Summer is winding down. Target and Walmart have sales on
crayons, notebooks, pencils, and pens. Backpacks are flying off the shelves. Kids
are getting anxious and excited to meet their new teachers. It’s that time of
year again…. Back to school!
Many of my friends are teachers or parents (or
both!), so this is an exciting time of year for them. Teachers are busy getting
their rooms ready for that first day of school. Kids and parents are busy
buying all of the school supplies needed to have a successful year.
For one of
my friends, Phillip B., this is his first year teaching! He is awesome with
kids and will make a great teacher. I wanted to make something he could put up in his classroom.
I had seen some pictures on Pinterest of some colorful
crayon monogram letters. I loved the idea and decided to see if I could find a
nice big wooden letter “B” for Phillip’s last name. When I had asked him if he
was going to have the kids use his first or last name he said he might just go
with “Mr. B!” Perfect!
Materials needed for this project:
Wooden letter
8 boxes of Crayola 24 count crayons
Glue gun with glue sticks
X-acto knife
Picture hangers (I used two pop tops)
Ribbon for hanging
I browsed a couple different craft stores and found a good
sized wooden capital letter “B” at Michaels for a couple of dollars. Then, I
hit up the local Walmart to buy lots of crayons. Luckily, since they were on
sale, each box of Crayola 24 pack was only 50 cents. I wasn’t entirely sure
what color combination I was going to go with so I bought 8 packs.
After getting home, I pulled out all the crayons and started
organizing them by different color groupings. After playing around with them
for a while, I decided on a blue, green, yellow combo. Since there were 3 different blues, 3 different greens, and 3 different yellows, I had 72 crayons
to work with for this project. I didn’t end up using all of them, but there
were only a few left over.
Now came the layout.
Instead of putting them all in a row from dark to light, I wanted a gradual change
from one blue to another, from blue to green, etc. So, I went with a few rows
of the dark blue, stuck in one crayon of the lighter blue, and then put in one
more row of the darker blue before going on to the next shade. This gave it a
nicer more streamlined look. Play around with the order of the colors BEFORE
you start gluing them down. I laid them on the wooden letter and moved them around
until I found the order I liked best.
I wanted some of the crayons to show the word “Crayola” so
in order to do that, they needed to face left. I lined them up so that the very
tip was hanging off the edge of the letter. To prep the “B” I made some
straight lines across the letter and all the way down to make sure my lines
were going to stay straight as I started gluing.
Now, it was time to start cutting and gluing the crayons. I
took enough crayons of the one color to extend the whole way across and then
used my sharp X-acto knife to cut the tip off the middle crayon and any excess
of the last crayon so that the end of the crayon was lining up with the right
side of the “B.”
The easiest way to cut the crayons is to gently put pressure
on the crayon and start turning it so that you go all the way around the
crayon. Then, it will gently snap off where you scored it. After cutting the
crayons to the correct length, put a layer of glue on the wood and gently press
the crayon onto the glue for a few seconds. Go on to the next crayon and finish
off that row.
Continue on with each row, varying the colors and the way
the crayon is laying. I didn’t want all of the crayons to say “Crayola” so I
tried to randomize it the best I could. Make sure that you pay attention to the
curvature of your letter and any holes you have to work around. It’s better to
measure twice and only have to glue once!
When you are finished gluing the crayons, let it sit for at
least 24 hours to completely dry. In order to hang it, you will need to have
some kind of picture hangers on the back. I went with two pop tops and glued
them in place with the hot glue gun. After letting them dry completely, I wound
some green ribbon through both of them and tied it in a bow, putting a dab of
glue in the middle of the bow tie knot to secure it.
Let that dry for a few
hours before testing it out. Ta-da! Your crayon letter is ready to go!
With some inexpensive materials, some patience
and time, you can make a personalized monogram crayon letter for the special
teacher in your life!
