The Perfect Gift For Any Teacher

I actually made this before the lamp, but just came across the picture again.  I made this for one of my co-teachers.  I printed off a letter 'B' off my computer to use as a guide.  The picture frame fits an 8x10 inch picture.  I removed the glass and took the cardboard that comes in the picture frame and covered it with black fabric.  To make the crayons easier to cut, I put them in the freezer for about 3 hours.  I think an hour would have been sufficient though.  I used a butter knife to cut them, however, I think a sharper knife would've been better (I couldn't find one at the time and I wasn't patient enough to go on a scavenger hunt in my kitchen looking for one!).  After cutting my crayons, I arranged the crayons on top of the printed 'B' to get an idea of how to place them on the frame.  I then used my hot glue gun to glue the crayons to the fabric.  The zebra print around the outside is scrapbook paper.  I also used ribbon to decorate the outside of the frame.  To finish off my project, I used stamps on white paper to spell out  B is for Mrs. Bigrigg.  This craft is super easy and super cute for any teacher!  

My good friend, Courtney, made me one for Christmas! Check it out.

Crayola Lamp

Long weekends always leave me looking for something to do to occupy my time.  Alex and I decided a trip to Hobby Lobby and Lowes to get stuff for her new apartment was a good idea.  Of course, we got distracted from our real shopping purpose and bought a load of stuff for crafting.  Three hours of shopping later, we headed home to make lamps for our classrooms.  Although time consuming, this lamp is simple to make and is super cute for my classroom desk :)

Finished Product :)

Here's how to create this sweet lamp:

Step 1: Glue crayons to your lamp (or other surface...Alex has done this on a flat canvas before and it looks wonderful hanging in her room).  Make sure that you use at least 4 crayons in each shade otherwise the colors run together and turn brownish black.  I prefer to use a hot glue gun to glue the crayons on to ensure they stay.

Step 2: After gluing the crayons around the outside of the lamp, I put a layer of hot glue around the inside edge of the lamp.  I wanted to ensure the crayons don't fall off if the lamp gets knocked over or bumped by the kids.

Step 3: Use a blow dryer to melt the crayons.  Be careful because the wax will splatter!  We had a plastic sheet to cover the floor with for this part, but forgot to bring it.  Our friend Craig's bathtub was a good substitute.  We used the highest heat setting and aimed the heat toward the center of the crayon.  Place the blow dryer close to the crayons.  You can change the drip design depending on the angle you hold the lamp shade.  You can change the thickness of the drip design, as well, depending on how long you expose the crayons to the heat.  The crayon wax will dry quickly.

Step 4: Clean up.  Since the wax dries almost immediately, the bath tub was stained with wax splatter.  To clean up the mess, we reheated the splatter with the blow dryer & used paper towels to wipe it up.  After getting most of it off, we used scrubbing bubbles and hot water.  The tub was sparkling white when we finished.

The finished product :)

Alex was excited to show off our craft!