My first {TUTORIAL}

Ok, so here it goes! My very first {TUTORIAL} ever!!
So, what are we making you ask? Shaped Crayons or Fun Crayons or whatever you want to call them.
I made a batch of Easter Egg crayons for my daughter and nieces and nephews this past spring and they were fun and easy to make. I was inspired to make this latest batch by a silicone cupcake pan I found on clearance at Walmart last month (well that, and football is a religion down in the south and {GATOR FOOTBALL} is a small obsession of mine 🙂 )
So here are the supplies you need:

• a mold – I like to use silicone baking pans, but you can also use an old muffin tin (or buy a new one specifically for making the crayons) *once you use it for crayons you can no longer use it for baking, so there’s your warning about that.
• 2 – 24 packs of crayola crayons (don’t try to use the cheap ones, it just doesn’t work, I tried!) or you can use broken crayon bits you already have
• exacto knife
• cookie sheet
• Pam (optional)
• toothpicks if you are going to do a swirly crayon

1. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees.
2. painstakingly take the paper off all of your crayons. I like to use the exacto knife and cut a deep slit down the length of the crayon. You might still find some crayons that give you a fit, but overall I find that it is a very effective method and MUCH easier than trying to peel the darn things off, your fingernails will thank you if you go with the knife method. Also, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use extreme caution cutting the crayons lengthwise, I nearly sliced a finger off while doing this b/c I wasn’t paying enough attention.

see, it kind of looks pretty all piled up!
3. spray each of the mold cups with a little Pam (optional).
4. break your crayons into 4-6 pieces each and put them in a cup. I was doing specific color schemes with my crayons so I matched everything up and placed them into the cups before I went about breaking them. I find that using the palm of your hand to break them is the easiest way to go. For this large of a “cup” you will need 4 crayons (2 of each color if you were doing school colors). You can fill the cups up half way, but I wouldn’t recommend any more than that. If you are doing a “shades of red” crayon just make sure that your different reds are mixed well in each cup.

5. If you are using a silicone mold place it on top of an aluminum foil wrapped baking sheet (we are now the proud owners of a non-usable pizza crisping baking sheet because I didn’t lay down any foil or parchment paper and one of the crayons leaked and is stuck in all those tiny little holes!!)
6. Pop those bad boys in the oven, for about 10-12 minutes depending on your oven. You will know when they are ready because you won’t be able to see any individual round crayon parts anymore.

7. Take out of the oven and very carefully with a toothpick swirl the wax together if you are making swirly crayons or crayons that are several shades of one color.
8. Let cool on your counter until they have completely set. You can also pop them in the freezer if you have enough room. Putting them in the freezer might yield some condensation on the tops (well really the bottoms) of the crayons, just wipe off.
9. Pop the crayons out of the mold and brush off any lose ends.

10. Present to any child you know and watch their sweet little faces light up with joy and excitement (or at least that’s how it goes in my mind)!

I went ahead and made up this little gift bags for the crayons because I am going to be mailing them to little tykes. They would make an incredibly cute party favor, too!!

I hope my first tutorial was easy to follow and it didn’t leave you too puzzled. Please leave a comment if you have any questions!!
Enjoy and GO GATORS!!!!