Did you know...

You can make homemade puff paint!
.

.

This is so thrilling to me. I love it when you can make homemade versions of things. When I looked over the craft ideas in the fall curriculum for our church's Kid's Club, I was thrilled to see a recipe for puff paint!

.

The recipe:

1 tbsp white glue

food coloring

2 heaping tbsp shaving cream

.

Mix the glue and food coloring together. Then mix in the shaving cream until it is the consistancy of stiffly beaten eggs. Put into squeeze bottles and have fun!

.

I opted to use 1 tsp of craft paint in place of the food coloring as I thought it might make for better clean up. This is best used within a few hours of making it. I left some overnight in a sealed squeeze bottle, and while it still worked, it wasn't quite as nice as when it was freshly made.

.

.
Totally unrelated, but I thought it was fun! Just as I pulled into my driveway, this happened!
.

Day Five - God's Eyes and Bracelets

Today's craft for Camp E.D.G.E. was God's Eyes for the little ones and macrame bracelets/bookmarks for the older ones.

.

.

Last night I prepped a few things for today. The wooden craft sticks were glued to form x's. Yarn was cut to manageable lengths for little hands to manage. For the macrame: the pieces of hemp string were cut to size as well.

.

I think the God's Eyes turned out very nice. The little ones needed help tieing knots to start and finish their lengths of yarn and some of them didn't quite get the hang of how to wrap the yarn, but they are all very proud of what they've made!

.

The older kids enjoyed the macrame too! Some of them took longer picking out 4 pony beads in colors they liked than the actual knotting itself! But they seemed to have fun.

.

It's been a whirlwind of a week! VBS is over and we're off for BC. We'll be spending a week and a bit with G's family at his Mom's and for a wedding for one of his cousin's children and then a bit less than a week with mine at some wonderful cabins on Arrow Lake in Nakusp. I am actually looking forward to the long drive to Toronto to catch our plane. I think it will be a nice break from the busyness of this past week. And I'll be knitting!

.

Day Four - Painted Log Medallions

Today's Camp E.D.G.E. craft was a bit lighter on prep and finishing for me! Yesterday's Tshirts were a big job - but sooo worth it! The kids all looked great in their bright shirts and they were really happy with them.

.

"God Loves Me!" log medallions

One of my friends provided me with a few lengths of pin cherry branches from some clearing they were doing about their property and G used his chop saw to cut them into 1/2 inch thick rounds. I drilled a hole in each one near the edge.

.

.

Each kid received a medallion and painted to their hearts content. For the younger children I used tempura paint for easier cleanup. For the older kids I used acrylic craft paints. Once the medallions were dry, the helpers wrote "God Loves Me" on each of the littler kids medallions with permanent marker. The older children's medallions weren't quite dry enough - so they'll write on theirs at home. If they wish, the kids can thread a piece of string through the hole and hang their medallion around their necks, the doorknobs to their bedrooms or any where they'd like for decoration!

.

Day Three - Tie Dye Tshirts

What summer camp would be complete without a tie-dyed Tshirt? And that's just what we did at our Camp E.D.G.E. VBS today!

.

This was tons of fun and turned out way better than I expected. The three different age groups all required different amounts of help with this project, but everyone had fun.

.

.

Last night I prepared the dye: one package of RIT dye, 1 cup of salt and 12 cups of boiling water for each of the six colors. Once the dye was cool enough, I transferred it to 500mL bottles: 6 bottles for each of the six colors.

.

Each child received a white Tshirt that had been washed and dried. Using a permanent marker, their wrote their names on the inside of the hem. Then they "tied" their shirts with elastic bands. When everyone had their shirts "tied" tightly, we trekked outside to the dying station.

.

To dye the shirts, the 500mL bottles were adapted with a "squirt bottle" cap. An extra cap had a 4mm hole drilled into it and the dye was squirted onto each section of the shirt, either by the kids or by the helpers depending on the kids abilities. Once all sections were dyed, the shirt was popped into a Ziploc freezer bag, with as much air squeezed out as possible. (I've found that Ziploc freezer bag plastic and zippers stand up best to the abuse this craft puts them through - thanks Ziploc!). And the kids were done for now.

.

Rit dye needs moist heat to set the dye onto the cotton Tshirts. So into the "oven steamer" they went. I set my oven to 250 degrees F, poured boiling water into the bottom of my roasting pan, and set the bagged shirts in a single layer on a rack over the water. Put a lid on it, or sealed with foil and baked for 90 minutes, and checked occassionally to make sure the roasting pan hadn't boiled dry.

.

Then the shirts were taken out of the roasting pan, rinsed in cold water and thrown in the washing maching and dryer. These are some amazing shirts! I can't wait to see what the kids think of them tomorrow!

.

Day Two - Star Power

Today's Camp E.D.G.E. theme was the Trek to Bethlehem: and the star the wise men followed on their journey to Bethlehem.

.

.

The littlest kids made salt dough stars with yellow salt dough, which they painted with tempura paint in whatever manner pleased them. A hole poked in one point of the star will allow them to hang their star somewhere in their house to enjoy.

.

.

Since the dough and paint were still wet they will take these home with them tomorrow. They will still need more drying time at home, but will be sturdy enough to make the trip!

.

Salt Dough:

2 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 cup water (may be less - start with less and add up to 1 cup)

Roll the dough out flat and used star shape cookie cutters. Let air dry several days.

.

The older group made string art stars. This pattern was printed onto cardstock for them.

.

.

They chose the colors of the thread and did a dot-to-dot method to produce starry works of art. Ater securing the end of the thread with a piece of tape, the thread goes from "1" to "1", then from "2" to "2", then "3" to "3", "4" to "4", and so on. Repeat for each segment. Once the "sewing" was done, a second piece of cardstock was glued to the back.

.

.

Very pretty!

.

Day One - Shrinky Dinks

We interupt your regularly scheduled knitting and spinning...

.

... for Camp E.D.G.E. I'm the crafts director for the VBS our church is putting on this week. I've had lots of fun prepping the crafts for all the little ones. Each day this week, I'll be showcasing what we've had fun with.

.

What can I say. Kid's are always amazed by the power of shrinking craft plastic. For the littlest kids, I gave them each a piece of Shrinky Dinks with the Camp E.D.G.E. mascot Sparx already traced on. They colored them, then came to the kitchen to watch them shrink. Then we trekked back to the craft station to print our names on the back and attach magnets. The older children traced their own Camp E.D.G.E. mascots onto the plastic, before coloring and shrinking. Lot's of fun!

.

.

There will be no knitting or spinning this week as I'm also packing to go on a family vacation out west. We leave Friday right after our final VBS session. There may be sporadic blogging while I'm on vacay as B will be bringing her laptop and has given me permission to use it occassionally!

.

What could be better...

I got together with some friends last nights for crafting and appetizers. Here's what I brought:


Mix together:
250 g cubed cream cheese
1/2 cup sundried tomato and oregano dressing
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 tbsp peppercorns
1 sprig's worth of rosemary leaves, finely chop half of them
1/2 a lemon's worth of lemon zest, finely chop half of it


Serve with bagel chips, crackers, mini toasts, etc...


And this is what we made, clockwise from left: lime pomanders, decorated christmas balls, ribbon candy ornaments , and felt poinsettias.