Belly Dancing Fun Times

Last night at Brownies, we had a belly dancing teacher that we'd seen at a previous Brownie camp come in to give the girls a belly dancing lesson, and to talk about the charity that she raises money for, Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, an organization which helps to secure human rights, such as going to school, for women and girls in Afghanistan. So far, Anne has raised over $10,000 doing similar events for groups, birthday parties and mother daughter events like the one we had last night, particularly to help send girls to school.

She gave a lot of history about CW4WA, gave some history on some of the outfits, and then let the girls and mothers (and us leaders) pick out some fancy scarves, coin belts and fancy jewellery to wear before she taught us some fun belly dancing moves. 

We all had a blast, picking out fancy things to wear, jingling about and dancing around until we were tired and sweaty. I didn't grab a picture of myself this time (I'll post one when someone sends me one), but I managed to grab a giant green scarf, a fun necklace, some finger cymbals and a plastic birthday crown and was pretty as a picture, if I do say so myself. 

Although, no one got a better costume than one of the other leaders, Lo--ain't she pretty? 

Here's my picture from the last time we belly danced though-- I might have let a bunch of kids dress me in red lace harem pants (shh, don't tell!)

♥ Craftzilla

Things I made and Saw - A few photos from Camp

Here's a few photos from camping this weekend at the Girl Guide's camp, Camp Teka!







We did lots of fun stuff this weekend (including me learning all the names of the new girls who weren't in Brownies last year) Highlights included a chocolate challenge, making armpit fudge, learning about setting up tents, hunting for night eyes in the dark,  hikes, camp fires and sing-alongs, skits and crafting of hat crafts.. There was tasty food, new friends made, and a bunch of kids who stayed up way too later. And some very tired leaders, especially this one, who has a paper to finish for tomorrow, and wasn't quite expecting to come home to a naughty pup who ate 6 chicken bones from the compost and had to be rushed to the vet for emergency x-rays and stuff to make him throw up the bones.

The place is heated by woodstove



Some items displayed around camp





The girls also made us leaders a thank you banner:












Girls' stuff, packed and ready to go, somehow





And learned about some famous Brownies, including the Queen's sister, Princess Anne. You can imagine that 9 year olds were pretty excited to hear about a princess being a Brownie!




In conclusion, it was a crazy weekend, and I'll share some more stuff from it in the next few weeks, such as some info on hat crafts for example, since some of you asked what kind of crafts we generally make at camps. The short answer is that hat crafts are small crafts that are pinned onto the usual bucket sort of summer hat as mementos of camps as well as things to trade with new friends. Exciting right? We made some very cute ones that I'll share soon!

♥ Craftzilla

Camping Weekend!

I'm off on a camping adventure with the Brownie troop I volunteer with this weekend which is always an adventure. I'll also have the added challenge of learning some of the girl's names, since my night class this semester has kept me away from the weekly meetings, which is definitely the worst part of the class.

 I don't know if any of you have ever camped with kids before, but let me tell you, camping with a Brownie group is definitely serious business! Anytime you have oh, twenty five kids in any kid of situation without their parents where you have to keep them occupied for a few days and comfortable enough to sleep over night is always going to be a challenge.

Source: whimsicalraindropcottage.tumblr.com via Karyn on Pinterest

Luckily, there will be marshmallows, fires and coffee! Those always take the edge off!
What also helps is that we're sleeping indoors and I'm on crafting duty most of the weekend, which is of course, right up my alley.

I'm really looking forward to hanging out for a weekend with this awesome community of people though, and getting the chance to play some games, do some crafts and reconnect with some short, energetic people who always put things into perspective. Which is actually exactly the challenge for the 7 Day Push this week, to reconnect with your inner child -no better way than to just spend time with some!

Hope you all have a great weekend! Hopefully I'll have a few photos to share of my adventures tomorrow!

♥ Craftzilla

Glimpses of Camp

I had a great weekend at camp, though I'm still a bit sunburnt and  bug-bitten,  but I'll survive.
It was a nice change to be outside most of the day, hanging out with kids and doing some crafts and activities!
Since I'm still pretty tired, here's a few glimpses:

Here's the kid's tents--I wish I had one of these awesome canvas ones! Our regular tent got drenched, but these kept all the water out (likely the platforms helped as well though :P)

The shelters and buildings

The sunset was gorgeous

At our campfire, a huge flock of geese flew really close overhead--it was amazing!

 Glow sticks and campfires are lots of fun

♥ Craftzilla

Year end of Brownies - Pleasing things must come to an end

It was the last night of Brownies the other night and it was sorta sad to think that I won't see some of the girls again. It's been an interesting year, full of growth and fun and activities for all of us, and I'm sad to see it come to an end. One of the girls brought me the flower above as a thank you gift, which was super sweet of her :) Note how the thank  you card is decorated with 4-leaf clover stickers--this is because my Brownie leader name is Clover (our group uses nature names instead of the usual Brown Owl/Snowy Owl business)

 Here are some of my badges from the year for camps and such. This weekend is Brownie Magic Camp which should be super fun, providing we don't roast/freeze/get eaten by bugs. See, that's me, always the eternal optimist! Speaking of camp, I so much  laundry/packing yet to do for it, but expect some photos from camp plus some thoughts on the importantance of organziations like Girl Guides (and for more than just their tasty tasty cookies) Although who doesn't love the mint ones? Yum!