Spending All Day Coloring

http://pinterest.com/pin/200691727120969632/

This pin took a lot of time, colors, and space in my kitchen.

Our school had a snow day, so we spent the morning playing in the snow and watching movies. In the afternoon, I did this. Seriously, unless you have a lot of spare time, just order this on Etsy.

I also used a technique meant to be a craft for a small child, so I knew it was a possibility this could be done by me, one who has terrible luck with all things that involve fine motor skills.

First step, use tape to carefully block off the parts that you do not want to be covered in crayon. My method of being careful is not with measuring tape, but with a crudely cut piece of cardboard. By the way, do you say "cray-on" or "crown?" I say it the correct way.

When you buy a box that has a lot of crayons, you are rewarded with a sharpener. It would be faster with a cheese grater, but after two and a half years of marriage, we have yet to get around to buying one of those. This part takes forever.

Once you get the desired number (and color) of crayon shavings, put wax paper over it and iron. I had to push the crayon pieces around to make sure all of it was covered. Also, I could not find a definite answer for what temperature the iron should be. I went with the second lowest setting.

The darker blues are in the corners and the shavings yet to be ironed are right next to them. I added some white to make sure there was a solid contrast.

Here is the after.

I figured my green would take up the most space, so I made sure to do a lot of shavings. I ended up using a potato pealer. Much faster. 

Not looking foward to cleaning this up.

This looks promising. I was really worried about pulling off the tape. I couldn't see a lot of it, so I had to just peel what I could see and...

This is the result! I think I actually like this better than the one sold on Etsy. I love the texture and it has more imperfections, but I think that's what makes it interesting. The husband really likes it, so I'd call it a success.

...and here is what I get to clean up. 

Look at me, being able to do a craft meant  for a child. I feel like my blogs are a disappointment unless I fail at an embarassingly high level. Oh well, I bought a three pack at Walmart so I have one more chance to not disappoint.