Recipe Cards

Why recipe cards?

As I was searching for SWAP ideas for my Troop, I noticed that most of the SWAP ideas were just pictures.  Sometimes, there would be a brief description, which may or may not have told how to make the SWAP.  On the Making Friends website, I noticed how a very good description of a SWAP, including how to make it, was just like a recipe.  A list of ingredients (supplies) and instructions.  I started thinking that this would be helpful with making SWAPs with the Troop, as well.  

During previous camping trips, I put pictures of some traditional SWAPs on notecards, punched holes, and looped binder rings through.  I kept this set of cards in our SWAP/craft box.  I started thinking how much they looked like recipe cards.  And then I started daydreaming of a recipe box filled with SWAP instructions, or a recipe card binder, categorized.

I mostly like the idea of the recipe cards because it means that I can have a set of SWAP ideas for my girls, that are all the same size, same shape, give them the information they might need to recreate them, and have a picture if they just want inspiration.

Why are they all about the aMuse Journey?

The short answer is that they won't all be.  Last weekend was a camping SWAP.  I plan on having a Camping set of SWAP Recipe Cards.  As well as one specific to my local Council.  I also have plans for a set of Brownie Journey SWAPs.

When I was planning for this year, I noticed that there weren't many SWAPs specifically relating to the new Journey books.  Lots and lots of traditional vests, sashes, bedrolls, s'mores, tents, campfires, flashlights, and all those adorable film canister SWAPs no one can do anymore, because who can find film canisters?  But no Dez the Fashionista Spider.  No Flower Friends.  No Brownie Elf (at least not the blue one from the books).  these books are going to be part of Girl Scouts for some time in the future, so I think it only fair that they should get the same SWAP treatment at Hermie the Worm. :)

Okay, but what do I do with them?

You can either keep them as a saved image file, or you can print them off.  They should print 4-up landscape on a letter sized piece of paper or cardstock.  If you print them on paper, you can cut them out and glue them to index cards.  Then you can keep them on binder rings, in an altered recipe box, or in a binder made for keeping recipe cards.  I am considering laminating mine with my Xyron so they won't get messed up at camp.  Once I have a final destination for mine, I will post it.

Burn Ban SWAP

Since we are in Texas, we are going to be doing a lot of burn ban cooking this Fall.  I wanted to make a SWAP for this for our first meeting, since our first campout is this weekend.

These were easy, done with Shrink Plastic.  You can use one of the commercial varieties, or you can DIY it as a re-using project.  I used commercial.  The amount of shrink you get will depend on what plastic you use, so make sure you test it out, or they might be too small.

Drawing:  I used crayons for these samples.  Bad idea.  They are very vivid, but when I heated up the shrink plastic to shrink it, the crayon melted and got all over.  Icky.  I don't recommend it.  I recommend  colored pencils or markers.  The colors intensify as you shrink the image, so don't worry if you can barely see what you drew. :)

Prep by cutting out all the circles ahead of time.  I used a 2" hole punch used for scrapbooking.  You can also pre-punch the hanging holes with a one-hole punch, but that makes it hard to color in that area.

If this is the first time your girls have worked with shrink plastic, I would shrink one while they watch.  It's fun to hear them go "Ooooooh!!" "Wow!" "Cool!"  I used a heat gun specifically for crafting (not paint-stripping).  You might be using an oven, if you have access to one in your meeting space.

Now, for my troop (17 girls), I had planned on each them doing two, one to keep and one to SWAP.  34 little circles to punch, 34 little holes to punch, 34 little charms to shrink.  I had the girls color them, had another adult go around marking their initials on the backs, and then hole-punched, shrank, and pinned them at home.  It took me 20 minutes!  This would not be effective use of meeting time.  However, if you are using an oven, you can do all the shrinking at once, so it would be easier to do during the meeting.

I love shrink plastic for SWAPs, and can't wait to try running some through my printer!  However, please be aware you are MELTING PLASTIC.  Have good ventilation, keep girls with breathing issues away, and for safety's sake, read the instructions completely!  :)  Have fun, but be safe.

Here's your recipe card:

Uniform Choices

Vest or Sash? If this seems like a totally silly thing to argue over, then you have never seen a group of 15 eight and nine year olds go at it over which makes more sense and which they would be less likely to be ashamed to be seen in. Okay, my girls didn't put it QUITE like that, but that was definitely the gist of the argument. The two sides seem to fall out like this: 

Vests:

People who like vests tend to be people with plans.  Like Troop Leaders.  If you plan on doing more than one or two activities with your troop per year, if you plan on fundraising with your troop, if you plan on earning more than a dozen patches, you like vests.  The other people who like vests? People with children likely to hit a growth spurt at any time.  You can buy a large vest for your daughter and not be concerned about whether she will be able to keep it on her shoulders when she walks.

Sashes:

People who like sashes tend to be younger people.  Like your Troop.  Vests seem so practical.  Sashes are cool.  They are easy to hide if you don't want to be identified as a Girl Scout.  And since they are okay for older girls who may not be doing anything because they are saving money to go to Europe, the younger girls (at least in my neighborhood) think that they're for OLDER girls.  And if there is anything a Junior Girl Scout wants more than anything else, it's to be seen as OLDER.

Now, these aren't hard and fast, this is just how it has seemed to me over the past few years.    I had quite a discussion about this last year, when we voted.  There were many girls who were convinced, when I held up my daughter's uniform, that we should indeed do vests again.  But the fashionistas prevailed.  There was much haggling and vote-wrangling involved, but the lure of "Sashes look so much cooler!" could not be denied. We did Daisy tunics, Brownie vests, and now Junior sashes.  I am hoping for Older Girl vests, because I don't see my girls wanting to slow down on the activities.

aMuse S8 Megaphone SWAPs

Ready, Set, TAKE ACTION!  In honor or the girls' big presentation, I created this Megaphone SWAP:

This one is super simple, but it does have one trick.  As you can see in the SWAP Box, the megaphones originally had "Go Team!" or some other such Homecoming nonsense on them.  This will need to be removed to make room for "Take Action!" or "Girl Scouts!" or "Juniors!" or some other such cool thing.  Goo Gone is what worked for me.  It takes a little elbow grease, but it works like a charm.  Then grab your faithful Sharpie and doodle away.  If your megaphone (like mine) has a loop on the top, then you can simply stick a safety pin through that, otherwise you can hot glue a safety pin to one side or use a self-adhesive pinback.  This is probably the most expensive SWAP I will ever recommend at nearly $0.50 each, which is why I recommend getting these megaphones after Homecoming when the price should come down.

Here is the recipe card:

Pin It

aMuse S6&7 Clapperboard SWAPs

In Sessions 6 and 7, the girls begin work on their Take Action Project, as is illustrated in the Girl's book, in "Turning Acting into Action":

I just did a quick Google search for "clapperboard" and found a good copyright free image, printed it off, cut it out and then glued it to some foam.  I used brown because that is what I had on hand, but white or black would look better.  Once the glue is dry, cut out the foam around the clapperboard, you can either attach a pin back (as I did), or simply stick a safety pin through it.  Again, the cost for this per SWAP is based almost entirely on the pin you use. :) 

Here is the recipe card:

Pin It

Coming up with Project Ideas

My first Co-Leader was amazed when I was prepared with projects and meeting topics for the rest of the year within a couple of weeks after finishing initial training.  She couldn't believe I came up with all those ideas myself!  Especially since I hadn't been a Girl Scout myself, so this was all completely new to me.  Well, let me let you in on the secret:

I didn't.

Just like you, I started combing the Internet for ideas as soon as I got my leader's book.  I found some really awesome resources (which can be found on the Handy Links page), and did a LOT of googling.  I modified things as I went along, especially as I started to get to know my girls and what they enjoyed doing.  

But once, you have looked through what other Troop Leaders have done and exhausted those ideas, then what?

I like looking through general Crafting and DIY projects and seeing what I can modify to be appropriate for the topic of a given meeting.  Or sometimes I find a fabulous project, and then I see if I can work a meeting around it.  For instance, I found this daffodil project on a wedding website (via Pinterest).  It looks pretty, well designed, and simple enough even for Daisies to do (with a little help).  The only real change I would make would to ditch the floral tape and just use green chenille stems.

Now, what would I do with it?

Well, with a Daisy Troop, I would incorporate it into a Journey, possibly finding tutorials on making similarly constructed Daisies, Tulips, Roses, and Hyacinths to match the Flower Friends from the Daisy Garden.  For Brownies and Juniors, this would make lovely Mother's Day projects or even SWAPs (in a smaller version).  Older Troops could use this as a recycling program or as a way to work with younger girls.

This is kind of the way it works for me.  I collect files of ideas (right now, I have a Girl Scouts pinboard on Pinterest in addition to paper files) for projects, and try to correlate them to things I want to cover in meeting.  I probably have 3 times as many project ideas as I will use.  But I know that I will never be without something to do, a direction to take, a project my girls will love.

What process do YOU use to come up with ideas?

aMuse S5 Junior Doll SWAP

In Session 5, the girls start discussing the power of stories:

To go along with the "Good Yarn" opener, I decided on these yarn doll SWAPs, made using a technique directly out of the Girl's Journey book. I used one wooden bead for the head, 2 chenille stems, that fabulous yarn I found, and some green yarn I've had. This SWAP cost 16 cents to make with a self adhesive pinback. If you use a safety pin, maybe 11 cents.

Or, these could be used during Session 2, as yet another role that your girls play.

Here is the Recipe Card:

Pin It