I went into my project archive at Flickr. Have you all ever played around with Perler Beads? We also call them melty beads at my house. Another brand is Hama Beads. They are really fun and easy. Here I was going to do the whole Simpson family, but I didn't have enough blue to do Marge's hair and the pixelized images I had of the Simpson kids weren't as good as this one. My son uses this as a coaster next to his bed.
I made these goofy video game coasters as a silly gift for a friend. I think he was a bit baffled by them, but they were only for a laugh.
My very first swap on Craftster was a perler bead swap and I made this Chococat for my partner:
She also liked lotus flowers so I designed this little container with perler beads. The lid is attached and opens and closes.
about a year later she wrote to me and said she was engaged and kept her ring in the box for safekeeping at night,.I made an elephant to spiff up a notepad. These beads shrink up when you iron them, so if you plan to try this, make it larger than you think you need for the notepad.
Finally, they always have little holes in them from the beads, so I used that to make a little patch for a pouch.
We used these beads as a party activity at my daughter's birthday a few years ago. Be careful with the hot iron around enthusiastic little children! Don't ask me how I know this.