Christmas Crafts and Cards for Seniors

Hello blogland! It has been soooo long since my last post! I have not been blogging as much this Fall. {I've been busy painting my craft room and I am in the final stages of re organizing it! I did a post last year ...yes , last year! ... about Craft Room Chaos and I am finally gettin' er done!} 

Here are some craft ideas for Christmas.  My Guides made a couple of crafts last week and again this week. {They LOVE making crafts! so I am just going with the flow here}.  We were also busy tonight making cards for seniors.  We will be delivering the cards and singing carols for seniors at a local Nursing Home in two weeks.  We practiced singing tonight after the crafting was cleaned up! I like to get the girls involved in the clean up ...many hands make light work! plus most of  the girls like to be helpful!

This little snowman idea was found on Pinterest by our mom helper Melissa.  It is made with a battery operated Tea Light.

Another craft idea from Mom helper Melissa {She rocks! Melissa was once our Spark and Brownie leader but unfortunately does not have time to committ to being a Guider this year}. This is a Girl Guide Christmas ball.  You can see a little scroll inside which has the Guide Promise printed on it...Melissa premade computer printed scrolls but I forgot to get one from her so I made one and hand printed on it.  I did not get a pic before I put it in the glass ball though...I tried and tried to get it out with tweezers but gave up on that! LOL

I printed out these pics for the girls to add to the ball...we also added blue glitter {to represent the spirit of Guiding} and more sequins and curly ribbon in the colours of Guiding. {Mental Note:  Glitter is messy ...Glitter is messy...Glitter is messy...but it is so darn pretty I just have to use it! It was all over our meeting room!}

This simple little craft is a crowd fav LOL.  I had made this craft with Guides and Brownies over the years and they seem to like it every time.  It is a Wishing Spool. {I think the original idea was found in Pac-o-Fun magazine back in 2000}.  I found the wooden spools at a dollar store. We did not opt for painting the spools because we had many other things to do.  The idea of the "Wishing Spool" is to write a few things that you wish for Christmas and put the year on it so that you can see what you wished for every Christmas.  You could list "Peace" , "Happiness" etc., or materialistic things.

I had a bunch of these little wooden tags and santas/angels in my stash for ages and found them while I was re organizing my craft room...so I thought i'd take them to Guides.  The girls liked making these...probably because they were easy to make and self explanatory.

I can not remember where I found this card idea...but I used this idea at Guides a few times.  Again, another simple craft for kids.  The inside says "Warm Wishes".  {Some of our Guides made up their own saying...such as "Cold hands, Warm Heart"...which I thought was cute.}. They got to choose the colour of felt and yarn.  I provided a pattern for the mittens {I recommend making patterns to save you from assisting with cutting.  The girls are capable of doing it themselves}.  It is neat to see how the girls like to express themselves when crafting...even if it is just a choice in colours.

Another cute idea found on Pinterest! I ♥ Pinterest!  This simple card was made with red cardstock, black ribbon with a pop can tab for the buckle and some dollarama bling.  The ribbon was attached with tape.  The inside says "Believe".  The inspiration card is larger with shiny black buttons and a picture of Santa on the side but this is my version.  Work with what you have ladies!

Below are some of the cards that our Guides made for the Seniors...we used cardstock and my stash of Christmas cards from last year.  A great way to reuse those Greeting Cards {so remember to save them for next year! I ask my mother to save her cards too}.

The girls made up their own sentiments to go inside the cards {which was fun to read as you can imagine!}. It is a good idea to write out some generic sentiments such as Merry Christmas, Seasons Greetings etc so that you do not spend all night repeatedly spelling out the words!

All of these crafts were easy to make...they did not require assistance from the leaders..once I had explained the directions then the Guides got down to business and did a whole-lot-a craftin'!

So that is all for today folks!  I so enjoy doing Christmas crafts.  I am glad that over the years 99% of my Girl Guides like to do crafting!

One last thing...but this is not Girl Guide related...I got 14 inches cut off my hair the other day!  I am going to donate my locks to A Child's Voice Foundation Angel Hair for Kids. This will be the third time that I cut my hair for wigs.  {My Mother is a breast cancer survivor and she had to wear a wig for a while so the least I can do is donate my hair for someone in need}.

Before

And the after pic...14 inches off...my hairdresser Donna curled it! She is awesome! It took a ton of hairspray and Volumizing Powder to get it to look like this...as you can see in the before pic my hair is dreadfully naturally straight.  No more getting my hair caught in the car door or seatbelt now LOL !

If I don't get a chance to do a post before the big guy gets here....
Have a Merry Christmas and 

Happy New Year!  

Read more: http://www.cancer.ca/en/support-and-services/support-services/hair-donations/?region=on#ixzz2mfOMtitu

Guides' Patrol Flags

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Hello Guiders! It has been a while since my last post.  I have been busy getting our first few Guide meetings started and dealing with Cookies {keeping track, collecting cookie money and doing deposits ...and also busy sending Owl & Toadstool files to tons of Guiders! Thank you so much for your interest in this blog!}. 

Violet Patrol Emblem

At our first meeting we broke the girls up into Patrol groups.  Their first Patrol challenge was to choose a name for their Patrol...they chose Violets and Bluebells. At our second meeting we made Patrol Flags.   I can not remember where I got this idea.  Not sure if this was something that we did with my Saskatoon Guide unit back in the late 1990s or not...but I know for sure that I did this activity with my Antigonish Guides about 13 years ago.  So now that I am a Guide Guider again I thought this would be a fun Patrol activity. {The beauty of having 17+ years experience as a Guider is recycling your ideas!}

Bluebell Patrol Emblem

I had purchased 1 meter of cotton blend fabric to make both flags. {cotton blend was $1.30 /meter...much cheaper than 100% cotton} I pre-cut 4 pieces of fabric into rectangular shapes then masked off the area to be painted {with regular masking tape}.  We used regular acrylic water based paint.

Antigonish Guides having some ART fun!

The first week the girls painted their flag {set a time limit or else every inch of fabric will be covered in paint }.  The girls were instructed to work as a Patrol team and decide what they would like on their flag.  They all agreed that the patrol name, emblem, and their names should go on the flag {I supplied foam stampers so a few of those were added to the design}. The girls then pitched in to help clean up the mess results of their productivity before moving on to our next activity!

After the paint dried, the edges were sewn with a serger. A pocket was made on the left side to allow for the rope. {My mother has a serger sewing machine...so when I was home for Thanksgiving weekend she we did the sewing}.

Bluebells Patrol Flag -front view

Bluebells Patrol Flag -back view

Violets Patrol Flag -front view

Violets Patrol Flag -back view

I used two different thicknesses of rope.  The rope attached to the pole is 1/4 inch thick cotton and the rope on the flag is 1/8 inch thick nylon. {you could use the 1/8 inch nylon for the pole too but I just used what I already had...you do not need to use the same rope}.  The 1/8 inch nylon was purchased for $2.28 for the 48 foot bundle {at Central Building Supplies}.  I still had the practice knots from years ago so we used those. {the practice ropes are about a foot long...you will need to burn the ends to prevent fraying}.

1/8 inch nylon rope comes in a 48 foot bundle as shown

I guess it was about 13 years ago when hubby made the flag stand base for us {my hubby rocks}.  The base is a square piece of 1/2 inch plywood with 4 holes drilled all the way through at angles {I think 30 degrees but I would have to measure it}.  

The poles are dowels purchased from Walmart.  I attached an eye hook at the top and a cleat to the lower part of the dowel.  You will also need a toggle {I used a wooden spool}.  Also, varnish is a good idea to protect the wood. 

I have a pdf of Flag Raising instructions showing which knots to use and where.  If you are interested in the file leave a comment or email me directly...my address is in my profile.

The top knot is a clove hitch and the bottom knot is the sheet bend.

 

Hardware for the flag pole

I like to have a challenge activity ready for each Patrol as they arrive at our meeting {to keep them busy while waiting...we have a few happy cart wheelers in our group this year...oh to have an ounce of their energy}.  This week the challenge was knot tying.  I had printed out the knots for them to try and supplied them with small pieces of rope for practicing.  They practiced the knots for flag raising and also the reef knot for tying their tie.  

Patrol Challenge - Knot Tying

This is the knot that attaches to the toggle at the top of the flag

This is the knot that attaches the pole rope to the flag rope

This is the knot used to tie the Guide Tie

I have a pdf of the printable knots for anyone interested.

Learning how to tie knots requires lots of practice so we will continue to practice each week by challenging the patrols to set up their flags.  The flags will be carried by the Patrol Seconder during our opening  horseshoe formation.

Here is a good source for 

Animated Knots!

Hope you are all enjoying being back to Girl Guides!  Have a great day!

Fleamarket Haul- Crests and Scout Pins

Hello Blogland! Here is a little break from program related posts.  If you've read my blog from the beginning you know that I {♥} yardsales, garage sales, fleamarkets, thrift stores, Church rummage sales...you name it!  However, I haven't found anything "Girl Guide" related at the sales in such a long time... 

However, during the past two weekends, my hubby and I have been going to a Fleamarket on Sundays in New Glasgow, NS.  

I found some GS USA crests and a couple of Boy Scout pins but the Girl Guide stuff is hard to come by these days! {I did spy a Girl Guide pin and a few newer style Brownie enrolment pins but she was asking $5 each so I passed on those}.

Here is what I had purchased on my fleamarketing adventure... {lots of photos in this post!...the vest was from the fleamarket at the former Co-Op building}

GS USA VEST - back view

GS USA VEST- front view

This Girl Scouts vest was $2 bucks! There are several items on the vest.  {I haven't decided if  I want to remove the crests and add them to my crest collection or leave them on the vest...hmm}.

These look like merit badges

This is a troup {troop} number

This looks like a patrol emblem

We also bought this Scout pin, Wolf Cub badge , and Beaver button.  My hubby was in Scouting as a youth member and was once a Leader so I pick up Boy Scout stuff if I see it at the sales.  {This was from a second Fleamarket in New Glasgow...at the former Central Supplies building}.

Hubby bought this pin for $5...a little more than I would normally pay but I have never seen any of these pins on my excursions. {and yes I am an El Cheapo a Bargain Hunter!}

These were 25 cents each!

Last year I had purchased an older Brownie uniform from Salvation Army thrift store in New Glasgow but I have yet to post about that! Too much to do and so little time!

Have fun with your Girl Guides as we kick of the 2013-2014 season!