* We’re sharing our favorite links from last week’s party at the beginning of today’s party.  Check them out and then keep scrolling down for the link party.  Happy Weekend!

Thanks for participating in the Best Recipes and DIY Projects Party last week!  We’re thrilled to share some of our favorite links from last week’s link party with you.

In just one short week, we’ll be celebrating the day of love, Valentine’s Day!  It’s fun to put decorations out that reflect the joy of love and friendship.  Are you looking for some cute updates to your Valentine Decor?  Here are a few easy projects that were shared during the link party last week.

Valentine Paper Straw Garland from The Happy Scraps

Valentine’s Day Wall Hanging from Better in Bulk

Sparkly Hearts Pillow Cover from Busy Being Jennifer

Ombre Wood Heart Plaque from The Hatched Home

Valentine’s Day Felt Heart Garland from The Gracious Wife

Now, let’s get this party started!

 Happy Weekend, everyone! We’re delighted that you came to our party. The link-up is live and ready for you to share your recipes, DIY projects and crafts, just make sure you follow these guidelines:

1. When you link up, you are giving us permission to feature your project and pictures on our blogs and social media with a link back to you.
2. We’ll feature our favorite projects from this weekend’s party at the beginning of next week’s link party.
3. Weekly favorites will also be pinned to our Link Party Favorites Board on Pinterest!
4. Add a text link back to the host blog.
5. You can link up any post you’ve created during this past week.
6. We’re excited about your handmade items, but this link party is limited to blog posts only. Please don’t linkup your Etsy shop.
7. Share the love and comment on two or more of the other projects that are linked up. We all love comments!

This party starts every Friday at 5 P.M. MST, and keeps going until the following Tuesday evening. Feel free to invite others to join in the fun!

Thanks for participating! Your Hosts,

Ruthie from Cooking With Ruthie, Jeni from Bakerette, Mandy from Mandy’s Recipe Box, Dan and Chris from Live Dan 330, and Deb, Tracy, and Sherri from Made From Pinterest

The post Best Recipes & DIY Projects Link Party #82 appeared first on TGIF - This Grandma is Fun.

The girls are on their way to recovery, which means I have some time to finish my post on these Crayon Hearts. Supplies: Iron, scissors, crayons, wax paper, kraft paper, ribbons, pencil sharpener or vegetable peeler and paper heart templates in several sizes for tracing.Start 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 or vegetable peeler) 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.

The instructions tell you to use a pencil sharpener to make shavings from the crayons. I found this to be a tedious process, so I grabbed my vegetable peeler. It goes a lot faster with the vegetable peeler! I wasn’t sure how much the shavings would spread out when melted, so I decided not to put too much on the first time.Not enough shavings, so on to attempt #2.Attempt #2 I doubled the amount of shavings this time.Close but not quite enough. On to attempt #3.I noticed that the shavings were not spreading very well when melted so I decided to try something different. I put all my shavings in a small bowl.Then I pick up the shavings and crumbled them with my fingers. Here is what they looked like.Once again I added more shavings hoping to get better coverage.Sucess! Now I have a nice even look. I placed my white hearts on the wax paper for tracing and then cut out the hearts. I used red ribbon to hang them on the window sill.Here is a close up of how they turned out.Supplies

• Crayons$ 0.99
• Wax paper $ 0.99
• Kraft paper – I used a paper bag from Trader Joe’s
• Ribbon $1.00
• Iron
• Scissors
• Pencil sharpener or vegetable peeler
• Paper heart templates

Total Cost: $2.98

Results

I think that these wax paper hearts are really cute. But they took a lot longer to make than I had expected.  I must have bought crayons that had the wrappers melted on. Getting the wrappers off required the use of tweezers! Being in the sun will cause the hearts to fade and they will only last one season.

The post Crayon Hearts appeared first on TGIF - This Grandma is Fun.