I heart snow days. Literally.
Tuesday’s blizzard meant spending Wednesday indoors having fun with Bird, eating frozen pizza and making all kinds of valentine fun, including these wonderfully dainty wax doilies. They are so delicate and elegant! Smell nice too. Most things come out of my craft studio covered in glue blobs and smelling like burning hair…these valentines must be Bird’s influence.
Hearts made from melted crayons have been popular for a few years now, thanks to Martha’s tutorial. But as much as I love Maratha’s hearts, I’m too much of a klutz to follow the steps without breaking the end result. I decided it would be easier if there was softer wax and a sturdier base; enter paper doilies and scented candles.
Materials
- Heart shaped paper doilies, any size or color. My dollar store happened to carry pink, but white doilies will show off the wax the best.
- Wax shavings from scented candle stubs. Note: any old candle will work, but Ikea candles are dirt cheap and shred like butter–LOVE working with them. I also like to sprinkle in some contrasting crayon wax too. Plain white bar soap also worked, leaving opaque, snow like flecks. Experiment!
- Old cheese grater (makes wax shaving easy-peasy –just grab one from the back of your junk drawer or the thrift store or the dollar store)
- Wax Paper
- Iron
- Needle and Thread
Scatter wax shavings over your paper doily. The more wax, the thicker the end result. I like to use at least two colors (orange and pink are personal favorites!)
Sandwich your doily and wax shavings between two pieces of wax paper. Use a warm iron (delicate/low temp setting) to sweep across the surface. The longer you iron, the more the colors will blend.
Before the crayon/candle wax has a chance to dry 100%, peel the paper doily away from the wax paper. Now, just look at that! Aint she a beauty?
Repeat through your stack of doilies, then fold and cut out a heart in the center.
Place two doilies together, then whip stitch up the middle. I used gray thread because I’m too lazy to dig through my sewing kit to find red thread for demonstration purposes. You go ahead and choose whatever color you like. If munchkins are involved, vertical staples will also get the job done.
The end result is so sweet and dainty, but the wax makes them surprisingly durable too. Love it! Make a batch of them and slip them into those translucent vellum envelopes and send far and wide. These will really make someone’s day 🙂
Or, keep them all for yourself. Like me!
My plan is to hang these on a fallen tree branch, similar to an egg tree. Only problem is that all the fallen branches are currently submerged in four feet of post-blizzard snow drifts…so, it could be a while. Luckily I have many more snow day valentines adventures to make and share in the days ahead while I wait for a branch. Stay tuned!
Goodness, these are pretty Peaches! AND SO SIMPLE too, which is just THE best kind of craft, in my books. Wow. I’m in love. Appropriately…
Ah, takes me back to the day of scratch n sniff stickers. Love that you can send this 3-D love by mail!
Those are gorgeous, you could also sew a bunch together and make a 3D garland. How fun would that be!
oh how clever! i’m using martha’s idea to create garlands of little 3in. crayon and wax paper hearts to send out as valentines this year 🙂 it’s been taking a while tho lol, stringing all those little hearts together is a bit tedious but the end result has been very pretty! i’ll post about it soon.
My 7 year old makes his own Valentine’s cards each year, and I’m thinking since this involves an iron which involves heat and heat is almost fire, he’s gonna like this a LOT. I’ll bet they smell great when you iron them.
OMGOsh, those are crazy sweet! I can’t BELIEVE how you got that from those and those. Very very elegant indeed, and your photos are just too gorgeous!!!!
Those are REALLY pretty. What a great use for heart doilies. I think its my favorite to date! Thanks for the details, I’ll be linking.
Yet another fun crayon-and-wax paper project! I wish we’d gotten more snow…but I’m certainly appreciating the beauties that are coming from your end.
(p.s. – expect a treat in the mail sometime next week…if the post office can dig out and deliver it!)
Pretty! I was just in the dollar store last weekend thinking about cool stuff we used to make with waxpaper and crayons back in pre-school but I couldn’t remember exactly what–something to do with leaves I think. I would love to make these, so thanks for the inspiration.
p.s. I would totally join your v-day list but I’m worried I have too many things happening and might not be able to do it, but I’m sending you one anyway 🙂
xo Mary Jo
Thanks Y’all! So glad you are enjoying. Let me know if they work out for you 🙂
Actually, I had so much fun with these I went back and started in on some rainbow/non-valentine versions. Hello party time!
F A N T A S T I C !
Thanks for sharing 🙂
VERY cool! Thanks for sharing. NOw this is one valentine’s project I could get into. Yes, save all my candle stubs because I KNEW there would be some project where I could use them 🙂 Cool!
Hi Auntie P! I’ve just fallen into ur blog and I LOVE you ideas – and you describe the way I do which makes me feel so at home! You are a genius! I look forward to xploring much more! Have a wonderful weekend 😀 x