{Think Outside the Toy Box} Puzzle Pieces: Painted Puzzle Wall Art

Okay, I know this is really late, but I have a million legitimate excuses! First off, we moved.. we have been moving since last Saturday. This move an hour and a half away has been exponentially harder than when we moved 32 hours away last year. Every time I thought we were close to being done packing everything up, I found another cabinet, another closet, or another bin full of crap we somehow accumulated over the past year. Anywho, we are finally getting a bit settled, but still have no internet. So I will continue to be absent until next Tuesday when the AT&T guys come to hook us up. Also, I had a birthday! Nothing special, just another year older and I celebrated by going to the laundromat and taking a glorious 3 hour nap with Myles! So here is my Think Outside the Toy Box Summer Fun Series post only four days late!
 

If you are here for the first time or want to check out all the details again, take a look at the post introducing the Think Outside the Toy Box summer fun series. Also if you have missed any previous weeks, here are the projects we have done so far:
Glow-in-the-Dark Bowling (and bath)
Plastic Bottle Waterfall
Astronaut/Alien Costume
 Foamy Bathtub Paint

Edible Sensory Bin
Marble Drop/Race
 Shredded Crayon Canvas Art

Now on to this week's fun with:

PUZZLE PIECES

Since we just moved and Myles will be celebrating his 2nd birthday in less than a month, I figured it would be the perfect time to change his room decor and hook him up with a new big boy room! Last week I showed you my first project for his room and revealed that I decided on a dinosaur theme. I am so excited to get to decorating and DIYing and this series has provided me with some awesome opportunities to get Myles involved as well. We have already made Shredded Crayon Canvas Art and this week I came up with another DIY project for his walls using puzzles:

  Painted Puzzle Wall Art

What You Will Need: 

4 boxes of small puzzles (I found these at the Dollar Tree)
Modge Podge

Paintbrushes/ Sponges

Washable Paints

Wood Decals

Glue Gun

Hole Puncher (*not pictured)

Ribbon (I used three different colors)

Directions:  

1. Start out by putting the puzzles together. I am a puzzle fanatic, so this was my favorite part :) After the puzzles are together, use a foam brush to Modge Podge the puzzles. It will need about 4 coats, 2 on each side. Brush the glue onto one side, let dry, then turn over and glue the other side (repeat).

2. Paint! This is the part to get the kids involved and let them decorate their new wall art. I used Crayola Washable Paints (they are perfect for toddlers) and just let him go at it. I had to guide him a little because I wanted to make sure all the different colors got on to all 4 puzzles and that they were covered well.

3. I let him use his hands and feet to paint as well. This way I got the paint to spread out over the whole puzzle. Let them dry.

4. Use the hot glue gun to attach the wood decals to the puzzles. I found these dinosaurs at Hobby Lobby already painted. They had tons of others to choose from if you are doing a different theme.

 

 5. Punch a hole in the top puzzle piece. Add ribbon and tie a knot for hanging. I used three colors (the main ones I'm using for his room) and braided them.

6. Hang and enjoy!

Thanks for checking out week seven of the Think Outside the Toy Box Summer Fun Series! Also don't forget to check out what all of the other ladies put together for this week's item in the link-up below. 
  And if you have a post (new or old) that you created showcasing puzzle pieces in a kid's project, craft, game, experiment, etc., submit it below as well. No post this week? No problem; join us next Monday when we will be using bathroom paper cups! 

 And in case you want to get a head start, here is the complete list for the coming weeks:
July 21 - Bathroom Paper Cups
July 28 - Plastic Milk Jugs

{Think Outside the Toy Box} Wax Paper: Shredded Crayon Canvas Art

Hi all, hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! It was almost too hot to go outside here, but we did get in on some BBQ action and an awesome fireworks show! Now that it is Monday again, it's time for the Think Outside the Toy Box Summer Fun Series!
 

If you are here for the first time or want to check out all the details again, take a look at the post introducing the Think Outside the Toy Box summer fun series. Also if you have missed any previous weeks, here are the projects we have done so far:
Glow-in-the-Dark Bowling (and bath)
Plastic Bottle Waterfall
Astronaut/Alien Costume
 Foamy Bathtub Paint

Edible Sensory Bin 
Marble Drop/Race
 
Now on to this week's fun with:

WAX PAPER

This item was a little hard to get creative with. I thought about putting together some noise makers perfect for the 4th of July using paper towel/toilet paper rolls and wax paper, but the post would be late by 3 days. I still think it would be fun for New Years or birthday parties though. Other than that, I could only think of the typical crayon melting with wax paper crafts. Although the shapes and ideas for that are endless, I was really hoping to think of something different. Unfortunately, the big idea never came to me, so I did the melted crayons, but with slight variation. We are in the process of moving this weekend, so I found this to be the perfect time to change Myles' still nursery into his big boy room. I decided on a dinosaur theme and am pretty excited to start decorating it. I figured I would do double duty and use this week's project to make the first piece of art for Myles' new room. So here is:

 Shredded Crayon Canvas Art

What You Will Need: 

Stretched fabric canvas(es)
(I used two, but use as many as needed)
Painters/Electrical/Masking Tape (all depends on the size you want the letters)
Crayons (I used certain colors from 3 boxes)
Cheese Grater
Wax Paper
Iron

Directions:  

1. Start by sorting your crayons. You will want certain colors in certain areas on the canvas(es), so the crayons need to be sorted before you shred them. I used three 48 count boxes from the Dollar Tree.

2. Choose the colors you want to use and remove the labels from the crayons. I started doing them all, before I realized I was only going to need specific ones for the colors I wanted to use. I ended up choosing 4 colors based on the room decor. This was pretty tedious, but I did it while watching a movie with my son!

3. Use the cheese grater to shred the crayons; putting each set of colors into their own bowl. This is also very tedious. I grated one color a day, and worked on them throughout the day. I laid the crayons flat along the grater and that worked fine, but my fingers were getting tore up a bit. Then when I only had a few left, I accidentally discovered a way that is so much easier and less painful on the fingers:

Keep the crayon upright and grate it from the bottom to the top.

4.  Next, get your canvas(es). Use the tape to mark out the word(s) or pattern you want to have left white on the canvas. I stuck with the dinosaur theme and spelled out 'ROAR'. 

 

 5. Time to get the kid(s) involved. Lay out the canvas(es) and have them sprinkle the shredded crayons all over. 

I thought it would be cool to mix and swirl the colors a bit, but it didn't stay that way after I ironed it. The colors mostly ended up melting together and becoming one brownish color. 

The better way to do this would be to keep the colors separated in lines. That way when it is melted, each color will have enough room to spread but not mix with the others.

6. Once the canvas(es) are covered, place the wax paper over them. Make sure the wax side is DOWN. I made the mistake of not realizing which side was which and I had a mini-disaster on my hands! Since all my colors were already mixed, I just ironed in whatever direction was easiest. 

 If you do the colors in rows, make sure to only iron in the direction of the rows. That should help keep the colors from mixing too much. Also make sure that if you have a lot of shredded crayon on the canvas(es) that you move the melted excess off of the canvas by pushing it over the edges with the iron so that it doesn't pool on the canvas(es). If it is too thick, it will still dry, but it won't stick to the canvas(es) and will easily flake off. 
Once the crayon is melted, wait about 30 seconds-1 minute for it to settle a bit, and then remove the wax paper.   

7. Peel the tape off of the canvas(es) to reveal the (mostly) white letters/pattern.

And that was our week six of the Think Outside the Toy Box Summer Fun Series is complete! Also don't forget to check out what all of the other ladies put together for this week's item in the link-up below. 
  And if you have a post (new or old) that you created showcasing wax paper in a kid's project, craft, game, experiment, etc., submit it below as well. No post this week? No problem; join us next Monday when we will be using Puzzle Pieces! 

 And in case you want to get a head start, here is the complete list for the coming weeks:
July 14 - Puzzle Pieces
July 21 - Paper Cups
July 28 - Plastic Milk Jugs