Girl Scout Promise Tree

Hello!

Last night I gathered some local Girl Scouts together to decorate a tree for our town's festival of trees. I was pretty excited to work with the girls to make ornaments and decorate the tree. I also created some of my own ornaments for the girls to hang.

The theme of our tree was the Girl Scout Law and Promise. I wrote out the Girl Scout Law on the burlap garland. The girls created these promise ornaments and wrote something they do to live by the Girl Scout Law. We mostly had second grade Brownies in attendance, but they all did really well with making their own ornaments and had great insight to how they can apply the Girl Scout Law to their lives.

The girls also made ribbon tree ornaments. They did a great job with the project. To keep the work at the meeting to a minimum, I pre-cut all the ribbons, organized by color and hot glued string on the top of branches before the meeting.

I made some additional decorations, but the girls were responsible for putting them on the tree. The first thing I made was sleds out of Popsicle sticks (mini and jumbo size). I painted them with our tree's colors, navy and green. I distressed them a bit, added some dark wax and added the Girl Scout logo using carbon tracing paper and a silver Sharpie marker.

In addition to the sleds, I created some simple wooden ornaments with words of the Girl Scout Law on them. I also had to add some information about joining this awesome organization!

A tree also has to have a tree skirt. I used some burlap cut in a circle and Sharpie markers to write out the Girl Scout Promise. To keep the skirt from fraying, I used some hot glue on the reverse side of the tree skirt.

  

 A tree also needs a tree topper, so I cut out the Girl Scout symbol on poster board, added some white glue and green glitter. I now have green glitter all over my entire office. It's very festive.

I also added some ribbon with hot glue to make the edges clean. It attaches to the tree with some green floral wire.

We would love you have you in Girl Scouts. Visit www.girlscouts.org for more information on joining!

First Lutheran Preschool Silent Auction

We have our first snow fall of the season, and it's a blizzard to boot. Since most of our scheduled activities are cancelled, I took the opportunity to make some things for the upcoming Festival of Trees for the First Lutheran Preschool in Volga, South Dakota. The festival is on Sunday, December 11th and will have a ton of activities including a free will donation soup and sandwich meal, a cookies and canvas painting class for both children and adults, and a silent auction.

It was fun to make some Christmas decorations for the silent auction, since I've pretty much hit my decoration limit at home. Some of the local stores started putting out their Christmas craft supplies and I was looking for an excuse to pick up a couple of things.

Some of the items I made are going to be grouped together in a little bundle of coordinating decorations.

The first bundle is my hunting/deer bundle. It will have this simple wreath, a little tree (great for an entry or as a centerpiece) and a table runner. I still need to make some fun shotgun shell ornaments to go on the tree. My husband was really disappointed when I asked him to go out and shoot some stuff so I could have the shells. I'm thinking about adding some red ribbon to the table runner as well so it ties in better with the other two items.

The second bundle is going to have this handmade sign and handmade dog treats.

The last item will stand alone and is a fun Christmas card holder. (The camera wasn't cooperating with me. The sign isn't this dark. Also, it's about four feet long with spots for 12 or more cards, but the camera wasn't wide angle enough.)

I plan on decorating a tree for the event with our local Girl Scouts, so I still have to round up those supplies. (Oh man...more craft supplies to get? How will I ever survive?!?!?) Do you see a theme here? I'm really really liking playing with cursive and paint.

Make sure you check out the festival for some fun silent auction items (both Christmas and non-Christmas related) and some fun activities. The money raised goes straight to the preschool which is a wonderful program both my older children have been apart of.

2016 Fall Decoration Tour

Hello!

Long time no talk, huh? Having a newborn baby really takes it out of you. The kiddos are with my husband for about 10 more minutes, so I'm trying to get a blog post out real quick here. I can't believe our Sweet Cheeks is already 7 weeks old. It went by so fast. She's smiling and doing all that cute baby stuff (and of course lots of that not so cute baby stuff too).

Anyways, the hubby decided to take a hunting trip with some buddies last week, so I decided to get a bit of fall decorating done. I kept most of the decorations I had last year. Click here for my 2014 Fall Decoration post. I did add a couple of new things this year, so I thought I would check in and share our new decorations.

The big thing I did was really quick paint a new big sign. You might recognize the wood. The reverse side is from my 2015 Christmas sign. So once Thanksgiving is over, I just flip over the sign, and there's new decorations for the corner of our acreage.

The other thing I did was cut down some corn stalks (from my in-laws...don't be going around cutting down random people's corn...it's a good way to get shot) and add the really fun sign I got from the Junk Jam this summer. (Side note: Every time I photograph my front door I groan at how ugly it is. Painting the exterior and new lights are 1# on the DIY list next summer!)

The kids painted on some pumpkins. I should clarify....my son painted 5 pumpkins blue and my daughter painted one. I grabbed some corn and gourds from my in-laws and put them in a old metal picnic basket I had sitting around.

DIY Santa Cookie Plate and Mug

Happy Eve of Christmas Eve!

Today's project is a good one to do with the kids while they are out for school. We did this and made sugar scrubs as a family this week. I had bought a Santa plate a few years ago, and it broke before I even got to use it. Sad day. I decided that instead of spending the money on a new set, I was going to make it. This project only cost me about $5.00.

Now originally, I was going to do the sharpie mug trick I tried two years ago (Click here for the post). However, while I was at the store, I noticed they had these handy dandy enamel paints, so I decided to take a shot at using them. I'm happy to report that everything went well. 

DIY Santa Cookie Plate and Matching Mug

Supplies

Plate and Mug (It was previously suggested to me to use cheap dollar store plates and mugs because they have a less smooth surface and therefore are more likely to take sharpies or paint)

Enamel Paints (I found my paint at Wal-Mart in the craft section for only a 1$ for each tube)*

Different Size Paint Brushes

Oven

*I should note that the enamel paints do warn not to have the paint come in contact with food. I made the personal decision that the cookies wouldn't be there for very long, so I wasn't concerned about them being on top of the plate. You could also just do a design on the outside of the plate.

Directions

1. Decide and Sketch Out Design

Before you start painting, it's a good idea to take a piece of paper and sketch out what you want your design to look like. I searched out other designs on Pinterest to get an idea of what I wanted mine to look like. My artist skills are limited so painting a Santa sounds like a good way to paint a big red blob. I decided to stick with a simple tree and lettering. 

2. Start Painting

I've done quite a few painted signs at this point so I've worked out what type of script works for me and what doesn't. I find cursive much easier and cleaner than printed text. I also have found that you always want to pick a smaller brush than what you think you need. The paint will spread so it's easier to start small and add to it. 

You will more than likely need to take your paint in layers. Always let the first layer try before adding the next layer. With light colors, you will probably need to added multiple layers to make the color more bright.

I personally find that I need to work my way from the top down to prevent smudging what I've already done. I also have to find a sweet spot speed wise where I'm being careful but not so slow my hand shakes.

Once you're done, let the plate and mug air dry for an hour. 

3. Bake Your Plate

To cure the paint, you can let your plate sit out for 21 days instead of baking it. At this point in the game, that wasn't an option. So we decided to follow the directions on the paint bottle and bake the plate and mug for a half hour at 350 degrees. 

I was surprised to see that the color didn't lose pigment when it cured. Sharpie mugs generally do, so this was a good option to keep the design clear. 

I did notice that while the design doesn't rub off, it will come off if you scratch it. The paint says that it's dishwasher safe, but I'll probably just hand wash it. After all I can cowboy up and hand wash something once a year.