Upcycled Stocking Stuffers for the KIDS

Old crayons lying around? Melt them to make new fun crayons for Christmas!

Have lots of crayon stubs that are too small to hold on to? Don't throw them out! You can use them to create big, chunky crayons – and your kids can help.


I used a silicone chocolate mold for the above. My observation on the Muffin tin is the crayons can be too big for little hands. Use what makes sense for you oven safe container. Lots of fun shapes are available for chocolate molds.

 Directions:

1. Gather up all of your broken crayons, and cut them into small pieces. (An adult will need to complete this step.)
2. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
3. Fill the muffin tin with an inch-thick layer of crayon pieces.
4. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until the wax is melted.
5. Allow the tin to cool; then pop out the crayons, and they're ready for use.

Tips:

1. If you don't have a muffin tin to devote to crayon making, you can line your regular muffin tin with foil cups.
2. Candy and soap making molds can also be used to create fun, shaped crayons.
3. Recycled crayons make a great no-cost gift or party favor.

felt ornaments and more ideas...

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handmade ornaments

Handmade Felt Keyrings

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Tree card

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felt ornaments

gift, snowman, tree, ornament ball

felted ornaments

felted ornaments using a wet felting technique to make a felt ball (wool + soap + hot water + friction) and then needle felted the snowflake design onto the fall. they are strung with waxed coated linen.

Red Felt Owl Ornament

Sweet little felt owl ornaments. Other colors are available.

origami stars christmas ornaments

Origami Lucky Stars: I'm partial to these, and they're so simple to make. Cut your paper into strips, then follow the directions on Foldastar.com. Once folded they can be used to make a garland, or fill a hollow ornament. They look great in jars too! I made this garland for my sister , it uses Sephora holiday catalogs, delica seed beads, green ribbon and beading cord.
Greeting Card Garland:
For this project I used a 1" circle hole punch (any symmetric shape will work), ribbon, a glue stick, 2 greeting cards and an envelope liner (the pretty silver paper).

Or Make Christmas Ornaments....

Upcycled Gift Cards - Red garland - doves

This photo belongs to Being is my vision's photostream on Flickr

Another Great Upcycle Find

Upcycled Holiday Cards

You could easily cut up last year's Christmas cards, wrapping paper, ad flyers...it's truly endless!  Have you seen how expensive cards are?!  This saves money and gives a personalized touch to your holiday greetings.  

 Upcycled Holiday Card Detail 1

Upcycled Holiday Cards Detail 2

Materials Needed
Cardstock in holiday colors
Recycled magazines
Aleene's Tacky Sticker Sheets
Aleene's Tacky Line Roll
Aleene's Tacky Dot Roll
Tulip Glam-it-up Crystals
Paillettes
Wired tinsel
Fine marker

Tools
Bone folder
Scissors
Paper cutter
Circle punches in graduated sizes

Directions:

1. Select papers for card. Cut card to size on paper cutter. Fold paper in half and use bone folder to make a sharp edge on card.

2. Cut images into shapes (I used graduated circle punches to make the Christmas balls.)

3. Adhere large images to card using Aleene's sticker sheets.

4. Use Aleene's Tacky Line Roll for wired tinsel and Aleene's Tacky Dot Roll for small embellishments.  I used a fine tip marker to draw the thread on the Christmas balls.