Snail Mail class @ CHAW

Thanks to another guest blogger, Alayna Rasile-Digrindakis (pictured, left), for shopping with us, detailing the class she offered, and generally being one of SCRAP-DC's biggest cheerleaders!

Nothing Like Some New Crayons...

Remember getting a box of crayons, the waxy smell and perfect tips calling out for endless doodles? Remember how within about 2 minutes those crayons turned into broken nubs? It's surprisingly easy to turn stubs into fun new crayons.

What you'll need:
—Crayons (supposedly Crayola works best, but anything will do)
—Muffin tins (I used a mini muffin tin, for more child-sized crayons)
—Cookie cutters
—Tin foil
—Baking sheet

Directions:
—Preheat oven to 250º
—Remove crayons from wrappers and break into small pieces
—Assemble crayons into muffin tins OR line a baking sheet with tin foil and place crayon bits into cookie cutters. If the cookie cutters do not lie flat, the crayons will leak once melted!
—Bake crayons for 5-10 minutes, or until melted
—Remove and use a toothpick to swirl colors together for a cool tie-dye look
—Let cool and put in the freezer for about an hour
—Pop out your crayons and start coloring!

Christmas & other packaging, part 2

As a follow-up to my post about plastic packaging, let's go back a bit to this past summer: I tried using a few remnants I'd saved to make little "windows" for some bottle caps . It took a little trial and error, but it turns out that the secret to getting plastic pieces to sit within the caps, no glue needed, is to cut imperfect circles. That much, I can do!

Before closing the cap up, I added some doodads (beads and punched paper shapes), and here were a couple of results:

zipper pulls

and magnets

Check out the wavy plastic on that magnet -- it stays in there surprisingly well. Once you start looking at this stuff with projects in mind, you'll find loads of useful material. Whether you've got an idea, work in progress, or finished item, please be sure to share it with us!