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Saturday, April 24, 2010

Crayon Letter Shadowbox: Tutorial

The end of school is approaching quickly,
and while my children are still too young for school
I know a LOT of teachers (my mom teaches 2nd grade).
I know teachers receive lots of gifts at the end of the year.
Why not make a really special gift for around $12
that doesn't include candles, lotion, or candy.
(I know my mom loves to receive gift cards
so if that's your only option go for it).

I made these crayon letters for my kiddos
but I think they'd make GREAT teacher gifts too.
And while this is not my original idea,
I have NO idea where it came from,
because I have mommy brain and don't
write everything down like I should.
So, if this is your project leave me a comment
so I can give proper credit,
and if you've done this before and know where you
got the idea let me know and I'll leave proper credit.

Anyway, enough gabbing, on with the tutorial.

What you need:
A shadowbox frame (I love the square ones)
A piece of card stock
A computer and printer
A box of crayons
An exacto knife
A hut glue gun (and glue of course)
A sharpie

The frame will be the most expensive part of this project.
I happened to find mine at Hobby Lobby
in the scratch and dent section for $6.20.
These frames usually cost $20 but often are 50% off.
You will be taking out what ever is in the frame,
but make sure to leave the part in that makes it a shadow box.
Make sense?Start by getting the letter and font you want printed
large enough from your computer to be your template.
Take the letter you printed on your computer paper
and put it behind the card stock and lightly trace
the outline onto the card stockThen just line up the crayons on the computer paper and cut them to size.
I have found that it works really well to sort of roll the knife along the crayon.
It makes a much more clean cut that way.
Rather than sawing through the crayon.
(You don't have to make your cuts on the template,
just use it as your guide)There now you've got all your crayons lined up
just how you want them to be!
Start by lightly erasing the pencil line on the card stock,
so you can still see it to know where the crayons go.
But you won't really be able to erase it very well
once the crayons are on the paper.

Then put a line of hot glue down where you want your crayon.
It works better to put the glue on the paper...
be careful because the crayons melt pretty easily!!
Once you have them all glued down you can write the persons name.
If the letter is smaller you could write the name on the side too.Then put it in the frame and you're all done!Let me know if you do this project,
would love to see your take on it!

Jamie's Signature #2

Linking Here...
Photobucket

23 comments:

  1. This is AWESOME! I love color, and this is LITERALLY color. My four-year-old nephew Jack definitely has one of these in his future.

    Thanks for the tutorial, and happy weekend!

    :) Laura

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  2. I love it - thanks for sharing.

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  3. This is on my "to do" list with the kids. They would have so much fun with this! SOOO Cute!!

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  4. How cute and CREATIVE! Love, love, LOVE!

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  5. VERY cute. WAY adorable. Thanks for sharing.

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  6. I love this project!
    I'm your latest follower. I hope you'll stop by my blog at http://scfitz1972.blogspot.com and say hello.
    Sharon

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  7. What a fantastic PROJECT!! It's bright, joyful and happy all wrapped up into ONE!!!

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  8. What an adorable project! I love it.

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  9. How cute is that? Great project!

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  10. I just love this project! Jan emailed me about it and I'm so glad she did. I would love to link to it if you didn't mind.

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  11. I love this. I was going to do something similar for Teacher Appreciation Week on my site, http://www.thekrackedkat.blogspot.com. I hope you don't mind if I link to this. You did a fantastic job!

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  12. Love this project! I think it would look great in a child's room or really anyone who enjoys crafts. Thanks so much for sharing.

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  13. Thought you might want to check out the link. Sorry it took so long. I had had some bad arthritis flares this week and typing has been a chore. I hope you will check it out. http://thekrackedkat.blogspot.com/2010/05/teacher-appreciation-week-wrap-up-and.html

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  14. love it + following you now also!

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  15. where would i find the letters that are large enough for this project. microsoft word doesn't let me make the letter big enough. Thanks

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  16. I Love this!!! I made one for a gift for a christening. Literally just finished making it and it came out so great. i was unsure when i started, since i had the letter 'G' to work with, but cutting the crayons on an angle still totally worked. Thanks for sharing this!!

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  17. I used Microsoft Publisher, and had to blow the letter up to a size 750 font. I kept expanding the text box well beyond the borders of the page to get it that large. if you had a projector, that would work too.

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  18. This is fantastic! With a new little girl, these types of projects are within my skill level! I will be linking you to my blog soon (in a few weeks). I think these are perfect for baby showers too, just use the colors that the new Mommy chooses. Love it!

    Alyzabeth's Mommy for 20 Months

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  19. I have got to try this I have tonnes of crayons! I'll post pics if I do and let you know :) Thanks for the great inspiration! :)

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  20. what a great preschool teacher gift!

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  21. I just recieved one of these from one of my Pre-K students! Ahhh! It is beautiful. He and his mom did the letter K for my last name(and my fav letter) and they did it in a descending rainbow pattern. The shadow box is black and the cardstock behind the letter is black...it really pops!

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  22. How absolutely marvelous - can't wait to get out my crayon box or maybe even my children's crayons box!!!

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UPDATE...Sorry I had to update my comments to be approved. Spam is now getting through. :(