DIY Valentine's Day Decorations

I got into the Valentine's spirit about January first, and was surprised to find I didn't have very many Valentine's decorations, so I went to the Martha Stewart website.  I had never been there, but they have lots of craft ideas for every holiday of varying difficulty.

 

This is a craft that would be great to use with children.  I really like the result, and I have a few ideas of how it could be made even easier. 

Sorry for the phone pic

Martha's Instructions:

Begin with a 12-by-16-inch sheet of waxed paper. Fold it in half along its length; unfold. Deposit wax-crayon shavings (made with a handheld pencil sharpener) evenly but not thickly across one half of the paper. Fold the clean half of the paper over the shavings. Crimp the three open edges with a 1/2-inch fold to hold the shavings. Protect your ironing surface with kraft paper. Place the waxed paper on the kraft paper, and cover it with another sheet of kraft paper. Iron lightly on medium heat, checking after every few passes. Stop when all the shavings have melted; let cool. Next, trace and cut out hearts of various sizes. String each heart with a silk thread for hanging.

My Tips:

What took by far the longest for me was shaving the crayons with a pencil sharpener.  I looked it up (after I had gone to all that work) and sure enough, you can just put the crayons in something small and oven safe (like a muffin tin) at 250 for about 15 minutes and viola, melted crayon.  Then you could just pour the melted crayon into the middle of the wax paper, put the other way paper on top and spread it with a ruler or something flat.  It's not an exact art, but if you spread it too thinly the hearts will curl, and if it's too thick they might flake a little.  I didn't freehand the hearts.

I hung the red thread from a white ribbon which I hung across the south-facing window in my dining room, and it makes the cheeriest decoration with the sun coming through!