Christmas Craftiness... and maybe some hidden treasures too!

One benefit of having an art degree and living in the country is being able to make up projects for your kids on the spot with what resources you currently have.  The other day my two older girls & I made these Christmas candle holders.  They are easy & fun to make.  And you will have everything you need to make them right in your home.  Bonus- they don't look half bad!  Here's how you getter done:

You'll need wax paper, tape, red/green/white crayons, toilet or paper towel rolls, iron, and flameless tea lite candles.  I got my flameless candles at the Dollar Store, well worth the purchase.  You can put them in anything.  My friend Jami once put them under some old power line insulators.  The possibilities are endless!

The first thing you need to do is cut the toilet paper rolls to the desired height.  Next cut out the middle, but leave a half inch strip at the top & bottom & down the spine of the back of the candle.

Next make shavings of your crayons using a knife.  And your kids... "they looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears" (Name that movie & you may get your own personal copy!).  If they're girls they say "Oh no, not my crayons.  I loved that crayon!"  If they're boys it will be more like this "Cool!"  Make yourself a nice pile of crayon shavings.  Moms- enjoy every minute of getting rid of one of your millions and millions of crayons!

Now, heat up your iron around the "cotton" setting.  Make sure you turn off the steam.  Take a piece of wax paper sprinkle some crayon shavings on it & cover it with another piece of wax paper.  Now take your iron & start ironing the top of the wax paper crayon sandwich, this will become the "glass" of your candle holders.  I suggest doing this step on top of some newspaper because sometimes wax will ooze out the sides.  Iron it until there are no bumps and all the crayon pieces are melted, it doesn't take long.

Cut the "glass" to the same widths as your toilet paper rolls.  Then tape one side to the spine of the toilet paper roll.

Roll the "glass around the roll until it meets again at the spine, trim if necessary.  Now tape the entire edge of the "glass" making sure to have the tape go over the edge of the toilet paper roll so that it adheres to the inside of the roll- this ensures that the wax paper stays put.  (Whose weird thumb is that?)

Now turn on your flameless tea lite candle & put the candle holder over the top.  It looks pretty cool & your kiddos will be so proud.

This is a great project for a variety of ages.  For the younger kids you'll have to do most of the work but they will really enjoy the process, especially the crayon melting.  Older kids can do much of the work themselves & they also really enjoy the crayon melting.  Heck, I enjoyed the crayon melting.  Have Fun!

To enter to win the movie just put your guess of what movie the quote is from in the "Comments" section below.  Winner will be announced on Friday.  One guess per person (so everyone in your family can guess, but just one guess per person).  You're going to want to guess on this one- you want this movie!