Pine Cone Skier Craft

 

This is the craft my Guides had made at tonight's meeting ... they loved making these!  

I found this idea on Pinterest but as usual it has taken on it's own look.  Crafts always seem to turn out differently from the original inspiration pic... the look depends on what supplies I have available.

The pine cones were closed and frozen on the ground but I put them in the oven so they would thaw and open. {Thank you to my hubby Stephen and his co worker friend Craig for collecting pine cones the day before the meeting...There are huge Pine trees at work!} I put them on a foil lined cookie sheet for several hours on about 85 degrees C.  It took a while for them to dry out ,warm up and open!  {tons of seeds fell out ...they are interesting looking...like tiny fairy wings...hmm what can I make with those??}

Here are some of the Skiers that the had Guides made...so cute and easy to make!

The hats and scarves are the fingers of a glove, the head is a mini Styrofoam ball, the ski poles are tooth picks with fabric snowflakes....pipe cleaner arms, mini Popsicle sticks for the skis...and google eyes.  We used a low temp hot glue gun as opposed to white glue.  Then they painted their Skier with silver glitter glue.  All supplies {except for the mini Popsicle sticks from Walmart} were from the Dollarama! 

Christmas Crafts

This is a portion of my collection of Christmas crafts from the past several years.  Most crafts were made at Girl Guides , a couple were crafts made by others given to me as a gift, and some I made for my own Christmas tree and decor. Since my Christmas decorations are still packed away during this time of year I do not have access to get close up shots for all of these crafts...but luckily I found most of them. These pics were taken last Christmas.  If you see anything you like just let me know and I can attempt to describe how they were made...otherwise you can just look and try to figure it out.

Christmas Card...Dollarama Santa suit...mini clothespins, string, card stock

Peace & Love Angels...terracotta pots, 
wooden head, hair, wings, pipe cleaners, bells

Plastic sandwich Baggie skirt, pipe 
cleaner body on Popsicle stick, pompom

Felt Skates , ribbon, glitter glue

Wooden Building Block , felt, wooden head, pompoms

Fimo clay Santa Star...a gift from my niece Rebecca

Felt Teddy Bear...made by my sister-in-law Karen

Wishing Spool-Wooden Spool, paper, ribbon...
looks nicer painted

Snowman handmade Pom Poms...
Guides made these last year

Recycled Christmas Card star

Film Canister Soldiers...
idea from Pack o Fun Magazine years ago

Sugar Plum Fairy...
made from Dollarama supplies- fake flowers

Water Jug ring wrapped with a 
Pipe Cleaner and tiny ribbon bow EASY PEASY

more samples of Pipe Cleaner water jug ring Wreathes

Wooden Ice cream Spoon Reindeer

Two Peanuts Reindeer

Pipe Cleaner Santa

Faux Stained Glass -tissue paper ...hang in a window

Reindeer- two old style clothespins 
wrapped in embroidery floss

Half Walnut shell sleepy kitty-pompom, felt, fabric scrap

Mouse-Wooden ice cream spoon, felt, pompom,ribbon, paint

Large Paper Star from 12x12 scrapbook paper

Tissue Paper faux stained Glass Card

I made this many many years ago...
Bird on a Wreath wrapped in Ribbon

Believe it or not I have more Christmas Crafts! but do not have a photo of them.  If I get a chance to take more photos I will post before Christmas.  Thanks for viewing my blog! Have a great week! and enjoy your Christmas Crafting!

Rebus messages

If you have ever visited my website, "Lee Ann's Girl Guide Notebook", you may have already seen this Rebus activity.  I had originally scanned it from the Friendship Flyer that once was distributed to Guiders years ago around Thinking Day or as an insert in the Canadian Guider magazine.   I did not see a date on the flyer but it refers to Canada's 125th Birthday so I am guessing it was distributed around February 1992.  Guide, Pathfinder, and Senior Branches {now Rangers} are the suggested age groups for this activity but Brownies and Sparks can do it too!  I can see many possibilities with this activity.  

It would be great for a gathering activity or as a Guide Patrol activity. Guide Patrols could make a Rebus then exchange it with the other Patrols.  

First explain/show what a Rebus message is. {a puzzle consisting of pictures representing syllables and words. For example in such a puzzle the word hear might be represented by H followed by a picture of an ear}.  

Provide catalogs, magazines, stickers, clip art etc for each Patrol...or they can just draw the pictures themselves.   Allow about 15 minutes for making the Rebus message. {Advise them to choose short messages otherwise it will take the entire meeting! You could assign certain Guide laws for each Patrol to turn into a rebus message...or anything else relating to Guiding...the possibilities are endless}.

Then switch Rebus messages with other Patrol groups..allow 5 minutes to decipher.  Provide each Patrol with a blank piece of paper and pencil so they can write down the deciphered message.  Then gather all Patrols together and take turns reading the messages. 

Here are the answers for the above Rebus if you can not make out the writing on the bottom:
A) You are my friend.
B) I can't wait to go to my Guide meeting.
C) Will you take me to a Pathfinder meeting?

Here are a couple of Rebus messages that I made...I just have way too much fun making this stuff! This one has a lot of words to decipher so read the rows carefully from left to right as best as you can. {It is a little crowded since I wanted it all on one page}