Milking it! Easy Paper Mache Masks

Ahhhh....Paper Mache!  Remember art when you were in grade school?  I just loved paper mache and was always eager to get messy when these projects were on the agenda.  Of course, back then, we used chicken coop wire to form the project base, which was a total pain to manipulate when I was 10.  Then we added copious layers of ooey-gooey newspaper mess to that in the hope the project would slightly resemble the item we were making.  Those were the days....

Now, paper mache is so much easier:  we have options!  We did a paper mache project at camp a couple of weeks ago.  For that project, we started with a simple balloon as the base of the project then added layer upon layer of mache'd newspaper to get our final layer of white paper.  Admittedly, I find the balloon base is still not the easiest to start with unless your finished project is meant to be balloon shaped!

Brownies and Girl Guides and Sparks: Oh My!

WAGGS (Stock photo)

One of my favourite things about being a Brownie leader is the camaraderie of the girls, their willingness to try anything and their enthusiasm for their crafts.  

This past weekend, 27 Sparks, Brownies and Girl Guides spent two nights and a day at Camp Rolling Acres to celebrate being a Girl Guide this 2010/11 season with us, their leaders.  It's like our end of year bash!  The girls learn all kinds of great camping and cooking skills, independence, empathy, cooperation and of course, there's lots of fun stuff going on too.  We always make a bunch of cute crafts!

Each of the four leaders worked with the girls to make a unique and simple camp craft.  We always feature at least a few hat crafts to secure to our Girl Guide bucket hat to proudly remember how many years we've been going and all the great memories we've made.  Okay, so this was my first year at camp, but the spirit of past years was with me as we made a fly swatter from plastic canvas, a caterpillar from pom-poms and a butterfly from pipe cleaners.  Simple, creative and cute!  Here's what we did:

Are you ready for the summer....

My memories of "summer camp" are limited;  I went to camp twice as a kid and both were sleepover camps, no day camps.  (Best darn 2 weeks of my entire life were at Camp Kemur in Guelph, a horse riding camp).  The mystique of day camp always created a little green envy imagining those great summer adventures other kids got to have.

Face Painting

The mystery is finally solved for me.  Though it's a little different being on the other side of the camp experience, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  July 4th began the first week of Creative Summer Camp for Dopey Kid Originals at the Nottawasaga Community Centre in Duntroon.  We put on an extremely busy week and by the end, everyone was extraordinarily exhausted!  (In a good way) 

This week's theme:  The 5 Elements.