DIY Melted Crayon Art

I'm sure you've seen all sorts of melted crayon art all over Pintrest. There are so many creative ideas out there that finding inspiration isn't hard. I decided to put the crayon art to the test and I must say I am pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out! Not only was this an easy craft to make, it was super affordable, and it would make a wonderful homemade gift for Christmas!

You will need:

• Box of crayons, any kind, any color
• canvas of your size
• paint brush
• pencil
• black paint, or color of your choice
• a hairdryer
• hot glue gun

I knew I wanted to draw, and then paint, an elephant blowing water out of its trunk. I browsed the Internet for some ideas and then sketched my elephant onto the canvas using a pencil.

After drawing the elephant on I painted over it with black acrylic paint, which I got at JoAnn Fabrics. I allowed the paint to dry and came back. You can take the hair dryer over the paint to make it dry quicker.

Before I did anything with the crayons I covered the space I was going to be working on with old newspaper. I did not want to have to scrap melted crayon off any surface and it made clean up a breeze. After laying out the newspaper I got to work. 

I selected the crayons I wanted, peeled them, and using the hot glue gun applied a DAB of hot glue to one end of the crayon. Use just enough glue to hold the crayon in place, you don't want a lump of hot glue in the middle of your picture.

Now comes the fun part! Turn the hair dryer on to a low speed but the highest heat setting. Over the newspaper I tiled my picture upside down, so the melting crayon would run away from the elephant. You have to be patient. It takes awhile for the crayon to melt and run. While the crayon is melting carefully tilt your picture at different angles so the various colors can mix together to make a really unique picture.

Before all the crayon was melted I carefully lifted the hot glue from the picture and the area was quickly covered in colorful wax. Removing the hot glue prevented any strange looking bumps in the picture. After all the crayon melted and I was satisfied with how the picture had turned out I left the picture to dry for a few hours.

I am going to find a quote and paint it to the right of the elephant so there won't be so much white canvas left. Overall I am really happy with how well the picture turned out. I still have one canvas left and a bunch of crayons left so I'm going to do a different design and make a Christmas gift for a friend. 

All together the crayons, twin pack of canvas, paint, brushes, and crayons I only spent $9.66! That's less than $4.83 a painting plus I will have plenty of crayons and paint for other pictures. That is a budget friendly DIY fun craft which would make a beautiful Christmas present for anyone on your Christmas list!!