It's too hot to do anything in Denver. Except for craft? So I decided to base this craft on how I'm feeling. Which is melty.

So, what can we melt besides buckets of ice cubes on our faces? Why, Perler Beads and Cotton Candy, of course! Don’t worry, one will turn into earrings and one will turn into a delicious boozey drink and both will hopefully take our minds off the sweat. All the sweat.

Pictures sure take all the fun out of guessing, don't they. — Pictures sure take all the fun out of guessing, don't they.

What you’ll need for Perler Earrings:

-Perler Beads

-Peg Boards

-Wax Paper

-Iron

-Jump Rings

-Earring Wire

-Jewelry Plyers…or Tweezers

-Ears

What you’ll need for Cotton Candy Martini:

-Raspberry Flavored Vodka

-Chambord (aka Raspberry Liqueur)

-Grenadine

-Champagne

-Pink Cotton Candy

-Crushed Ice

-Sugar

-Martini Shaker

-Martini Glass

Disclaimers!

Before we get melting, here’s little insider knowledge for you all. Perler Beads come in a crazy-ton of different colors. So, depending on how fancy/gaudy/5 years old/26 years old of a look you’re going for, you can do anything from earth tones to sparkly see-through gems straight off a unicorn. Peg Boards come in an array of shapes as well so, if you really do want to make that unicorn, you totally could. We just used squares, circles, hexagons and hearts and made some pretty sweet stuff.

One last piece of insider knowledge: a lot of beads go a little way. So, unless you expect to make 1 million perler bead earrings, maybe go for a small bin.

5 hard-core crafters and 3 hard-core crafting hours later and this baby was only 1/8 of the way down. For reals.

Ok, we’re finally ready to melt something other than our faces off! Yippee!

1.) Pour as many beads out as you can. Not only does it make finding beads easier, but it also makes your friend’s table look like a carnival threw up on it.

2.) Decide on a pattern and color scheme. Then let the bead hunting begin.

You have no idea how long this took me. It took me FOREVER.

3.) Start pegging those perler beads.

4.) Once you’ve got a pattern you’re happy with, take pictures so your friends so you can brag about them on the internet as if you made it.

Fine, I didn't make this. Good job Stephen.

5.) Now smother it with wax paper. And then MELT THAT (bitch) WITH AN IRON.

6.5) While melting, be sure to keep the wax paper taught like a tiger and the iron firm on your creation. Otherwise the wax paper will get caught on the iron and your half-melted beads will scatter across the floor and you’ll have to spend the next ten minutes hunched over putting the half-melted beads back on the pegs while trying to hold back tears because YOU’RE 26 AND BIG GIRLS DON’T CRY.

6.) Anyway, iron/melt your creation for about 30 seconds, or until the beads look sufficiently fused.

7.) Let it cool with the wax paper still intact. This would be a great time to finish that martini, btw.

"Hey girl. Oh, I'm just straight chillin' under this wax paper because I'm sufficiently fused. What you up to?"

9.) Peel off the wax paper, remove creation from peg board and CRIPES! You should have something as lovely as this! If not, you’re probably not a good direction follower. I’m just saying, it’s probably not my fault.

Nope, can't eat it. It's made out of Perler Beads.

10.) Make a copy of your favorite Perler creation so that you’ll have a pair. (For the earrings).

Part II. Time to Get Professional: Turning these into jewelry that maybe adults will wear.

1.) Decide which point of your Perlers you’d like to be the top of the earring.

Told you it was time to get professional.

2.) Open the jump ring and put it through the hole. I know you’re eager but try not to jam it through. You don’t want to break off a bead.

3.) Put the earring wire onto the jump ring.

Are those eyebrow tweezers? Psht, no. This is professional.

4.) Close the ring with plyers (cough – tweezers – cough) or your extremely nimble fingers.

5.) Repeat the above steps for the other Perler, put them in your ears and impress the hats off your friends, coworkers and random 8 year olds on the street!

Part III. Drinky Drinky Time!

Cotton-Candy Martini Recipe:

-2 oz Raspberry flavored vodka

-1 oz Chambord (Raspberry liqueur)

-Splashish of Grenadine

-Splashish of Champagne

-A LOT of Pink cotton candy,

-Crushed ice

-Sugar

1) After you’ve pulled your martini glasses out of the freezer, (because, like all adults, we chill our martini glasses) moisten the rims. Spread some suga on a plate and dip the rims of the glass into the suga so that you’ve got a nice suga line all the way around. Mmmmm suga please. Place a mound of luscious cotton candy into the suga’d glass.

Cotton Candy in a bag; may not look as good, but it tastes the same. (No it doesn't.)

2) Place the ice in a cocktail shaker and then pour in the vodka, the Chambord, the generous splash of grenadine, and, last but not least, the champagne.

3) Get your shake on for at least a minute.

4) Strain the mixture into the martini glasses and watch that cotton candy melt!

4.5) This would be a good time to tell you that if you use blue cotton candy, your martini will turn into a purpley-black color. I mean, it still tastes good but, if you’re going for aesthetics…use all pink. Case in point:

I mean, sure. Maybe if I had some candles.

Well, I have a rule that once a photo of a martini surrounded by candles enters a blog, it’s time to wrap it up. I hope you enjoyed this week’s Crafty Hour and that it brings you hours of friendship happiness.