Last-minute valentines

You finally made it to the store, and the Valentine's Day shelves were completely picked over?


No problem. Here is a homemade, candy-free Valentine's Day card and rainbow-heart crayon you can make tonight with stuff you either already have - or can get your hands on pretty easily.

You'll need: Crayons, a knife, silicone baking molds (or just a cupcake tin), card stock, scissors, and double-stick tabs or rubber cement

Step 1: Peel the paper off your crayons, then cut them up with a knife - I went for about pea-sized. For me, it took 20 full-sized, regular crayons to make each batch of 14 heart-shaped rainbow crayons. Rose Art was easier to cut than Crayola.

Step 2: Mix up the crayon pieces and drop them into your molds. Fill to the top, without letting any pieces hang over the edges.

Step 3: Bake. You can find lots of instructions online, but here's what worked for me. Since I was pretty sure the molds I bought weren't intended for baking - and certainly not for melting crayons - I wanted to be on the safe side. Once filled,  I placed the molds into a cake pan with a water bath, then baked at  200 degrees, checking every 5 minutes until the crayons were thoroughly melted. Fifteen minutes wasn't quite enough, and 20 was just a hair too long.

Step 4: Remove the molds from the oven, and let the crayons cool and set. While you're waiting, print and cut out your cards. In case you don't have time to design your own, here's a simple little template:

Step 5: Pop the rainbow crayons out of the molds and affix them to your cards with double-stick mounting tabs or rubber cement. (Ask your kid's teacher to remind children not to eat the hearts- they come out looking a little like candy.)

Happy Valentine's Day!