Easter Crayons...and Dog Surgery

I am sure you all have all seen how you can make your own crayons...but have you ever actually done it with your kids. It is so fun, and with little ones, it is a great way to practice colors. My boys have their Easter parties at daycare tomorrow, and we thought we would bring crayons for all the kids. I am lucky to get tons of second hand crayons from my mom who is a Kindergarten teacher. I have huge Ziploc bags full of them in my craft stash.

Supplies:

Crayons that want a second chance at life

Lil crafters

Oven

Directions:

1. Start by removing the wrapper from your crayons. I have found the fastest way is to let an adult handle this part. I run an exacto knife down the crayon lengthwise, and the wrapper will come right off. Remember, it does not matter if you cut into the crayon, because you are going to melt them anyways.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Next, I let the kiddos help me break the crayons and put them in the desired mold. We used a Wilton mold to make these Easter crayons. Laying three colors per egg gave us a neat look when they were done.

3. I like to place my mold on a flat baking sheet with no raised edges. "Bake" in oven for 8-10 minutes until crayons are melted.

4. Remove crayon mold from oven to cool. Once cooled, pop your little crayons out.

Our crayons were so vibrant that you can hardly tell the difference between the plastic Easter eggs and the crayons.

As you can tell, we have tons of different pets at our house. My poor little Cocker Spaniel Mia, who is 9 years old, hurt herself before I left for Thailand. They thought she damaged her knee, but said to give her two weeks on pain meds before we did anything. MRI's on dogs are almost the same price as surgery. She still had not improved so I took her back to the vet today. They feel she has a torn ligament and meniscus. I have to drop my poor baby off in the morning for major knee surgery. I feel for her, because I have had four knee surgeries myself, and there is nothing fun about it. I also feel bad because animals can't talk and I know she is in a lot of pain. She is tougher then I ever was. Here is a picture of my little one loving on her tonight while eating cookie dough batter.

Mia is sooo sweet. If I hurt, I would not want a chubby little boy laying all over me. Lol!