Wednesday 28 August 2013

Owl & Toadstool's Been Featured!

Hey there! Just thought I would share with you something that came in the mail yesterday...A sure sign that Girl Guide meetings are just around the corner...the Fall 2013 issue of
 Canadian Guider magazine!
To view this issue online go here
Why am I especially thrilled with this particular issue??
Check out pages 44-45 !
 Yes! Owl & Toadstool has been featured along with Brownie Meeting Ideas and Bluenose Guider in Canadian Guider magazine!  What an honour!
Canadian Guider magazine contacted me in late June to ask if I would answer some interview questions for the magazine...
so I said Yes of course! 

Thanks so much for the opportunity Canadian Guider magazine!  
{although I am not one to enjoy being in any sort of spotlight, nor one to post my own photo, here I am in a magazine ! Now you can all get a RARE glimpse of the face behind the blog}.
 

  
A shout out to Cara of Brownie Meeting Ideas and Cathy of Bluenose Guider!  I follow your blogs on a regular basis.  You both have outstanding and informative posts and I can appreciate how much time goes into your blog! I am honoured to be featured along side both of you!

Being mentioned in a magazine that I have been reading since 1996 is really special to me!

Thank You Canadian Guider magazine! 

I hope this Canadian Guider article "Spreading the Word. Unit Bloggers" inspires you, the readers, to start your own blog!





Wednesday 14 August 2013

Felt Crafts

Hello Blogland! Hope you are all having a nice Summer...it sure is going by fast!  Before you know it we will be back to our regular weekly meetings! I am not ready yet! LOL

Today I would like to share with you some felt crafts that I had made over the years.  I love working with felt.  It is inexpensive, comes in a wide variety of colours, and is easy to work with.   Awhile ago I was into making felt books {ABC's and Number books} so I have quite a few felt scraps and felt sheets leftover. There are so many fab colours and printed felt available now...neon colours, glittered, embossed patterns, sticky backed felt...I just may have to start a new felt book soon! 

 


This is the cover that I had created for our Brownie Scrapbook
  {check out the link to "Lee Ann's Girl Guide Notebook" website to see the actual pages that the Owls and Brownies worked on together}.  

The scrapbook is a regular binder covered with fabric.

I made the owl, trefoil logo, and the toadstool from felt and used tacky glue to adhere them.   

The felt letters and satin flowers & insects were purchased from a dollar store.  








I had used the same owl and toadstool patterns that I had made for the scrapbook and dollar store letters on this felt covered cigar box turned Memory Box. {we used orange felt since the former Brownie uniform was orange}.
 Again, I used my owl pattern and created a magnetic note holder.  The felt owl is attached to a clothespin...a magnet is attached to the back side of the clothespin.  This craft is ideal for the first meeting since it is easy to make plus it can be used to hold your Brownie Welcome note!
We made these owls in many different colours...with and without the glitter.

This next felt craft was found online by former Musical Owl Maggie {Hi Maggie!}. Maggie and members of her family had precut the patterns for us and generously donated all the supplies which was greatly appreciated! The Brownies had no problem sewing this craft!
Go to this link for a similar owl pattern.

I created this next craft two years ago when I had switched back to being a Guide Guider.  I had intended to make this craft with my Guides to use as a memory keeper but I did not have enough coffee tins for the entire group {I am still saving these tins lol}.  So, I ended up using it to hold the names for our weekly prize draw.

This felt Halloween Witch pencil topper was fun to make! 
The idea was found in Canadian Living Magazine Nov 06
page 307.  
{I have the directions if you are interested}
The Brownies made these at our Halloween Party...I had pre made the hats though.  
Felt is sometimes a bit tricky to glue but if you put enough glue on your project and hold it in place for a few minutes then the glue will adhere.  I find that Aleene's Tacky Glue works great!



This felt poppy is ideal for Remembrance Day.  One of the former Owls {not sure if it was White Owl or Fire Owl} prepared this craft.  It is two pieces of red felt stitched together...with a black center and a safety pin  attached to the back of the poppy.  The Brownies wore these on their badge sash at the Remembrance Day Parade.
 
I created this felt back pack with bedroll hat craft in my early years of Guiding...looks a little mangled now LOL.  No pinterest back then!  If we needed a craft idea it had to come from our own imagination, from a friend, Leader training  or craft magazine! LOL...I sooo love Pinterest..there are so many awesome ideas on there!

 




This cute sleeping bag hat craft was found online somewhere...can't remember where! I prepared this craft for our District Camp a few years ago.  It involves sewing and gluing.  The doll body is a mini popsicle stick. I laminated the "Did you Hear That?" tag with packing tape to help protect it from rain...and we all know what rain can do to a hat craft!







I created this mini drawstring bag hat craft for something...can't remember lol. It is simple to make...just cut a circle and sew around the edge with yarn...then cinch it together. 

I may have gotten the bag idea from the following craft...




 This craft is really cute and easy to make!  It is a felt drawstring tic tac toe game.  {again, not sure where I found this idea! sorry!}  The bag opens up to reveal a tic tac toe game and adorable little bees and ladybugs are used as the playing pieces {you could add eyes and antenae to the playing pieces}.
The grid is drawn on with fabric paint. The edge is sewn with yarn {make sure you space the stitches evenly}.  The insects are made with pom poms.  The bee is a yellow pom pom with a black pipe cleaner wrapped around it.  When you are finished playing tic tac toe just draw the string until it forms a pouch and store the playing pieces inside.  {you could probably use anything you like as the playing pieces}.

 
This Palm tree hat craft idea was found in Canadian Guider magazine March/April 1998 page 37.  

I had prepared this craft for our summer camp, Camp Castaway, when I was a Guider in Saskatoon.

The base is made with felt. Really cute for our Castaway themed camp! 

I have the instructions if anyone is interested.

Campfire hat craft...I think it lost some of it's kindling over the years!  I had prepared this craft for a District Sleepover...for about 100 kids.  It was inexpensive and self explanatory which is great when working with a large group. 


This felt flower kit was purchased in Saskatoon back in the late 90's.  Not sure where I got it exactly.  I'm not sure if it would appeal to kids now but at the time it was a cute craft.  I am amazed that I still have the precut pattern pieces!  Can you say HOARDER ! LOL  If you are interested in the directions leave a message.


I had made a felt Wall hanging for Brownies at one time but it is no where to be found.  If I find anymore felt craft ideas then I will be sure to do another post!  
I hope at least one of these ideas appeals to some of you!  Enjoy the rest of your day!