Crayon Canvas

This one is not my original idea (are they EVER???), but something that I saw on Pinterest.  I picked up the canvas at Hobby Lobby.  My neighbor girl was wanting to do this project with my daughter (Madi is a freshman in high school) so we decided today was the day.  In addition to my daughter Avery, we also invited 2 other girls to come and join in the fun.  Madi had her hands full!

The first step, and quite possibly most time consuming, is to peel the paper from the crayons.  Now, I did read somewhere online that you could drop the crayons in boiling water and the paper would come right off, but with 3 little girls here we decided they could peel crayons!

Once you have the crayons peeled, it's time to line them up across your canvas.  Madi had the awesome idea of lining them up in a wave pattern.  I love it!  When I saw the original Pinterest pin I really liked it, but didn't like the leftover crayons all lined up across the top...the wave pattern solves that!  Looks VERY cool.

When you know what crayons go where, start hot gluing those babies down.  Madi did this for the little girls.  After that, it's time to take the heat gun to those crayons and let 'er drip....

...word of caution...put newspapers down!  I am SO glad I thought ahead and did this instead of my normal "oh, I'll be careful" attitude that would've landed me in a HUGE mess!

~Katrina's rainbow canvas~

I used an embossing gun.  You can splatter the drips, let them run down the canvas, or even let them pool up a bit...it's your world.  It's your art!  I had each of the 4 girls watch me as I did the heat gunning and they told me when they wanted more of a crayon or whatever.

~note the newspapers~

The 4 canvases turned out really cool.  I think this might've been the first of many craft projects these gals will get together for.  It was fun!

~Close up of Caroline's canvas~

~Madi's canvas~

Avery's canvas, which she cannot wait to hang on her wall, by her bed, so that she can "See it a lot". 

ETA:  After the canvas sat on the dining room table a few days, we noticed that some of the thicker "drips" were breaking off.  We decided to take the heat gun to the canvas again to "thin out" some of the thick drips.  There is now less white space on the canvas, but I do not worry about the "art" popping off.  Avery is still happy with it and now it's time to put it on the wall.