Girl's Camp 2018 - The Beads

I had a great time coming up with beads for Girl's Camp this year.  The Alice in Wonderland theme was a lot of fun to work with.    Some of the beads were ordered off the internet, some were made using Fimo clay, and some were hand painted.  Here are a few of the beads...

Camp Kick-Off Bead

Girl's Camp 2018 - The Bead Table

During free time, the girls can pay me a visit and collect the beads they have earned so far.  I like to make the bead table a fun place to visit.  With this year's Alice in Wonderland theme, and since we as adults were the Mad Hatters, I chose a tea party themed table.

got beads?

I just returned from a wonderful week at Girl's Camp!  This was my 22nd year at camp.  In the past I have served 6 years as a unit leader (in charge of about 8 girls), 6 years as the co-stake girl's leader (in charge of about 25 girls who basically run the camp), 4 years as a trek mom, 5 years as a crafty lady, and this year as the bead specialist...or in reality, the crazy bead lady!  

Each year the girls work hard to pass off their certification.  We like to award them a colored bead for each item.  When they complete all of their certification, they get a larger colored bead.  If they go the extra mile and complete even the optional items, they get a "flower" bead (a colored bead with small flowers painted on it.)  Some of the certification requires them to learn new ways to cook outdoors, lash useful items together, tie knots, orienteering, first aid, hikes, learning about useful and also poisonous plants, finding their way by the sun and the stars, helping others, and daily scripture reading and journal writing, to name a few.  The girls work hard and really earn their beads!

Along with the certification beads, we also give out an early bird bead when they arrive at camp on time, a camp attendance bead, and various other beads for special activities.  The adults that serve at camp also love to get beads.  They usually get a bead that goes along with what their assignment is at camp.  I tried to photograph most of the beads that I made this year, although I didn't photograph the small colored beads.  But, just know that I spray painted over 1200 wooden beads in preparation for camp, and painted flowers on about 150 of them!  I love this new position, even though it was a lot of beads to make!

Warning...this is a long, photo heavy post!

Before I left for camp, I just had to make a few t-shirts.  Originally, I was going to use iron-on vinyl, but didn't get it ordered in time, so I settled for freezer paper stencils and fabric paint.  I chose to put the designs on the back of my t-shirts so that they wouldn't get covered by my own beads.