Thursday, August 11, 2011

crayon pinspiration



I'm in the process of searching, applying, and interviewing for school district SLP jobs. My first interview was last week, and I was super sad to find out that I didn't get the job. I know that it's (hopefully) one of many opportunities so I shouldn't have gotten upset, but I tend to get my heart set on things and it's hard to hear "sorry, we chose someone else".


I did, however, have another interview today, and I feel really good about it. I'm also now experienced enough to know that even if the interview went well, and even if I'm qualified, I might still not get the job. And that's ok. In the mean time, I decided to work on a fun project to go on my future desk or office wall, wherever that might be. I was inspired by this pin and knew I wanted to make one myself!





If you're interested in making one too, now is a great time, since 24 packs of Crayola crayons are on sale for only 40 cents! I bought four packs, plus an 11x11 shadowbox frame and got to work.


You can follow the link from the pin for more detailed instructions, but it really is easy. I started by typing a capital "R" for my last name in Microsoft word, and then choosing a font and size that would work for the frame and the style I had in mind. I chose the font "Rockwell" in font size 230, and added an outline. The outline beefed up the font a bit, and made it so I didn't have to waste so much black ink.


Once I had printed the "R", I laid out the crayons in rainbow order (thank goodness for ROYGBIV!), and cut each crayon with a knife to fit within the printed letter. The straight cuts were easy (the tip of rolling the knife along the crayon worked great!), but the angled cuts were a bit of a pain. I could have done the entire letter in just one pack, but I was super happy to have the extra packs when my angled cuts resulted in a crumbly edge. If you have a name that starts with a T you're in luck! Luckily I didn't have TOO many angles.



After cutting, I used a glue gun to glue each crayon to the crayon above and below it. Tip: glue paper to paper, not wax to wax! I was reminded very quickly that wax melts when you put hot glue on it :-) It's also easy to loose track of how the crayons should match up if you don't pay attention, so I found it easiest to glue them together with the "R" printout underneath. Luckily hot glue is very forgiving!


I used scrapbook paper to create the background, and to embellish the words that I typed and printed to go around the crayon "R"

I am SO SO happy with the results! This is an inexpensive, fun project. My crayon use totaled 80 cents, and the frame was $8. Everything else (scrapbook paper and glue) I already had. Just make sure you bring a little patience to it.





I can't wait to see where this ends up in the next few months!

2 comments:

Hailey Marie said...

I love this! I should totally do one for me... but I think that would be difficult because my last name starts with "G" Lots and lots of rounded edges.

Thanks for stopping by my blog! So happy to hear from another CF out there. I wanted to get my schedule done as soon as possible and so far it's worked out... aside from a few minor adjustments.

Best wishes!

Jessica said...

Yes, the curves are a challenge! You could maybe find a blocky-type font though? I was starting to feel stressed about not having a schedule put together, and then another class was opened up, which will change the specials schedule. Suddenly, I felt great about not doing it yet! haha