Shrinky Dinks Creative Pack 10 Sheets Frosted White Kids Art and Craft Activity

A bit of trial and error, but once I got it down, my project worked out. The key is not to rush things! I found the oven worked better than the toaster oven for me. I followed the directions on the package for temperature (325 degrees F), used parchment paper to line the cookie sheet, and used a plastic spatula to help flatten the items in the final 30 seconds of baking/shrinking. I ruined the first batch because I pulled them out of the oven too soon. I sort of freaked out when they folded and curled up and slowly started to “right” themselves again. Second batch, I gave it more time, and from that point forward, each batch worked perfectly. Each batch took about 3 minutes. Toward the end of the baking cycle, I flattened the edges of my items (slightly lifting off the pan) and gave them another 30 seconds in the oven. Once I pulled them out, I used a cardboard-backed paper pad to press on top of the items for about 15 seconds before removing them from the pan. Worked like a charm. I will say, the price I paid on Amazon was much higher (double the price) than my local craft store. That was disappointing. After learning that, I picked up my second pack locally.

I use this every year as a Father’s Day gift with my fourth graders. No complaints other than sometimes they will roll on top of each other and not flatten out. Most of the time you can get them unstuck, pop them back in the oven for a couple of seconds and then flatten them between layers of parchment. The final product will end up being a keychain. I buy them every year.

There used to be a character in the game 'Candyland' called 'Plumpy,' which my extended family learned during a Family Game night after my brother shared some trivia about The Chocolate Swamp not being the original name of that area of the Candyland board. No one could remember what it used to be called, so we asked Alexa who shared that it used to be The Molasses Swamp. Alexa then elaborated, sharing that the character 'Plumpy' was unceremoniously removed from the game in 2002 due to the belief that he promoted an unhealthy lifestyle. Not one of us had remembered Plumpy from our childhoods but upon hearing this, several of the adults laughed so hard at the name that they fell out of their chairs. So, of course, I decided to make ornaments for my family for Christmas: everyone gets one Plumpy and one Candyland kid because we are an immature bunch who never forgets when something funny happens. Note #1 - I bought the 'frosted' shrinky dinks, and I really wish that I had bought the 'crystal clear' ones. That's because I traced the outline of the characters, but I could only do it while holding everything up against a window on a very sunny day (otherwise, you can't see what you're trying to trace). If I had a light board, that would have made my life much easier. So: buy the crystal clear ones if you're tracing something! Note #2 - These shrink, alright. To be exact: they get about one-third smaller. The photos are the before & after, and in both pictures the characters are lying on a standard-size greeting card envelope. The colors really pop, too, after they've been shrunk. Note #3 - If you need a hole (say, for threading some fishing wire to make an ornament) then be sure to use an actual hole puncher and punch that hole BEFORE you bake/shrink these. As you can see from the photos, I botched the 'hole punch' part because I used kitchen knife. I had left space at the 'hand' area of the characters for a small hole, but all I did was slice/split the material. I thought that I could instead punch them after they've been shrunken/baked. I cannot - they're way too thick now. So now they're very tiny bookmarks.

showed up open and missing pieces :[[

When we had a problem with one of the packs, they sent us a replacement quickly.