Crayon Monograms

Finished Project!

Thanks to Testosterone Times Three for the original idea. Since the last day of school is Wednesday, this would be a quick and fun project to make for the teachers you know. I also posted this last week on my Rainy Tuesday Mornings blog, so sorry to those of you who check both, this will be a duplicate for you :)

I found some Shadowbox Frames at Walmart for about $8.00 each.

The 8x8 size was perfect.

Using Microsoft Word I made a template and printed it out for each teacher. I have a Word 97 version and a Word 2007 version as well. You MUST download the files to view the large monogram correctly. Let me know if you need a different format and I'll try to see what I can do. The fonts used are Monotype Corsiva and Lucinda Handwriting. If you have trouble downloading the files or don't have Word, let me know what teachers names and initals you need and I'll create & email them to you. Don't forget to leave me your email address!

I had lots of crayons saved from the start of the school year (bought at .25 each) and dumped those out to use. I found that if I poked a hole in the crayon with my exacto knife, that the crayon broke cleanly

and right where I wanted it to.

I printed out a 'test' sheet on plain copy paper and then lined up my crayons the way I wanted, before gluing anything. Then I printed out my 'good' copy on a thick ivory cardstock.
I filled in my monogram letter with tacky glue and started transferring the crayons. I put tacky glue on some of the crayons directly. I didn't use a hot glue gun, because I always seem to get the "spiderweb" effect. Tacky glue also has a longer drying time, which is a benefit with this project in case you need to move a few crayons around.
I also made sure to break my crayons in long enough lengths so they covered my printed monogram.
I let them dry overnight and then put them in the frame.
I think they turned out perfect!

Hannah wrote a note to each teacher, which I laminated and put on the back of each frame.
The best part was that the teachers LOVED them!