If you have been on Pinterest at all, you've probably seen some version of this project: a canvas covered in melted crayons. It is all over the boards! The original (pictured at left) was from a seller on Etsy. Well, the crafter in me could not justify paying for something I could easily reproduce myself, so I headed out to Michaels and bought a canvas (as a preschool teacher, I had plenty of crayons already on hand).

I spent an afternoon arranging, gluing, and finally melting the crayons until I got a look I liked. 

And you know what? Besides being fun and crafty, it was oddly therapeutic! I mean, how often do you get to melt crayons? I felt a little like a rebel, destroying something that had forever been a symbol of a new start, endless creativity, and the rules of school. Plus, that 'new crayon' smell you get a whiff of when you open the box? Yeah, it's magnified when you melt them. My craft area smelled like the most basic form of creativity for hours! 

So this is what mine ended up looking like:

I was in love! I could not wait to bring it to work and hang it in my classroom! Turns out, the best way to hang these is with those 3M velcro strips. Works really well!

I got so many compliments when people walked into my room - it was a definite hit!

In fact, it was so popular, that a member of our parent advisory asked if I would make one and donate it to their yearly fundraiser for the school. 

Of course I would!

However, the year got away from me and as the fundraiser grew closer, I still hadn't made another one. So, I decided to donate my original. It saddened me to give away my creation, but I knew that another one was just a relaxing afternoon of crafting away.

Since then, I have made three more canvases. Two for a friend of mine for her kids' birthdays. And one as a commission from a parent at school.

Sadly, I have not had the time (ok, that's a lie...) uhh... motivation to make another one for myself. I will have to make one before the school year starts so I can once again have it hanging in my room as a reminder of the simple creativity a set of crayons can produce.

I am thinking of making some to sell on Etsy myself. Or maybe sell at school to fellow teachers or parents. What color combos would be good? I think the classic rainbow is nice, but should I also make some pink/purple 'girly' ones and blue/green 'boy' ones? would black/white/gray be neat? What about earthy green/brown/yellow? What do you think? And how much would you pay? Let me know!

I love to scrapbook. I love to take photos and stories and turn them into works of art. And believe me - some of my pages were truly works of art. However, the last 2-3 years has seen a decidedly steep drop in the number of scrapbook pages. 

As in, almost none at all.

I think the reason for this is because I was an event scrapper. I would go to an event (Christmas, birthday party, broomball party), take photos, then make a page about it. But there are only so many ways you can scrap Christmas. Or a birthday party. Or anything that happens every year. It gets monotonous. And monotony is anything but creative. So I stopped.

Until last fall when I discovered Project Life. 

Project Life is scrapbooking made easy. Gone are the mountain of supplies and the need for elaborate works of art. Gone are the monotonous subjects that remain stagnant each year. And gone is the guilt of not being 'caught up'! (That's my favorite part!) Project Life is the brain-child of Beck Higgins and is all about recording your life as you live it. In all it's messy, day-to-day glory. All you need is a binder, some of her photo pocket pages, and some 3x4 cards (or one of her core kits - which are very beautiful!). Each week, just slide your photos into the 4x6 slots, jot down some info (yes! In your own handwriting!) on 3x4 cards and slide them into their slots, and turn the page - you're done!

So, ok, enough explaining - it's easier to show anyway. Here are some of my favorite pages.

This is one of my first pages (Week 2 to be exact) and I like it because I think it tells a complete story. There's minimal journaling but you get what's going on. (This is a friend's baby shower, BTW - not me!) I also like that I could get a little creative and add in one of the cards I made for her and even make a 3x4 card to include that matches the theme! The rest of the week was pretty uneventful, so I was able to fit it all onto the right-hand page.

This page I like because of the colors! They fit together so nicely and look like it took so much time to coordinate, but it's easily my simplest page. All I did was print off photos, jot down a quick story from the day, and slide everything into place. 

This isn't a regular weekly page, it's an insert. Some weeks have a lot going of and there's just no way you can fit it all into 16 little pockets. This week, a friend of mine got married so I knew I had to do a little something more. So I made a mini scrapbook page. Nothing fancy - just some journaling and a photo booth strip and her invite. On the back is a collage of more photo booth strips. And the page underneath has more photos from the wedding. I got to showcase 10 photos plus a bunch of photo booth photos! Plus my whole week surround these pages (it really was a busy week!).

I just realized that these 3 are not my typical pages. My typical pages are very boring-looking. And full of my own handwriting. And much less... coordinated. Which is the point. I love that most weeks are just a collection of random stories, but every once in a while, I get to be creative and put together a page that is more reminiscent of my scrapbook pages of yore. Or even throw one of those pages into the middle of the book!

So, in the weeks to come, I will be sharing more of my Project Life pages with you. Including some tricks I use and some tips for getting the most out of your photos.

Do any of you use Project Life? Would you? You don't need to start in January - you can start with the school year, or a birthday, or a wedding, or a birth, or... whenever!

Ahh, Pinterest! I am addicted! I love scrolling through the pages and pages of ideas! I have found some amazing recipes, cute home improvement/organization ideas, and of course, countless craft projects! 

If you have not browsed Pinterest yet, do it! But beware: it's slightly addicting. You can use Pinterest in 2 different ways: You can just browse the Pinterest home page for ideas then re-pin them on one of your 'pin-boards'. The second way you could use it is to pin items from websites so you can go back to them later. Because the best part about Pinterest is that every picture links back to the original page that it came from! So a photo of a delicious dessert will likely link to the blog it came from with the recipe on it so you can make it yourself!

I have made some crafts that are Pinterest-inspired and I'd like to share them with you!

Top Row: Melted crayon canvas (oddly therapeutic to melt all those crayons!), cake-pan craft supply organizer, and celery prints.
Bottom Row: Color-tinted glue candlesticks, heart-shaped crayons, and duct-tape baggie artwork display.

See? I told you there were a lot of neat ideas! If you'd like to know anything more about these project, leave a comment or go check out my boards on Pinterest! The original pins that inspired these projects are all there! IF you are on Pinterest, please link up your boards and I will follow you!