- Purchase a heart stencil at a craft supply store or make one by folding a piece of card stock in half, drawing half a heart on one side with the fold as the center and cutting out the half heart from the folded card stock. Opening the card stock paper with the heart shape removed reveals a homemade stencil. A paper stencil works well for older kids because they have more control of their pencil and can follow the low-ridge heart outline. Metal or plastic heart stencils are ideal for younger children because the stencil’s hard exterior helps to keep their drawing utensil tight along the tracing ridge.
- Remove the wrappers from individual crayons of all colors and shave each crayon with a pencil sharpener. Colors such as pinks, whites and reds keep with the Valentine’s Day theme. Collect about a half cup of crayon shavings on a piece of wax paper and spread them out to create an even layer. Placing another sheet of wax paper over the shavings and setting the wax paper sheets and shavings between two paper bags on top of an ironing board allows you to melt the shavings into one colorful crayon sheet. A low iron setting melts the crayon shavings slowly and evenly. Allow the fused shavings to cool between the wax paper layers before removing them from the ironing board.
Place the stencil on the cooled crayon shavings, which are still between the wax paper sheets, and have the children use a pencil to trace a heart shape onto the wax paper. Do not try to peel off the wax paper at any point during the project. Sharp scissors cut through the molded crayon shavings smoothly leaving leveled heart edges. - Large crayon shaving hearts are greeting cards themselves. Children can paint or draw directly onto the heart with markers to create a tablet-like greeting card. Gluing a picture into the heart’s center and surrounding the picture with Valentine’s Day greetings is an example of a Valentine’s Day card that is also functional as a picture frame.
Hanging the crayon heart, which also resembles a stained glass heart, in the middle of a paper display acts as a standing frame. Cut 2-inch circles from the middle of two 4-by-4-inch card stock pieces. Make a 1-inch notch at the top and bottom of one inner circle and make two more same-size notches on the other card stock with one on the paper’s exterior above the circle and another one in the same location below the circle. Interlock the notches on both cards so they are perpendicular and standing as one frame with an open interior. String taped or glued to the colored heart with the other end attached to the top of the frame suspends the heart in the middle circle. - Framing the wax covered heart is a method for preventing any wax from chipping away or dripping out of the heart no matter the crayon shaving heart craft. Cut two heart shapes that are about a half inch bigger than the crayon heart on all sides. Remove the inside of the heart about an inch down from the heart’s exterior so you have a hollow heart. Place the crayon shaving heart on top of one heart frame, add a single strip of craft glue on the frame at the heart's edge all the way around, and place the other hollow heart on top. Gently pressing down where the glue is ensures it adheres the clay heart’s edges to the paper frame.
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