I’d like to announce that Christi is the giveaway winner for the book  The Perfect Book For You. Congratulation!  I will get your contact information and give it Barbara Houghteling so she can get the information to be included in the book.

Happy Valentine’s Day everybody! I hope you make it a great day.  (One with lots of chocolate or other sugar-laden goodies.)

Is it too late to share an idea that at first blush looks like it’s only a Valentine’s Day idea?  You’re okay with this late idea?  Good.  So am I. (If you stick around until the end, I’ll expand on this idea and take it to further horizons.)

If you are like me, you’ve got a grundle of old crayons sitting around the house. And, if you’re like me, you just can’t bring yourself to throw them out.  Well don’t!!  I have found a fun idea for using those old fellas.

This idea comes from Holly’s website Helping Little Hands. Holly is creative, Creative, CREATIVE!  That gal has talent — and lots of it.

See that picture above? (She graciously let me use it on my site.) That is her sample of melted crayon art. She simply held a crayon over a candle until the crayon softened and was ready to drip. Then she dabbed the crayon on a tile — leaving white space for the letter that she wanted to make. Trace a letter, melt, dab. That’s it — and you’re a van Gogh.

Check out her great Melted Crayon Word Art tutorial.  She has easy-to-follow step-by-step directions and fantastic pictures. Even a simpleton like me can do this activity! (At least, that is what I tell myself . . .)

She also has a terrific idea for a shirt for boys using a distressed freezer paper stenciling process.This would definitely be a hit for one of my grandsons who really loves cars.. She provides patterns and directions for the project. Be sure that you check it out.

You’ve also gotta see her Snowball Fight in a Bag tutorial. Young grandchildren would enjoy playing with these snowballs and older grandchildren would have fun making them. (They could make a set for themselves and maybe a set for a friend.)

Are you still reading?  Good!  I’m going to take Holly’s melted crayon art and make it a non-Valentine idea. (This activity will be especially appealing to older grandchildren who are capable of making more intricate designs.)

Of course  you can make shapes like hearts, stars, circles or diamonds with your melted crayon art. You could also do stars in a night sky, a landscape, or a self-portrait. Grandchildren could make a picture of their pet, a favorite toy, their favorite ride at Disneyland, or of Santa Claus. They are limited only by their imagination.

Your grandchildren could spell out their first name with the melted crayon art. Or their last name. Or, they could do a sign for a holiday (that says Valentine’s Day, Saint Patrick’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas). They could make a shamrock for St. Patrick’s Day, flag for Memorial Day or the Fourth of July, or a pumpkin for Halloween.

If you are one of those grandmas who have grandma camp for her grandkids, this could be one of your activities. You could do this at a family reunion. Or on a lazy summer afternoon. Whatever the occasion, simply bring out your crayons and let your grandchildren be creative.

Have fun!

I said that this morning I would announce the winner of the giveaway for the book Silly Frilly Grandma Tilly.

It is not morning.

It is not noon.

It is early evening.

Last night, a hurricane 5 category of a cold hit me. The usual: chills, fever, runny nose, can’t breath, eyeballs ache like there’s no tomorrow. Most of my effort today has been to breathe. So I’m slow at announcing the winner.

Enough about me.

Drum roll please.  Let the trumpets sound.  The winner of the Silly Frilly Grandma Tillly book giveaway is:

Connie!

Connie, I’ll get the book to you in the mail . . . not super soon . . . probably in a couple of days when my body on the mend . . .

My favorite word of the day: stumble.

Stumble is a verb that means to be on the Internet and click-click-click from website-to-website until you discover something totally amazing and  magical. (Ha! You were probably thinking it meant to stagger, trip, fall, or have difficulty walking. That’s because you were sidetracked by Webster’s definition. That definition is so pre-Internet!)

So, I have stumbled across a website with two fabulous Valentine’s Day ideas.  First, is making a scratch Valentine’s card. Watch this video to see how it’s done.  (She also shows another great idea in the video.)

You can read my post about making scratch off cards and Valentine’s activities for your grandchildren.

She also shows how to do screen printing with freezer paper.  I love, love, love the example using spray paint. Using spray paint is fun and so much easier that trying to control my klutzy fingers with a paint brush. (Makes me wish that I could spend all day spray painting designs on stuff rather than being at work.  Sigh . . .)

You can do this projects FOR your grandchildren. But I think it would be much funner more fun a great activity to do with grandchildren.

Don’t forget to enter my book giveaway!