Crayons, Crayons & More Crayons!

At the end of the last school year I ask teachers to save their broken crayons for a project I was doing over the summer.  I was expecting to receive a bag of crayons instead I ended up with a box full of crayons. WOW! Who knew elementary school kids had so many broken crayons.

My copy paper box full of crayons.

The project I had envisioned was for the students in my Sewing Camps to make heart shaped crayons and then sew a bag to carry the crayons.  They could sew one for themselves and one to give to a friend.  At both of my sewing camps we made crayons and bags and the girls loved the project.

The two purple bags tied with ribbon are the crayon bags.

But, I still had a whole box of broken crayons left.  What to do? What to do? After spending hours peeling the paper off the crayons I had several ideas.

Peeling the paper off the crayons was in a strange way

kind of therapeutic. It was mindless work that was much needed

after a long school year.

First I made "crazy crayons" to pass out at my churches Trunk or Treat party.  I figured the kids would get enough candy so why not make something a little different.  This was a big hit!

Crazy crayons are made by putting a small piece of

various colors in the mold.  Each one comes out different.

Next I packaged in paper cupcake holders a small set of solid color crayons and a "crazy crayon" for my family and friends children and grandchildren for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

These paper cupcake holders hold 5 crayons perfectly.

I found my holders at the dollar store in a package of 24.

Each cupcake holder had 4 solid crayons and one "crazy crayon"

The remaining 500+ crayons I made will be used for student prizes in my husbands school classes and our daughters after school program.  It just goes to show that when you ask people to save some items that are destined for the trash can you need to be prepared for more than you thought you would receive.

The question now remains will I be able to distribute all of the crayons I made before the end of the school year, and will I ask for more?  Check back in June to see the result.

Danna