Craft Time . . . Remind me again why I do this!

You may recall when I posted a few "Fun Crafts I don't want to forget". Well, we did it! The girls and I set out to make those adorable crayon heart necklaces as seen in some unknown parenting magazine. I had great intentions of making a fun gift for Valentine's Day that wouldn't add to the already high level of sugar intake expected on that (and every) holiday celebration at school. The girls LOVE crafts. In actuality they are always asking to do crafts, but usually they end in a fight of some sort or another. For example, during this experience we heard "I want the pink cookie cutter!" "She put a fingerprint on my heart!" "She's using all the red crayons! I want a red crayon in mine!" Four hours and several gray hairs later we had these



Yes, you heard me right . . . 4 HOURS later. I must also tell you that we had been saving broken crayons for quite a while and spent almost an hour unwrapping and chopping them up even more a couple of days before. Oh, I almost forgot to add that the four hours also didn't include the time I spent the following day stringing ribbon through the tiny holes and tying it in knots (though admittedly, without the girls' "help" on this part, it took me only about 1/2 hour). In all we made 42 crayon necklaces. It is a good thing we only needed 37 because there were a few really ugly ones in the bunch.

On a positive note, the girls have been wearing their necklaces around the house for the past two days. They love them! In fact, they love them so much that Peanut, my oldest, doesn't want to give them to a few kids in her class. She specifically said, "Do I have to give one to Trouble(name has been changed)? He always breaks his crayons when he colors with them." While I doubt Trouble (or any of the 14 boys in her class) would be terribly sad if he didn't get a crayon heart necklace, we must be fair and give one to everyone. (Peanut did get several pirate tattoos last year from these same boys.)

So, assuming no lawsuit results from this gift, will I ever do this or something similar again? (Hubby is sure someone is going to try to eat the crayon necklace and then sue us when they get sick. I keep telling him that crayons are non-toxic and they don't taste very good. After one bite I would think that any normal child would stop eating it.) The answer is a resounding "YES!" Why? I really can't quite put my finger on it. As I've said before, I'm not crafty nor artistic, but what I'm really bad at is playing pretend. Crafts, cooking, and reading with my kids are the best interactions we get, fights and all!