Snowman Coloring Contest

As stated in my Holiday Festivities blog, I initiated a Snowman Coloring/Creating Contest at work. Here are the entries my clever coworkers came up with:

This is by our manager Monique. You can't see it but it is entitled 'Dirty Old Snowman'... notice his jingle balls?? And the bird flying over his head is pooping on him. HAHAHAHA

By Patty. Clever use of hole punches for snow!!

By Angel.

By Anthony. I like how the crowd is above the picture and the outfits on the 'cheerleaders'.

By Toni... inspired by 'The Dark Knight' that she recently watched.

By Paul Piazza... not sure what this is supposed to be....

By Allison. Hard to see but the gloves, scarf, sled and presents are all glitter puffy paint.

By Kenny. I like how he used the scraps of the large cut outs as ornaments on his tree. Only question is how do birds fly while it is snowing... and how is the sun out at the same time... and with the sun that hot wouldn't the snowman be melting?? Maybe it is an asteroid or something. I will have to ask him.

By me. :o) I decided to do my in 3D. HA!!! The presents are actual working boxes. I used cotton balls for the snowman and snow. Paper was used for everything else.

I even braided strips of red and green paper together for the scarf.

The top hat and tree trunk were the hardest to make.

We didn't actually vote for the winner. I dubbed myself as the winner on account that myself and Piazza were the only entries in by the deadline.

All entries are posted along the hall at work... making it quite festive back there. Go me!!

Crazy Crayons

Heat makes a crayon a little loopy; it may melt into a swirl or pool into a whirl. With this in mind, we chopped up crayons and baked them in shaped mini cake tins, making large blocks that are easy for toddlers to hold and will surely inspire older artists. Encourage kids to come up with combinations: A blue-and-white blend for drawing the sky, for example, and a mix of reds and oranges for sunsets.

Tools and Materials

Kitchen knife

Old crayons

Mini-cake tins (we used pans with heart- and circle-shaped pockets)

Crayon How-To

1. Parents can use the knife to chop crayons into pea-size pieces, taking care to keep colors separate so kids can combine them as they like.
2. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees while children fill the tin with crayon pieces, arranging them in interesting designs.
3. Bake just until the waxes have melted, 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Remove the shapes after they have cooled. If they stick, place tray in the freezer for an hour, and the crayons will pop out.

Thank you Martha Stewart!!