Kids Art: Melted Crayon Stained Glass

While it has been nice to take a break from routine and enjoy the Winter Holidays with the kids, it feels as if everything is on-hold for me, as if I am suspended in mid-air, in a limbo, sort of like Trishanku Swargam where Sage Vishwamitra froze Trishanku in space not letting him fall while the Devas tried not letting Trishanku ascend... (some of the mythological tales I grew up with are just mind-boggling and thought-provoking).

I chalk it down to the change in routine - to not have to rush off to work every morning, dropping the kids off and having the days go by in a blur... I am glad to be forced into such breaks, much-needed and much-welcomed, even if it stresses me about meeting our financial commitments.

After busy mornings of dance and play followed by lunch, I get desperately anxious to put Oggie down for a nap so I can catch my breath.

And Ana gets just as anxious as me to see Og settle down for a nap so she can play with her toys that she doesn't want Oggie to touch. Of course, she can play in her room anytime, but, she doesn't like to be alone in there...

Some days we play with Enid Pappaa... Enid's wardrobe seems to be multiplying exponentially: anything too small for Oggie or Ana becomes a hand-me-down for Enid :)

Some days we play with Tink, Rhonwen, and some tiny Playmobil fairy set she has...

Some days we play with Polly Pocket... well, she just tells me what to do and how to dress Polly and Leah, and if I don't do it, she counts me out! Sneaky me, of course, I deliberately protest about the clothes for Polly so she'll kick me out of the play :)

And some days we do little art projects.

I was so glad to find some very cool ones online. There are so many creative souls out there sharing their discoveries and it is nice to glean some simple ideas to try out at home. One of them in particular appealed to me as it seemed so simple and yet I would not have thought of it at all - viz., Melted Crayon Stained Glass.

Rather than watercolors and melted crayon therein, we decided to do the wax paper method to simulate the simple stained-glass-style look.

Items Used: Pencil sharpener, wax crayons, wax paper, iron.

1. Use the pencil sharpener to get some crayon shavings
2. Fold a piece of wax paper half; then open it out and lay flat on top of some folded sheet or fabric mat (we used just cloth placemats) to protect the table as we are going to use a warm iron soon
3. Sprinkle the crayon shavings on one half of the wax paper, then fold the other half over it
4. Place a paper bag or napkin or another fabric placemat over the folded wax paper and press with warm iron; on low setting is better, not too hot; run the iron over a few times to make sure all the crayon shavings enclosed in the wax paper has melted Note: This step is best done by an adult, taking necessary precaution, of course
5. Allow to cool, et voilà! Stained Glass-ish results

Ana liked to mix up a bunch of colors first and then realized it is just mucky. So, we tried just a single color, then maybe a couple, and each had its own unique look that this project sort of took a life of its own.

What to do with this?

1. Cut out flowers (or other shapes) and paste on greeting cards
2. Cut out hearts and share on Valentine's Day
3. Cut out a preferred shape in a greeting card first, then glue a piece of this stained-glass-like wax paper on the back so it shows through the cutout shape