make crayon stained glass hearts with your kids {how to}

Remember these? I do! I know they're all over the place right now, but I haven't made them in about 10 years, and my kids have never made them, so we spent an afternoon shaving crayons and making our own stained glass hearts for Valentine's day! Here's how to make stained glass shapes using crayons, wax paper, and an iron.



Stained Glass Shapes with Crayons and Wax Paper {Tutorial}


Supplies:
*Crayons in various colors
*Crayon or pencil sharpener, or vegetable peeler
*Wax paper
*An iron
*Stack of newspaper or paper towels
*Cookie cutters and pencil (for tracing shapes)
*String or baker's twine for hanging
*Optional: buttons

1. Start by grouping your crayons by color. They turn out nicely when you use colors from the same family, but it's fine to mix them up, too! Shave your crayons with a crayon or pencil sharpener. You can also use a vegetable peeler on longer crayons!


2. Fold a large piece of wax paper in half. Spread your shavings on one half of the wax paper, keeping them away from the edges.


Seal the edges by folding them over.


3. Put several pieces of newspaper or paper towels beneath and on top of the wax paper. You can see in the picture below I didn't have enough--the crayon seeped out and got on my ironing board and iron! So make it a thick layer. Then, with your iron on a low to medium setting, iron over the top of the wax paper.


As you move across the paper, your melted crayon will spread out. When it's all melted, allow to cool for a few minutes.


4. When it's cool, trace shapes with cookie cutters or template. We did hearts for Valentine's, but try leaves for fall, ornaments for Christmas, eggs for Easter, etc. Cut the shapes out.



5. Using a small hole punch (mine was a 1/16"), punch a hole near the top and bottom of each heart. String them with string or baker's twine. I also strung a button between each shape for a little more interest and weight.


Hang from a curtain rod so the light can shine through your shapes, just like real stained glass!