craftastrophe

that's the nicest way to refer what happened to me friday evening. so often on blogs, we just talk about our successes. now, maybe i'm the only one who has screw ups when i try new projects; but i seriously doubt it. so, i will begin to explain how i ended up with red crayon wax all over and i mean all over my kitchen. i would have taken pictures had i not been so embarrassed and busy with cleaning up my mess.

it all began so simply. for quite some time, i've been trying to figure out what to do with my growing crayon collection. i asked for suggestions to no avail. in my websurfing, i've come across lots of examples of people recycling crayons especially into larger crayons. so, i thought this might be a cool use for all the crayons i have amassed(trust me i literally have amassed hundreds.). i went out and bought a cute little train set candy mold. i thought this would be a totally adorable craft idea. and, it would be if i was more patient. seems like a running problem for me. i began by heating some broken crayons in the microwave. this is a slow process especially since i was using a little dixie cup. i got one train done, but thought i could speed up the process by putting the crayons in a coffee mug and left them microwaving for about 12 minutes. this allowed me to go into the living room have a bit of a snack and watch some tv. perfect plan or so i thought. when the microwave went ding, i ran excitedly into the kitchen thinking i now had enough wax to fill the entire mold at once. i should have worried when i saw the wax was bubbling. stupidly, i then began pouring wax into the mold. the mold almost immediately started melting and my countertop and floor became a river of red wax. the wax then hit my fingers. from the scorching wax on fingers, i let out a squeal that sent my kitties running and caused me to drop the mug launching wax onto just about every surface in my kitchen. dear me, i immediately went to scrubbing and pouring boiling water onto the waxed areas to help remove the wax followed by heavy doses of bleach to remove and color that seeped in. sadly the whole wax removal seemed to take over an hour and a half. i, of course, would try again hopefully with less drama.