A Bear-y Cute Project!

Happy Wednesday!  I'm the featured Designer today at the Paper Crafting World blog and I've created a bear-y cute project to share with you.

I am the co-leader for a wonderful group of 4th and 5th grade Junior Girl Scouts.  My daughter and her best friend bridged from Brownies to Juniors in May and they asked us, their Moms, to be their leaders.  How could we say no?!  This is my 26th year as a member of Girl Scouts of Gateway Council -- 12 years as a youth member and 14 as an adult volunteer.  It is so much fun watching these young ladies grow and learn.  They want to see it all.  They want to do it all.  They want to change the world and make it a better place for all of us.  And you know what, I believe they will!

One of the key components to any good Girl Scout meeting is the Kaper Chart.  I know, what the heck is a "Kaper" and why does it need to be charted?!  LOL!  A "Kaper" is a job or chore. At our meetings we rotate jobs and trying to remember who did what last and who's turn it is next is almost impossible!  Thus the handy-dandy Kaper Chart!

As you can see we have many jobs that need to be taken care of during a meeting.  The girls rotate to a different job each week -- it teaches them responsibility, leadership and it gives them a sense of pride to do their jobs well.  And trust me, if they don't do it well they have five of their friends to point out the correct way to do it!

The bears are all from Paper Crafting World's Smore Fun cutting set, they measure 3 3/4" tall.  Here are the details on the other cuts:

• The Attendance Taker bear's clipboard is from the Cricut Fabulous Finds cartridge and is cut at 2 1/4" tall.
• The Flag Bear-er's flag is cut from the Paper Crafting World Bear as Uncle Sam cutting file at 5 1/2" tall.
• All of the "Girl Scout" vests are cut from the Cricut Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge at 2 1/2" tall.

•  The Song & Game Leader bear's book is cut from the Paper Crafting World Cat with Hat Sitting-Reading cut file at 3" wide.
• The musical note on the book cover was cut using the Cricut Chore Chart cartridge at 1/2" tall.

• The Clean-Up Crew bear is holding a rag and bottle of cleaner.  The bottle is from the Cricut Chore Chart cartridge and is cut at 1 1/4" tall.  The towel is from Cricut's Everyday Paper Dolls and is cut at 1" tall.
• The pockets are from the Cricut Sentimentals cartridge and are cut at 5" wide x 9" high (unfolded).
• The tags are cut using Paper Crafting World's Tag-g45 cutting file.  The tag base is cut at 3 1/2" wide x 6 1/4" tall and the mat is cut at 3 1/4" wide x 6" tall.  I printed their names on mailing labels and stuck them on the tags.
• The text was cut using SCAL and the AR Cena font.  The letters are 2 1/4" tall.

I used various markers to embellish my bears.  Everything is mounted on a 20" x 30" foam core board.  On the back of the tags is a table I created in Microsoft Publisher to keep track of the date they performed each chore.  

We added two new girls at last night's meeting and I was reminded several times before the close of our meeting that I need to make tags for our new members.  And when I sat down at my computer I discovered a post-it note from my daughter with another reminder!  The girls loved their new chart and oohed and aah-ed over Melin's adorable bears.

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my bear-y cute Kaper Chart.  Remember there are new projects darned near daily at the Paper Crafting World blog and new digi and cutting files at Paper Crafting World store, too.  Make sure you check back in at the PCW blog on Friday to see what DT member Sandy has crafted and make sure you grab this week's freebie!

~ Jen

Its been awhile . . .

Please forgive my lengthy absence, dear friends.  My Dad passed away on June 24th and my crafting mojo took a leave of absence.  I am finally getting back into the swing of things and that little black cloud that has been hovering over me is starting to dissipate.  

School and Girl Scouts have both begun here and we are getting busy.  I am a Junior Girl Scout co-leader this year and we have the best group of girls!  These 4th and 5th graders are active, fun-loving, go-getters who want to do it all, see it all, and experience everything.  And they want to earn all the badges to prove they've done so!

I hope you will stop back in tomorrow and check out my Paper Crafting World Design Team project.  It is super cute (if I do say so myself)!

~ Jen

I {heart} the USA T-shirt

Happy Wednesday!  I am the featured Paper Crafting World (PCW) Designer at MyPaperCrafting.com today and I'm sharing a patriotic t-shirt I made for my 9 year old daughter.  The cutting file is called "I Heart the USA" and it is currently on sale at PaperCraftingWorld.com for 75 cents!  I love Melin's files -- they are so easy to work with and they always cut so cleanly.

This shirt was so quick and easy -- you could make one today and be wearing it tomorrow.  I used the "freezer paper" technique to create this shirt (instructions below):

The short version of how to make these shirts is:

1. Go to the grocery, buy a roll of freezer paper. (Contact paper works well, too.)
2. Cut said freezer paper to fit your cutting mat.
3. Place freezer paper matte side down on your mat. (The shiny side really doesn't stick well, so if you're doing text you need to reverse it to have it cut properly.)
4. Choose your design and cut it out using a low to medium pressure.
5. Iron the freezer paper, shiny-side down, onto your t-shirt.
6. Iron a second solid piece of freezer paper to the inside of your shirt. (This keeps the paint from bleeding through to the back side of your shirt.)
7. Paint design with fabric paints.
8. LET IT DRY! (Don't be tempted to peel it up before it has completely dried. It peels up the edges of your design.)
9. Carefully peel off the freezer paper from the inner and outer surfaces of the shirt.
10. Viola! You have a work of art that looks like it was screen-printed!

The shirts created with this method honestly look like they were screen-printed. The only drawback that we have discovered thus far is this . . . they do not like the dryer. You must wash them inside out and hang them to dry or the painted image will begin to crack.  Here's another tip:   Do not use softener or dryer sheets when you pre-wash your shirt.  The paint has a tendency to peel.

I use Tulip brand "Soft" paints and an inexpensive foam brush for large areas and artist's paint brushes for smaller areas and detailing.  The sleeves were folded over twice and tacked in place with thread.  I heat sealed the ends of some striped ribbon and tacked it down with a shiny blue star button.  My daughter loves her new t-shirt!

Thanks so much for stopping by.  We're changing things up this summer -- so make sure you stop by each and every day to see new projects and check in on Fridays for a freebie!  It's going to be a sizzlin' summer at MyPaperCrafting.com!

~ Jen

P.S.  I'm linking up my t-shirt at the following blog challenges:

• Cupcake Craft Challenges #249 - Anything but square.
• The Pink Elephant #TPE206 - Inspirational Photo
• Craft Your Passion #169 - Red, White & Blue
• Shopping Our Stash #108 - Red, White & Blue
• Scrappy Moms Stamps - Terrific Tuesday Challenge - Red, White & Blue