Back in My Camp Counselor Days...

Approximately 22 years after I moved out of my parents' house, I'm finally getting around to cleaning out the closet from my childhood bedroom.  The treasures I've found so far are awesome.  One of the first things I found were the nametags from my years at 4-H Camp. Such great memories!

Each year, our camp had a different theme.  The campers were divided into 6 tribes of about 20 people.  Each tribe had a themed name and it was the responsibility of the two Tribe Leaders (one male, one female) to make creative nametags that the campers wore everywhere they went.  I went to camp 4 times as a camper before I became a Tribe Leader. In no particular order (because I can't remember the order), I was a member of the following tribes: 

 

Lords and Ladies

 

Great Britain

 

Whales

 

Elephants

(It's a good thing I was a healthy weight as a child.  After being called a Whale all summer one year and an Elephant the next summer, a person might develop a complex...) 

After 4 years as a camper, I applied to be a Tribe Leader.  I was selected to lead the Scorpio tribe.  I was really excited about creating awesome nametags.  I couldn't wait to get together with my partner Rich and discuss our visions.  I had a sketchbook full of ideas and designs.  As it turns out, there are 16 year old boys out there who don't care one bit about nametag design and Rich was one of them.  How could he not care?!  He told me that whatever I wanted to make was perfect.  I designed these.

 

I hand-lettered the word Scorpio and drew a scorpion on each of 25 pieces of Shrinky Dinks, which I then shrunk.  I cut wood into rectangles, sanded the pieces, drilled holes, and dangled the Scorpio tag.  I added yarn, then wrote the names of each of our campers on the wood.  Rich told me I did an awesome job.  Looking back at it now, I'm super impressed with the fact that I wrote the date on these (1988).  None of my camper nametags have the date on them.

The following summer, Noel and I were in charge of the Moas.  Having learned from my experience with Rich, I didn't even bother including Noel in the nametag design process.  I got him busy on other tasks while I created a prototype for another Shrinky Dink nametag.    

 

In 1990 (just after graduating from high school), Scott and I were the Tribe Leaders for the Dolphins.  While Rich and Noel were both my age when we were partners, Scott was 3 years younger than me and in his first year as a Tribe Leader.  I mistakenly thought he wouldn't care that much about our nametags, but he was far more into how they looked than the other two had been.  Together, we made nametags that looked like this:

 

We did something I hadn't thought to do before - we signed the back of every nametag.  I wish I'd done that with my other partners.  I also wish the Tribe Leaders I had as a camper had done that.  

Thanks for joining me on this trip down Memory Lane!

Another UFO off my desk...

It's a good thing I have a scraproom where I can leave things out.  I am not one of those people who starts a layout and finishes it in the same scrap session.  Far from it.  I usually have 10 or more layouts in various stages of completion spread all around the scraproom. Some are done except for embellishment (the hardest part for me), while others are waiting for journaling.  Some just have the photos laid out on a piece of cardstock with some possible patterned paper choices underneath them.  

A typical layout sits unfinished in my scraproom for anywhere from a week to a month. However, if you dig down in the pile, sometimes there's one that's been buried, 95% done, for far longer than that.  Sometimes I forget all about these UFOs until I do a major cleanup. Such was the case with the layout about our visit to our New Year's visit to our Washington relatives.  The pictures, title and journaling block were all adhered just waiting for the last touches.

I finally brought it to the top of the pile and finished it up.

Those of you who scrapbook: do you work on one layout at a time until it's done, or do you have tons of projects going on at any given time?

Lost: 1 Tooth

A one photo layout!  That doesn't happen very often around here.  

I started with two photos- this one and a picture of Trevor holding his lost tooth in his hand. When I put both the pictures on the page, the proportions were all off, making him look like he has a giant hand or a tiny head.  I experimented with resizing, but the angle of the photo meant it just didn't work. As soon as I decided to work with just one picture, everything fell into place.  I ended up using a sketch by Jill Sarginson for the title and embellishment placement.

I really like how this turned out.

Fun with Shrinky Dinks

When our neighbors came over for dinner and a crafty playdate, I set out Shrinky Dinks and let everyone create.  

 

The kids (and mommies) had lots of fun making our designs.  We used stamped with StazOn and colored with Sharpies.  Then we punched the holes.  As per the instructions on the package, we put the finished designs on a brown paper bag and slid the tray into the oven.

 

As we watched through the oven door, we saw R's pennant shrink to a perfect circle.  So cute!

C made matching BFF pendants.  Adorable!  

 

But this is how Trevor's and mine turned out.  

What the heck?!  Twisted, lumpy and distorted.  Usually you can press out folds with a spatula while they're still warm.  Not this time.  Apparently our oven has some major problems with even heating.  I haven't had any trouble the last dozen times I've used shrink plastic, like for my Fiskateer necklaces or when I tested what happens when you put rub-ons on the not-yet-shrunk plastic.  I suppose if anyone's projects got messed up due to our oven, it's best that it was ours and not our guests'.  Next time we do Shrinky Dinks I'm going to do a test shrink first!

The World's Strangest Luncheon

I hosted a luncheon yesterday. Six of my former coworkers joined me. We had a great time catching up, sharing stories and reminiscing. But the main event was the food. This is what we ate:

Probably the weirdest plate of food I've ever had. Or ever will have.

One of the items on my list of 40 Things was to try Miracle Berries (affiliate link). Only a few of my friends had heard of Miracle Berries when I invited them to join me in trying them. But they were all willing to give it a try.  

 

The package came with a list of suggested foods to try, which is how we ended up with that incredibly unusual collection of foods for lunch. The buffet looked so strange- essentially fruit, dairy products, condiments and alcohol.  

We chewed our Miracle Berry tablet and then started tasting. We each tasted the same thing at the same time so we could compare results. It was fascinating how we didn't all taste things the same way. The whole experience was so much fun and so bizarre. I love this picture of Rita drinking a shot of hot sauce.

So what were my results? I LOVED the citrus fruits, especially the lemon. The rhubarb was outstanding and the apples were divine. The cream cheese was yummy and tasted almost like cheesecake. The salt and vinegar chips tasted sweet like barbecue chips.  

Some of the foods tasted basically the same as they usually do. I didn't taste any difference in the feta or the watermelon. Some became totally tasteless, including the sour cream and the cottage cheese. The sourdough bread was disappointing - it's usually one of my favorite foods, but it was oddly flavorless ("Tastes like a pillow!" said Rita.)  

As for the foods I didn't like... for the most part, they were the same foods I usually don't like. I don't like dill pickles and didn't like them any more when they were sweet. Same with hot sauce. The beer wasn't good, though that might be because it was both warm and flat when we drank it. 

Thank you so much to Stephanie, JoAnn, Diana, Rita, Lesley and Marcia for helping me accomplish Goal 27!