Tuesday AUTUMN CREATIVE with your kids!

Remember the good old days when we used Crayola crayon shavings to make art? Well, guess what? You can STILL use them to make art at your age! Art good enough for framing! And YES, it's STILL fun! The one shown below is one I made with my two boys last year and it STILL looks just like this! The colors have not faded! I put it up in the attic over the summer months, but we got it down a week ago and it's just the same! AMAZING!

Here's what you're going to need for this project:

Crayola crayons (others will do, but might be a bit soft)
sharpener big enough for crayons
Wax paper
Iron
Fall leaves
Construction paper, stapler/tape/gluestick OR
Frame (optional)

DIRECTIONS (read through first):

1.Take and tear two pieces of wax paper slightly larger than your frame (you will cut it down to size later).

2. Set aside second piece of wax paper.

3. Place fall foiliage on first piece of wax paper as you desire - if it's too bumpy it might not work. However, I DID manage to make a few "helicopters" work, just place them towards the center, not the edges or they won't seal.

4. Sharpen crayons over your creation so that shavings fall all over project randomly. Be generous. Spread them out with your fingers if need be. Use several colors. Make sure to get shavings along the edges so it will "seal properly. Make sure no leaves are poking out - you want wax paper or crayon shavings around the edges, not foilage, for best results.

5. Place second piece of wax paper on top of all of this.

6. Iron on low setting - just hot enough to melt the shavings and wax pieces together. Move your iron in circular motion over entire project until all shavings are melted and piece is melded together. **If you don't have an iron you use just for crafts - please place a hand towel over the project to ensure you don't end up with melted wax or shavings on your iron (and turn up the heat just a tad) :)

7. Trim to size

8. If framing in a glass frame, you may choose to carefully tear off the top sheet of wax paper, as shown in the photo above. To do this, simply tear top piece off slowly while wax is still warm (re-warm if necessary). Once removed, place glass on top of piece and then invert frame to place backing on.

9. If not placing into a glass front frame, you might want to hang these on a window or slider door for an entirely different effect (see comment below) - cut construction paper "frame" and gluestick or staple/tape to edges so light can pass through the waxed paper portions. VERY FUN!

**Your kids will LOVE this project and so will you - collecting the foiliage is LOTS of fun. You can do this in two parts if you like, foiliage one day and creating art the next. We framed two pieces and the other two we made outline paper "frames" for and hung on our slider door like stained glass - VERY COOL EFFECT!

Let me know how yours turns out!