Melted Crayon Art

Melted crayon art is a fun and easy project. You don't have to be an artist to do this project. You can go with a design like I did or just melt some crayons in an abstract way like this. This project is a good way to decorate your room and it's cheap! 

What you need:

• A canvas/canvases 
• Crayons (I've found that Crayola melt the best)
• A hot glue gun
• A blow dryer 

What to do:

1. Start by picking out your colors. You will need to peel the paper off of the crayon, and since I used smaller canvases, I also broke the crayons in half, doubling the amount I had.
2. Hot glue your crayons to the canvas. Be patient and wait for the glue to dry. The hot glue will initially melt the crayon a little, so don't move it around much.
3. Blow dry your crayons in the direction you want them to melt. Use a LOW setting but HIGH heat. If the power is too intense, it will blow the crayon right off of the canvas. You have to be patient with this. You don't want your crayon to move around while heating it, you just want it to melt slowly. 
• TIP: Put down newspaper or something. The crayon might drip off of the canvas, and you don't want to ruin a table or floor with melted wax!
• As you can see in the picture below, I have tape on my canvas. That is because I wanted to draw a silhouette there with sharpie. I used tape so that I could peel off that spot if any crayon melted.
4. When the melted crayons have dried, you can draw on any extra silhouettes like I did. You can see them in my final product below: a girl with an umbrella, an owl, and the middle of the sun. If you are leaving it as is, then you're done! Hang your canvases or give them as a supa cool gift!

Bottle Cap Art

Alright college kids, stop throwing away and start saving your bottle caps! This project is pretty simple and you can make the design anything you want. I chose this "LOVE" design because my sister liked it and this was a Christmas present. 

These are the supplies you will need:

• Craft paint
• Paint brushes
• Bottle Caps
• Hot Glue Gun
• Shadow Box Frame (not pictured) 

Start this project by laying out your design with the bottle caps. This will let you determine how many bottle caps you will need of each color. 

Once you figure out those numbers, start painting your caps. Wait for the bottle caps to dry. Depending on the paint you use, you will probably need to paint multiple coats until the brand doesn't show through anymore. The darker blue took a couple coats and the yellow needed more like 4 or 5. 

After the caps are dry and you can no longer see the brand, lay out your design on the inside of the shadow box.

Once you have it positioned how you want it, hot glue the bottle caps to the inside back wall of the shadow box. (Meet my very unhelpful cat, Bugera, who likes to always sit right in the middle of things.) 

Leave your art to dry and then put the shadow box back together. You're done!

This craft can by done by any skill level and it makes for a great gift or addition to your room. The list of crafts that can be made with bottle caps is endless. If this one isn't quite your cup of tea, check out some more bottle cap inspiration here. Recycle your caps into something awesome!

DIY Glowing Firefly Jar

For each glow jar, you will need:

• Some kind of glass jar (Mason jars are ideal, or glass candleholders, whatever you please)

• Glow-in-the-dark acrylic paint (any color, I used yellow and green)

• A couple small paint brushes

That's it- that's all you need. All of your supplies can be found at a craft store such as Joann Fabric's or Michaels. I bought the acrylic paint for about $2 at the Mount Pleasant Joann Fabric's. This is a super cheap project but it looks cool when it's done. 

All you have to do for this project is one thing: Paint small polka dots on the inside of your jar/glass with the glow-in-the-dark acrylic paint. Be patient. You don't want to put too much paint because it will drip. The more dots you paint, the brighter your jar is going to glow. 

When you have finished painting your dots, your jar is going to look something like this in the light. Leave it open so that the paint can dry.

Keep your jar wherever you want it to glow! Mine stays in my bedroom and glows after just a half hour of light. The longer your jar is in light, the brighter it will glow!