Things I Can't Say

Tips and Tales from an Introverted Mom

Pinterest Pressure: Crayon Hearts

Seeing all the fabulous meals and craft projects on Pinterest gave me a severe case of Pinterest Pressure.

Pinterest Pressure: the pressure to actually attempt something you have pinned to justify the hours spent on the site and the amount of things pinned.

I gave into it this weekend and had my boys work on making Valentines for their classes from a project pinned to my Keeping the Kids Busy board.

Well, that was the plan, anyway.

Crayons in the shape of hearts: how cute and easy, right?

Peel the wrapper off crayons, place in different color combinations in heart-shaped silicone baking trays, bake, let cool, and creatively wrap. And easy as that, a homemade valentine.

Um, yeah. Let me tell you how that went here. From Pinterest to Reality.

homemade valentine project

My boys working on their Valentines

 

Supplies:
*Heart-shaped silicone baking trays
*Crayons

*I also recommend a plastic trash bag in the middle of the work space so your kids can peel the wrappers directly into it and make less of a mess.

I found the baking trays in the holiday section of Walmart for $2.99 each and bought two.  I went for the cheap-o crayons, though was told by someone who actually does crafts that these don’t melt as well as Crayolas do and that I should have spent the extra pennies per box instead. This made me panic a bit.

My boys loved tearing the wrappers off the crayons, I think because it seemed forbidden. Good fine motor activity for my son who struggles with that.  But, oh, it seemed to take a long time just to fill up the first tray of six.

Directions say to fill the hearts up about halfway. I apparently have almost no visual perception when it comes to measurement because our first set of hearts weren’t very thick. I’d recommend using at least 6 crayons in each heart. Maybe even 8. Or 10 if you want to go super-fancy.

Bake at 250 for 10-15 minutes. No melting problem with the cheap crayons, though it did take closer to 15 minutes to melt as opposed to 10. Maybe the Crayolas melt faster, I don’t know.

Allow to cool and then peel out of the cups. I only broke one out of my impatience, but melted it again for a few minutes and it was fine.

Cute Valentine bags will be hunted down this week to put each heart in for Valentine’s Day.

melted crayon projects

The finished product

Pros to Crayon Hearts:
*Very easy directions
*Simple and inexpensive supplies
*Keeps the kids busy for hours
*I can feel crafty, even though I have zero crafting ability/patience

Cons to Crayon Hearts:
*Time consuming if you have a lot of Valentines to make. 3 boys in school= approximately 65 hearts to make=what was I thinking?

Pin It

Have you given in to Pinterest Pressure? What have you made? 

Comments

  2. I was JUST thinking today that I need to get moving on all of the things I’ve pinned to my “Craft Love” board on Pinterest. I think your crayon hearts turned out really cute! 🙂

  3. I have seen these hearts on Pinterest and even passed on the idea to my future daughter-in-law as a party favor for the reception. I am soooooooooo…. oooooooooooo glad to someone has tried this. I was wondering exactly how many freaking crayons would be needed. Sounds like a metric shit ton should be about right. If we started now they should be peeled and ready to go for December.

  7. Now that looks like a great craft. I think I will try it with the girls this week. And, no, I haven’t gone on Pininterest yet. On purpose. I love crafts so much I know I would get sucked in and never come out.

  9. Lmbo I went on a Pinterest frenzy tonight.. unfortunately most of my pins were food related. Although I am proud of me for not going to get food after looking at all that stuff. Those are super cute.

  10. Cheap crayons work just as well, I’ve used both. I think it works better if you let them sit out over night, before trying to take them out of the pans. And I love the silicone pans for these (so many cute shaped pans out there – I made christmas tree crayons for the boys this year).

    You should link this post to my children’s activity party 😉 Oh and fyi, I saw somewhere on pinterest a link to peeling crayons easily, but can’t remember where I saw it now…might be worth taking a look at lol.

  11. We worked on valentines during the Super Bowl party too. But mostly I just went through the box and found the leftovers from last year and made them work. I guess I need to get a little more crafty…maybe next year.
    Sandy

  12. Whoa, 65!  That is some serious commitment.  This is exactly why I’ve avoided Pinterest so far: I’m terrified of the time suck, even if it does give some fabulous ideas.  Blogging still does that for me, as you have just proven!  

    Well done.  All of your sons’ teachers will be as impressed as I am at their creativity.

  13. Baby Girl is making her own Valentine’s this year.  It is a Kiss Ring (Hershey kiss and pipe cleaners).  Yet, I am also responsible for small gifts for the party.  We are making these heart crayons and red play dough we are putting in these little plastic conversation hearts we found.

    The two younger boys want none of it.  They just want a box of pre-made valentines.

  16. I had to laugh at your last con.  That’s the first thing I thought of.  We would have about 60 to make as well, and there is NO WAY I’m doing something so labor intensive.  Cute idea though.

  19. Shell you’re a crazy woman!! But I bet it will be worthwhile for your kids. You’ll enjoy the memory. In like, fifty years. Or possibly I mean fifty adult beverages….

  20. I have done some pinterest things. It is such a great resource. It can also be a giant time suck. I only allow myself one hour per week on there. As if I needed another social media venue to get caught up in. lol

  21. So creative and so simple! Plus, it’s one of those crafts that you can actually put to use! I love the things the girls make but really, how many can you keep?

  22. I saw and pinned that same thing! When I’ll get around to it though, I have no idea, seeing as D’s only 18 months. And I surely am not going to be crafting simply for the sake of crafting anytime soon. Or ever. 😉 I am glad to hear it’s as easy as it looks and does turn out great!

  23. They look great!!

    I have seen this project on Pinterest – it is interesting how many crayons it takes to do it. They always show it being a great thing to do with old, broken crayons, but we wouldn’t have enough of those to do very many of these hearts. 

  27. Those turned out great!
    I’ve done a couple recipes from Pinterest. Then I don’t feel like such a looooooser. I totally get your definition. 🙂

  28. These turned out great! I love Pinterest, I usually end up making the crafts I pin, but almost never make the food I pin. Probably because I’m always pinning the most fattening desserts I can find, so my conscious talks me out of making one every night!

  29. I heart Pintrest! Seriously I think it is my favorite site ever – well besides yours 😉

    Your crayons turned out good! I pinned those too, but haven’t tried them yet. I figured it would be a good way to use up all the half crayons we have laying around!

    I also made a Pintrest project this weekend – the Mini Blind Roman shades! I am pretty happy with how they turned out – picture on my blog today.

  31. I’ve pinned a few “valentines” crafts… just now realizing V-Day is next week… looks like I better get moving if Goose is going to be doing anything other than store-bought valentines & candy 🙂

  33. These are cute!  Not sure I would want to make them for all the kids in my daughter’s class but I would make them for just my kids. 

  34. These are adorable! I might think about doing these, but most likely I’ll be hiking it over to Target to buy something premade. Way to go on having the motivation to even attempt this! I’m way impressed.

  35. I feel like I should have known about this, but I’ve never heard of pinterest! I think I’m gonna have to check  it out!

  36. Those are SO cute and I love that they’re relatively easy to make!   I was hoping my kids would want to make something homemade for their school friends, like this really adorable homemade playdough idea that I pinned, but they would rather do the store-bought Valentines.  I’m disappointed to say the least.

    I’ve made a ton of things that I’ve found on Pinterest (mostly recipes) and so far I’ve had good luck!  

  38. That is a great idea!! If cheap crayons work well then I bet that I could get them from the dollar store and it’d work out just fine for my 9 yr old! She’d love it!

  39. Those are SO cute! 
    As a sidenote, I usually save all of our broken crayons and melt them into shapes when I have enough…and we break a LOT of crayons around here 😉 

  40. Nice project. i just found out about Pinterest and just singed up. Also they got a thing called Linky, since google is doing away with connect, peole can follow you on that.

  41. Nice project. i just found out about Pinterest and just signed up. Also they got a thing called Linky, since google is doing away with connect, people can follow you on that.

  45. I’m going to get my little rear in gear and get mine made this weekend.  I found a different one than yours.  Will see how it goes.  Am also going to add a magnet to the back.  So not crafty, but am optimistic that it might turn out okay….will just have to see.  I too went cheap and bought Hobby Lobby cheap.  Your’s look great and major kudos to 65.

  46. I love those – they are super cute.  In my house though the kids and I would ave made one batch together and then they would have totally dumped me.

    I am having a hard time getting started with pinterest.

  47. I love those – they are super cute.  In my house though the kids and I would ave made one batch together and then they would have totally dumped me.

    I am having a hard time getting started with pinterest.

  48. I’ll admit that I’m slightly addicted to pinning things onto my Pinterest page.  But I’ve only gotten around to doing ONE project from all my efforts, and that was a Valentine’s Day heart project.  See, I just had to do a Pinterest-inspired craft with the kids to justify all my time spent on Pinterest.  The guilt was getting to me.  So I did the melting-the-crayon-on-the-wax-paper  craft, then cutting out hearts.  The kids had fun, so it was well-worth it.  And now…I am free to spend another 5 or 6 hours on Pinterest guilt-free!  See how that works?

  50. A very good friend of mine made these with her daughter when all of our girls were around 4 or 5. Let me just tell you…they received a huge squeal when she passed them out at our neighborhood Valentine’s party from all of the kids. Great project to do with your boys and a great present to pass out!

  51. What a great idea for Valentine. So cute. I love Pinterest. So simple and for one with two left hands, I can actually complete a project. I did the fabric softener idea, lotion and detergent. My kids love them.

  53. Yes sometimes the easier crafts are so time consuming. And most of my crafts lately are at least influenced from pinterest.

  54. It looks like they turned out, truly, wonderfully . . . though they do sound like pains to make.  I think I’m going to start collecting the half eaten used crayons that we’d, typically, throw out to possibly start doing the same.

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