
• Acrylic paint
• Printed letters
• Fabric Glue

Directions

If using an unprimed canvas, you would need to prime it. I used a regular primer used for indoor walls, as I did not want to spend on the special canvas primer for one time use. If you want to avoid this step, you can buy white painters canvas. 

Priming the canvas made it little stiff, which worked in my case. It became easier to hang it.

Once primed, you can either draw the alphabets free hand, or trace it. As I am not very confident on my drawing skills, I decided to trace it. I printed the alphabets in the desired size, and using a coloured chalk,  shaded the back of the paper. Then traced the alphabet on the canvas. This left an imprint on the canvas,

Using a red acrylic paint, I filled up the alphabets.

Then came the fun part. On one of my son's play date, Kabir and his friend stamped their handprints in various colours all over the banner.

To trim the sides, I folded the edges with fabric glue.

Some other banners made for the 'Festival of Fun' from foam boards. The foam boards have been painted, and printed alphabets have just been glued on.

                                                                  Happy Painting!

Sponge Fruit Cake

After months of avoiding any sort of baking, I am back to it. It no longer makes me feel nauseas. For those not aware, anything sweet and especially baking was a complete no no in my house. I just could not stand it. But am feeling better just in time to bake a cake for my dearest Husband's birthday. As he is big on losing weight these days, I kept it light and baked a sponge cake. I followed the recipe posted here. This cake is so light, fluffy and yummy. Iced it with whipped cream with a dash of sugar in it. Layered and topped it with lots of fruits. 

Blowing the candles and ready to attack the cake.

It was over in record time.

My son could not even wait for me to get a spoon. By the time I turned around, he was all into it.

Happy Baking!

Crayon Art

Well, I am finally back with a new post. This is on a new project which I did with my son. I saw crayon art pictures all over the internet and thought it's a great project to be done with a preschooler. It involves almost no preparation at all.

Stuff you need:

Canvas of any size you prefer

Crayons enough to cover the length of canvas

Glue Gun

Scotch Tape

Hair Dryer

Directions

Step 1: If you wish to remove the paper cover on crayons, you can do so by soaking it for few seconds in water, and let the crayons dry. I skipped this step.

Step 2: Arrange the colors in a rainbow sequence or any order you prefer.

Step 3. Glue the crayons to the canvas using good amount of glue. If the paper cover is still on, keep the same print on the top.

 

Step 4: Cover the four sides of the canvas with scotch tape to prevent any color from getting there.

Step 5: Time to melt the crayons. This can get little messy, so I would advice to keep a plastic sheet below the canvas and on the surrounding area. Then keeping the canvas little tilted, start heating the crayons. I alternated between and high and low setting. Start heating from the center of crayons, and move slowly from one side to other.

If the color melts and starts to dry midway after dripping, you can blowdry it on low setting and let it spread.

Step 6: Let it dry, and remove the tape from the edges.

We made 2 similar ones, except the sequence of colors on the 2nd canvas was opposite.

 Find a place to hang your art..

Happy Melting!