SWAPs Interlude VII

Ok, so this is the final SWAPs post of the summer, I promise.  Then I have the rest of Daisy Year One written, it just needs to be edited, so I hope to keep posting every Monday at least through the first year bridging.  Then I'm going to try and do some Journey Reviews before starting year two (and honestly, I can't imagine I'll get to year two until next summer).

Anyway, these SWAPs are from our last camp and they are all for the adult volunteers.  Yes, I came up with and made SWAPs for my husband and Co-leader because they were not going to do it themselves.  As usual, my co-leader was very proud that she can get me to do her crafting for her and my husband was both appreciative and couldn't careless in turns with a bit of reluctant indulgence of my insanity mixed in.


Lobster SWAPs

This is what I came up with for my husband, aka "Dr. Lobster."  They are actually pretty quick SWAPs, if you excuse for the drying time.

Supplies:
1.  Red Tempera Paint
2.  Dixie cup
3.  Small twist shells
4.  Red pipe-cleaners
5.  Scissors
6.  Googly eyes
7.  Low heat hot glue gun
8.  Safety pins
9.  Tags with whatever you want printed on them

Steps:
1.  Drop several shells at a time into a half inch of red paint.  (The hand you see is my daughter.  She gladly helped with this.  Thought it was the most fun ever).

2.  Let dry several hours or overnight.

3.  Cut pipe-cleaner into 2 inch lengths.

4.  Bend length in half, then roll in end to make to tiny "claws."

5.  Using hot glue, attach the dried shell to the center.

6.  Glue on googly eyes.  I used elmers because I had the time and it looks cleaner, but you can use hot glue for faster results.

7.  Fold Tags and pin to the claws.  Tada!!! 

Firefly SWAP

My Co-leaders camp name is "Firefly" and we've been talking about a possible firefly SWAP for a year.  In the end, however, she lost interest, I got fixated on my "vision," and this is what I came up with (all on my own).  

I loved how they turned out (though part of me still feels they need legs).  They could be done by girls but I think I'd stick to Juniors and older.

 Finished swarm of fireflies

Supplies:

1.  A variety of gold beads (I got this box from Michael's $7.99 before coupon)

2.  Glow-in-the-dark paint

3.  Small paint brush

4.  Low heat hot glue gun (I got glue on my fingers a lot during this one so low heat is important.  It's still uncomfortable, but causes no real damage.)

5.  Googly Eyes

6.  Gold Pipe-cleaners

7.  Gold Florist Wire

8.  Scissors or wire cutters

9.  Safety pins
10.  Tags with whatever you want printed on them

Steps

1.  Hot glue smaller/ shorter beads together.

2.  Paint the ends of a variety of beads with glow-in- the- dark paint and let dry.

3.  Use glue gun to attach googly eyes on the other end of beads. (Elmers didn't work for me on this one).  

4.  Cut and twist the florist wire into an antenna.  Bend end where antenna are joined to make shelf to glue to bead.

5.  Use glue gun to glue antenna "shelf" on bead, hold for ten seconds to set.  Add a dollop of glue on top if seems unstable.

6.  Cut gold pipe-cleaner, wrap around your finger and twist ends together to make two wings each.  Each pipecleaner will make 4-5 wings.

7.  Hot glue wings on either side of bead.

8.  Allow a minute to dry then bend wings out.

9.  Pin tag onto wing

For flat beads put eyes on the flat, wide surface, otherwise it looks really bizarre.  My co-leader laughed for a half hour over one fat little dude.

Eyes on flat side

Fat Dude my co-leader found so funny.  I also tried red faces on the first
 batch before deciding it was too much work and I didn't like the look.

10.  Don't forget to remind the girls you give these out to to check them out in the dark (if it's a day camp).  They do actually glow in the dark! Sorry I couldn't get them to photograph in the dark.

For extra fun, carry your SWAPs in a jar like real fireflies.  :)

Mermaid Shrinky Dink SWAP

And these were my SWAPs.  They are very like my Fairy SWAPs, so this will just be a quick tutorial in pictures.  :)

Mermaid Shrinky Dink

Thread embroidery floss

Add Beads

Hot Glue Shell on back of bead

Thread more beads and a small shell bead

Add safety pin and double knot

And Done!  Camp SWAPs are finished.  Hurrah!  Next week we start the last couple of meetings of the first year!

SWAPs Interlude VI

These two SWAPs are some of our favorites.  My seven year-old used both of these at her "Myths and Legends" camp.  She had two different SWAPs because a) I had SWAP fever at this point, b) the first one was too expensive to make more than 24, and c) my daughter gets bored after a dozen of anything.  The second SWAP was inspired by her unit name "Thumbelina" and made entirely out of supplies I already had in the house, whereas the first we had conceived weeks earlier in a binge while the two of us walked through Micheals Craft Store.

Pegasus SWAP

This was inspired by the camp theme "Myths and Legends" and some glittered Christmas deer I found on the pinterest.  My daughter jumped on the idea with enthusiasm and her attention span lasted longer with these SWAPs than any other we've made.  And why wouldn't they?   Glue, paint, glitter, hot glue and feathers.  A little girls dream.  Depending on how cheap you find the horses and the glitter it can be on the pricier side, which is why we only made 24, but they are pretty cool.

Supplies

1.  Small plastic hobby horses (the ones I got were 12 for $10 at Michael's, 40% off with coupon).

2.  Elmer's type glue

3.  Tempera paint and paint brushes

4.  Glitter

5.  Small decorative feathers

6.  Glue gun

7.  Paper plates

Starting supplies

Steps:

1.  Mix equal parts glue and tempera paint.

2. Paint to fully cover toy horse.

3.  Sprinkle on glitter thickly.  I Recommend lying it in the glitter once you've got a nice pile and really coating it with glitter.

4.  Let dry several hours or overnight.

5.  Find pairs of tiny feathers, trim as needed.

6.  Hot glue feathers on with a low heat gun.

Yes, that's my 7 year-old with the glue gun.  She is excellent with it and really enjoys using it.  I definitely think girls this age can use them safely.   They just need to be closely supervised the first few times. (And only use low-heat guns.  Seriously, throw out the old ones, they can be dangerous.)

Finished Pegasus'

8.  My daughter, originally,  decided she didn't want a pin and tag on these.  Most kids don't pin on their SWAPs in our area anyway.  Then, the day before camp started, while I was making the SWAPs for the adults, it was somehow decided that these needed tags too.  So....

We printed out these simple tags.  I learned this clever folding technique from the Aids in my last camp.

Tag

9.  Then I tied a thin ribbon around the horses neck and secured it with hot glue before my daughter pinned on the tag.  I tried pinning it straight to the wings but it didn't work.  I used old ribbon that is around the house, but the really thin ones work best.

 

Thumbelina SWAP

We found out my daughters unit name for "Myths and Legends" Camp was "Thumbelina" after we made the Pegasus'.  Since the pegasuses were so expensive and you can easily swap 50 SWAPs at this camp we decided to make a Thumbelina one as well.  

After doing this I fully recommend making two different SWAPs, much better for the attention span.  50 of the same thing is a lot.  For this SWAP we used only things we already had in the house (though I was very tempted to go out and buy wooden beads for the head).  It helped defray the costs of the horses.

Supplies

1. Pipe-cleaners (flesh colored optional)

2. Cheap fake flowers, deconstructed

3.  Pony beads 

4.  Yarn

5.  Hot glue gun

6.  Safety pins

7.  Tags

Steps

1. Cut the pipe-cleaner to twice the length of your thumb and fold it in half.

2.  Thread on bead and twist 3 times.

3.  Cut shorter piece of pipe-cleaner for arms.

4.  Twist on arms.

5.  Thread on two beads for shirt.

6.  Add fake flower skirt and widen legs to secure. A dot of hot glue underneith also helps.

7.  Draw face on bead with sharpies.

8.  Add yarn hair with glue gun.  We braided some for variety.

9.  Add fake flower hat with glue gun.

Flowers we used.  Top two became hats and hair.  The skirts were from deconstructed flower leis.

1o.  Pin tag onto skirt.

11.  My daughter used my rejected shrinky dink swap as a "handbag."

And Done!