Crayon Art [Pinterest]

Crayon art, or melting crayons over a canvas to create patterns and cool designs, is one of the more popular crafts repinned on Pinterest.  Two of my friends did heart designs for display in their room and it's been something I have wanted to try for awhile.  


I saw this pin on Pinterest right before Thanksgiving break, so I decided to try an Alpha Gam version while I was home.  

I used red, yellow, and green crayons instead of rainbow because those are Alpha Gam's colors (the yellow is really buff, but it was close enough).  I bought two packs of Crayola 24 pack crayons and a small canvas and was set.  

The directions online did not offer any suggestions for anticipated problems, and I had a few.  I did not want to glue the crayons to the canvas because of space, so I taped them together and held them over the canvas as I held the hair dryer over them.  The coordination wasn't too hard, but the wax spurted out rather than dripped down the canvas.  

I used electrical tape because I liked the thickness, but it did not stick well to the canvas and the melted wax dripped where it wasn't intended to.  Also, the plastic from the electrical tape partially melted onto the canvas, so I was left with black letters instead of white.  I filled in the space that didn't have the electrical tape residue with black marker to make it neater.  

Here's the finished product!

It was a fun project that didn't require much artistic skill, but if I did it again I would use a different kind of tape and glue the crayons down.  

Crispy Edamame [Pinterest]

Like a lot of my 18-22 year old female friends, I am addicted to Pinterest.  For those who are not familiar, Pinterest is a social media website that has pictures ("pins") of clothing, hair styles, home decorating ideas, recipes...pretty much anything you would be interested in or want to browse.  If you find something that you like, you pin it to one of your "pin boards", which are virtual cork boards.  Some of my boards are of clothes, food, things related to college life, and craft ideas.  

My favorite pins on Pinterest are ones with craft ideas or recipes.  So, as I attempt the projects I find on Pinterest, I will post the pin, my result, and comments on how easy or hard the project was.  

PROJECT 1: Crispy Edamame

Our cook does not cook dinner on Friday, so girls tend to go out to eat or pick up food at Panera or the like.  Last night I decided to save money and stay in to eat.  I didn't feel like leftovers, so I looked over my "nom" pin board and found an easy recipe I pinned two weeks ago, crispy edamame.  

We had edamame in the salad bar and the recipe looked easy and relatively healthy, so I decided to try it.  I mixed the ingredients (plus chili pepper at the suggestion of my friend) in a bowl and through it on the pan and in the oven.  I didn't set a timer, but just took it out of the oven when the edamame started to look a bit crispy.  

Here's the finished product:

It was delicious and easy to make, so I will definitely be eating it again when I make myself dinner on the weekends.