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Wednesday, August 31, 2011

40 Years of Service... Worth a Crayon or Two

Let me preface this post by saying that it's NOT a Martha Stewart project, but since my crafting time has been cut short, I had to prove that I'm doing something with my time.  

My mother-in-law recently retired after forty years of being a teacher.  Those who know me, know that patience is not something that I was blessed with, so I remain in awe of her and her ability to go that long without physically accosting a child.  That's a joke.  Kind of.


I wanted to do something homemade for her, so I found this cute little project where you use crayons to make a monogram.  Of course the one that I looked at used the letter 'W' which is super easy because it's all straight lines.  My mother-in-law's last name is Blake, so that gave me a 'B' to work with.  


First for the supplies... I purchased four boxes of crayons (I didn't want to run out midway through the project!), and then I used a shadow box from Target.  Of course, the first two stores that I went two didn't have a shadow box, but thank you Target for saving me from a trip to IKEA!




I then printed out the letter 'B' in light gray on a piece of cardstock.  The first time I printed it, it was too dark and you could see it through areas where the crayon didn't mask it (boo). You can use any font, but I chose Times New Roman because it's classic (and much easier because it doesn't have any fancy curlicues)  


I then used craft glue to attach each crayon which I cut to size using an X-Acto Knife.  





Next, I used Microsoft Publisher to make a little label stating her name and her years of service.  I attached it to a larger piece of contrasting paper and combined the two with silver brads.  


Finally, I used a strong fabric adhesive to attach it to the backing of the shadowbox frame because with all of those crayons, it got heavy!  Here it is :)


Since it's the beginning of the school year, butter-up your kid's teacher and make them one!

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