Monday, October 14, 2013

Make it Monday: Fire Starters

Fire starters are one of the things that can be a life saver while you are camping. This kind is my favourite to make because it is quick, easy, and can be made from things that most people have in their home.
To make these all you need is cardboard egg cartons, dryer lint, and paraffin wax.
 
 
The first thing you need to do is get a double boiler and fill the pot underneath with water.  Put the paraffin wax chunk into the double boiler and turn the stove on to melt the wax. Be sure that the water does not boil away!
 

 
While the wax is melting take dryer lint and divide it up into the egg carton holes. You can fill them up quite a bit because when the wax is poured on it will shrink a bit.
 

 
 
I decided that the double boiler was getting a bit too full so I decided to pour the wax before it was all completely melted down. Once the wax is melted down you can take it off of the stove (with oven mitts!) and pour it onto the egg carton.
 
 
 
Once the wax is in the egg cartons let it harden and cool down. This usually takes about ten minutes.
 
 
The final step is to cut up the fire starters so they are ready to be used. All you have to do is bring them with you and put one into the centre of the fire pit and light it.
  
 
Happy Campfires!

Monday, October 7, 2013

Make it Monday: Stretching the Sisterhood of Guiding

At the commissioners workshop this weekend we started off with a really easy, really cute craft! It is a bracelet made out of small elastics in the Guiding colours. The elastics and clips come in a package that you can buy at Michaels (aka the best place in the world!) It is a fairly simple craft that I would use for Brownies up because the elastics might be too small for the Sparks to manipulate. 


I used twenty five elastics and it was a good size, you would probably want to use a few less for the girls. To put the bracelet together you take your first elastic and fold it in half to make a loop and push it  onto the clear c- clip. Take the next elastic and fold it in half into a loop and slide it into the previous elastic. Keep going until you have a full chain of all of your elastics and take the last elastic and loop it into the other side of the c- clip. 

And voila! There is your bracelet. These would make really cool traders or welcome back gifts for the girls. I am also thinking about bringing them to the district meeting for the Guiders to have something in their hand to focus. 


If you have any great craft ideas I would love to hear them! Thanks for reading! :) 

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Standing Committee Workshop 2013

I spent a weekend at Camp He Ho Ha a few weeks ago for the Standing Committee Workshop. I am a part of the International Committee as the Provincial WAGGGS adviser. I am new to the position and I am not entirely sure what I am going to be doing, but I will be updating on here soon on what I the position will entail. Because the weekend was mostly meetings and sitting in a room I do not have very many pictures. The best part of the weekend for me was being able to walk around and take pictures of the beautiful scenery all around. Here are a few of them... 
 
 
It was strange on Saturday afternoon it was sunny and warm and then all of the sudden a wind picked up and a storm blew in. The clouds were so interesting and I had to snap pictures fast and get inside so I would not get soaked by the rain.
 
 
 
 
The evening was very enjoyable. The different area teams had time to debrief about their days and make sure they had a plan for action. I am not part of an area team so I had some time to work on some blog posts, school stuff, and just relax. It was wonderful!
 
 
There was a little display set up about Alberta Girls' Parliament over the years and I came across these old notes sent from the pages to the delegates... some things never change!
 
 
The morning brought on a beautiful fog over the lake. It was so pretty and I loved being able to take pictures in the sunlight! It is only a matter of weeks before the snow starts to fall, so I enjoy the nice weather for as long as I can. :)
 
 
 
 
 
That's all for now! Thank you for reading!


Saturday, October 5, 2013

September is Gone Already?!

It is crazy to think that September is already gone! It has been a crazy month personally and in Guiding. I started off the school year without a hitch... the kids are great, I love my job, and it is so much fun!! :)

 
 
 
 
 
 The Guiding year started off with a bang as well! I went to camp with my mom and sister's unit and it was a lot of fun! I love being able to go out into the outdoors and just relax. I loved the fires, the crafts, the cooking, and the time to just be. That is something that I think is so important... being able to just be in the present moment of what you are doing and where you are. Camping really gives me that time to relax and unwind from all of the stresses of everyday life.
 
 
 
 
I also attended Standing Committee Workshop as part of the International team. I am newly in the position of WAGGGS Adviser so hopefully I will be getting things up about that soon!  Camp He Ho Ha is a really beautiful place and my favourite part of the weekend was being able to walk around and take pictures of the gorgeous scenery.
 
 
 
My area had a "back to Guiding" event at West Edmonton Mall in the amusement park Galaxyland. I was amazed by how many people attended and it was neat to see so many girls in uniform. I was not there for very long, but it was fun to just walk around and see all of the girls and their families having fun!

 
 
That is all for September, more is to come in October! Thanks for reading!
 
 
 

Friday, October 4, 2013

Starting Back with a BANG!

I was lucky enough to start off the Guiding year by doing one of my favourite things... camping! My mom and sister run a Guide unit and asked me to help them out at camp. Because I am not in a unit this year I have decided I will be spending the Guiding year helping out where I am needed and go to as many camps as I can!

We started the morning with a pretty scary thing... cooking pancakes on camp stoves. Now to most people this would not be an issue, but when I was a junior leader in Guides it took nearly three hours to prepare, eat, and clean up from pancakes for breakfast... This guide group was awesome! I made a Mickey Mouse pancake to celebrate!


We made a really cool sun catcher craft that didn't turn out so well, but I will try making them again to do a post on. For now just look at the pretty beads and Popsicle sticks. :)



I think that one of the main focuses of camping with Guides is them learning how to cook at camp. It can take a ton of time and if they do all of the cooking that is all they would do! We split the cooking about half and half between the girls cooking for themselves and the leaders cooking.

 
The girls made their own shish kabobs and I cooked them for my patrol. I had a lot of fun getting to know the girls in my patrol and I thoroughly enjoyed cooking for them.
 
Changing the exposure settings on your camera and flinging glow sticks around can be a lot of fun! The pictures didn't turn out exactly how I wanted but they still look cool!


Campfire is and will always be my favourite part of camp. I love sitting around the fire at the end of the day and singing some of my favourite songs. What are your favourite camp songs?
  
 
This is a delicious treat we made in the fire. It is an apple with cinnamon, brown sugar, walnuts, and butter. You put it all together in some tinfoil and throw it into the fire to heat it up. It was delicious!
 
 
While fooling around some more with camera exposures and glow sticks I somehow made the perfect calligraphy K! If only I could write like this on paper!


 This picture is kind of a tradition I have had for a while. I take a picture of the same tree by the lake from the same spot every time I am out at camp. It is so cool to see how the same place changes over the course of the seasons.
  
 
This shot of the beautiful lake was a perfect way to end an amazing camp.
 
Thanks Guides for letting me come to camp with you. I had a lot of fun!