Brownie Quest Take Action and Bridging Buddies

We participated in our service unit's Bridging Buddies activity. We got together and planted flowers at Scout House. This helped complete my Little Brownie's requirement to work with a younger troop (Troop 6787 Daisies). So now she has completed her Bringing requirements for next year!

Troop 6081 was also there and they will be bridging to Juniors this year. We had also visited with a Junior troop earlier in the year.

16 girls in attendance!

This project could not have worked out more perfectly. We had to brainstorm (4th time is a charm), the Who, What, Where, How Much, and Resources Needed for the project. We (each group) brought flowers to plant. I brought bottled water, another troop brought snacks, (3 first aid kits were within reach), and except for the storm that started brewing towards the end, it was a perfect and beautiful day for gardening.

Isn't it pretty?

The girls had a blast digging in the dirt and twittered like little birds the whole time! We had the opportunity to hand out 10 more Making Friends patches. I had already given 8 (If I remember correctly) to Troop 6081 last time we joined them for an activity.  I hope I can find a different patch for next year - my source is sold out!

So we are finally finished with Brownie Quest. We are going to continue to do badge work over the summer, but we haven't decided if we are going to try to knock out another journey yet. I am researching "Journeys in a Day" - and there are a lot of great ones to try. Makingfriends.com have Journeys in a Bag, but I'm not sure if it's worth purchasing a whole kit just for one girl. My Little Brownie isn't really concerned about the Summit Award, so I would have to show her what I find and let her decide. 

Here are my binder cards and I hope everyone has a great summer!

Brownie Quest Take Action

Brownie Quest Award

Cookie Brigade Update

My Little Brownie got a trophy for selling 556 boxes of cookies this year!

 

We are not done for the year, though... We are planning on participating in a Bridging Buddies activity later in the week.

We have been trying to wrap up her Brownie Quest Journey. We had brainstormed 3 different Take Action projects since the middle of March, but each one of them fell through for one reason or another. Luckily at the Brownie level, (I am told) she can do a project for Girl Scouts.

I will be posting that later in the week...

Open House and Family Day at Camp Crossed Arrows

My Little Brownie's goal for this year was to go to camp. Even with her rewards getting split up between 2 service units, she sold enough cookies to meet the cost of camp and purchase next year's journey and patches.

The camp closest to us is Crossed Arrows in Floral, AR and they held their open house and family day on May 1st. My Little Brownie was so excited! It was like a free day of activities.

Getting Ready to go!

The longest ride - Are we there yet?

Camp Dining Hall and Horseback Riding!

This is why we do the things we do :)

The Treehouse
Huge Rocks on the Trail
Arts & Crafts

Goodbye Until Summer!

Cookie Booths and Cookie Season Recap

In our council, Juliettes can not do cookie booths by themselves. The official booths are scheduled in eBuddie and the rules are at least 2 girls and 2 adults. I was advised that we could, however, set up a small stand. We have been taking advantage of that! My little Brownie managed to stay very busy every weekend in April by either setting up her stand or participating in booths with other troops (also allowed).

Her initial pre-order turn-in was for 240 boxes & 6 boxes sold through her digital cookie site (her goal was 235), and I thought we were done...

I didn't get pictures of every stand that we set up, or the individual deliveries and door to door sales, but generally this is what April looked like:

4/2/2016 Booth with Troop 6081

   

4/5/2016 Stand at Moose's Country Store

This is where we were done with all of our pre-order deliveries and sold out of cookies. We had gotten several more orders, so we had to go to the Cookie Cupboard to fill them. We also got enough to set up one more stand.

4/9/2016 Cookie Cupboard (pick up 7 more cases)

We set up what was to be her last stand on the 9th. We sold out in a little over an hour and got a ton of orders for delivery, so we had to go get more cookies on the 16th.

4/16/2016 Cookie Cupboard (pick up 14 more cases)

This is when my inner struggle took place... We don't have a troop to help us get rid of extra cookies, so we are personally financially responsible for any cookies we sign for. I sat my Little Brownie down and explained the situation to her and gave her a choice. We could just pick up what we had orders for and be done with cookies for the year or we could continue to set up stands. She told me she was having fun and wanted to continue. She showed me the prizes and the additional $75 resident camp incentive she could earn if she got to the next level of 500 boxes. So I took a deep breathe and we picked up 14 more cases...

4/22/2016 Stand at Moose's Country Store

4/23/2016 (morning) Booth with Troop 6081

4/23/2016 (afternoon) Recruiting Booth at Cabot
Annual Strawberry Festival with Troop 6533. The
girls spent the afternoon talking to other young
 ladies about joining Girl Scouts. The Assistant Leader
gave my Little Brownie the 2016 cookie booth patch
 for helping to sell cookies as well.

On 4/29/2016 we had our final stand at Moose's Country Store. We sold out with the exception of some orders to be delivered later that week. (I had to fill those by purchasing 25 boxes from 2 other troops because awards had already been finalized). Her official total for 2016 cookie season is 556 boxes (not including the 25 boxes for orders that our troop friends helped us fill.)

By participating in Cookie Booths with our friendly host troops, my Little Brownie was able to earn the 2016 Cookie Activity Pin. In a sad and ironic twist, my Little Brownie's membership number was in eBuddie twice (not supposed to be possible), and she was listed under 2 different service units. Her cookie sales were split between those 2 service units, so as far as I know, she is only getting the rewards for 284 boxes in our service unit. She will be getting a trophy at the Cookie Brigade and Bridging ceremony for the entire 556 boxes.

I usually purchase one box of each kind for the freezer for next year, but I had a case of Samoas stolen out of my car, which I had to pay for. We ended up with 2 boxes each of Rah-Rah Raisins and Toffee-tastics for ourselves. C'est la vie...

I'm sooo glad that's over with! Hope your cookie season was great!

My Family Story Skill Building Badge

My Family Story is part of the Brownie Quest Skill Building Badge set.

  Step 1. Explore Family Stories: We spent a lot of time going through photo albums and my genealogy binders. I keep old photos, birth announcements, and obituaries in the genealogy binders. They are organized by family group sheets. I told her the family stories that I remembered. We read about how in the 1600's one of our ancestors was kidnapped by pirates and ransomed! One of our most notable family stories is about Frances Slocum. She was taken by Indians as a child and there is a state park in Pennsylvania and a state forest in Indiana dedicated to her. There have been some books & publications written about several of my ancestors as well, so I shared some of those with her.

  Step 2. Know Where Your Family is From: We got a lot of info from our family Gedcom. We have English, Irish, Dutch, German & American Indian (Mohican-Wappinger) heritage. We put tacks in the world map to show everywhere we have ancestors. (That we know of...) I printed off the flags from those countries and we used them as cupcake toppers for a cupcake decorating party!

  Step 3. Make a Story Tree: We used the template provided in the pamphlet for this activity. I converted it into Photo Shop and we added pictures of family members to complete the worksheet. She has 8 grown brothers and sisters, so we put them in as family groups - though we still ran out of spots! We added journaling after I got this picture to post.                                                                                                                       Step 4. Find an Object That Means Something to Your Family: Since we don't have any family heirlooms (except for a small coin collection my father gave me), we decided that our scrapbooks fit that bill. We did talk about the coin collection as well. She loved looking through the old coins. It represents time that I spent with my father while we sorted coins for it, so our scrapbooks would represent that time spent together for us.

  Step 5. Share Your Family Story: We added some pages to our scrapbooks. I do chronological photos and journaling in our scrapbooks, so we updated several weeks worth!

My Family Story Binder Card

My Best Self Brownie Skill Building Badge

My Best Self Brownie Badge is part of the Brownie Quest Skill Building Badge set. Each step has three suggestions to choose from. These are the ones we chose to complete.

Step 1. Get to Know Your Body:
Color in your eyes, hair, and favorite clothes. She also pointed out how her features are like or different people in her family. (My hair color, Daddy's eyes...)

Step 2. Eat & Play in a Healthy Way: 

Try three different kinds of exercise. She chose jumping on the trampoline, riding her bike, and jumping rope.

Step 3. Find Out How Your Body Works:
Learn about a healthy temperature. We took my Little Brownie's temperature to make sure it was 98.6', then we talked about 2 things that might make her temperature higher or lower.


Step 4. Know What to Do If Something Bugs You:
Create a "happy box" with five things that make you smile. I asked her the 5 things she might like to have if she were away from home and got homesick. She chose her favorite blanket, a stuffed toy, a book, her tablet (of course), and a candy bar. I mentioned to her that I read that sometimes emergency workers carried stuffed animals in their vehicles to make little ones feel better.


Step 5. Meet a Health Helper:
Visit a doctor, dentist, or optometrist. This badge was done at the perfect time! Her vision checkup was this week. The optometrist answered all of her questions and helped things go smoother with a running dialog during the whole checkup.

The Voice of a Juliette

I've been pretty upbeat so far with this blog (because Girl Scouts are cheerful, lol), but there are also downsides to being an Independently Registered Girl (Juliette) in Girl Scouts. So to be fair, I should also write about that (and how I handle it), so that if you are struggling with the decision to take this path with your girl, or you feel you are in over your head because you already did, you can take some of these things into consideration. These are notes that I have been taking since the beginning of our Julietting journey that I have been pulling together as a work in progess. I think it is time to share so you can get a bigger picture of what it is to take this pathway.

Don't get me wrong, as you can see, we take these downsides in stride most of the time and really enjoy the activities as a mom & me thing. The negative experiences we may have occasionally are not a deal-killer when it comes to Julietting, because I have found that this pathway has more advantages than disadvantages. My grown daughter (my oldest) was in a "troop" that had dwindled down to 2 Cadette girls, so the leader didn't do anything with them except sell cookies, and the cookie profits eventually just got absorbed into her Council. She recently admitted to me that she wished she could have a do-over, so sometimes we let her sit in with our activities and she's having a blast.

Imagine being a woman in 1912 trying to make a major statement like Juliette Gordon Low did. Sure, she was a member of the social and financial elite (according to her bio), but she was basically speaking out at a time when strong women were probably viewed as eccentric and a pain in the you know what in a "Man's World". Today she is looked up to as a role-model for opening up opportunities for girls that at that time had not been available except to girls with her advantages and means. She was the first Girl Scout, (the first Juliette, in fact!), and I'll bet that she had to push hard, be vocal in her beliefs, and never give up! So what started out as a tiny ripple in Savannah, GA over a hundred years ago is now huge and far reaching. You GO, Girl!

So, I'm talking to you, Mom of a Juliette. When you encounter roadblocks in this journey with your daughter, keep in mind that she is looking at you to see how you are going to handle it. Don't think that you have to be a part of a troop to make a difference. You may at first receive information that is incomplete or out of date, then later find out that a particular policy worked out better for your situation after all. This is usually the case, so you have to follow through.

I've mentioned before that there is not a lot of guidance on being a Juliette. I know that there are a few Councils out there that are quite fond of theirs and really try to make sure that they get the same opportunities as the trooping girls, but this is not the case everywhere. Remember the Councils each have their own policies, and it is most likely at the Service Unit level that your Juliette could fall through the cracks. So few Juliettes are active that most of the Leadership has not had any experience with handling our stuff. Don't be afraid to get to know your Directors and get out there and meet other troops. You and your girl have to become a face for Juliettes instead of just an obscure concept. You have to push hard, be vocal and never give up. Chances are the frustration may just be a momentary glitch that can be ironed out with patience, a little research, and good communication.

Don't let the people who are willing to let you fall between a crack tell you that you have to be a part of a crowd (or troop) to have a voice! After all, the exalted and fearless Founder of Girl Scouts promised to empower our daughters and turn them into leaders and upstanding members of our communities. Team building is just one stepping stone to building courage, confidence, and character.

A lot of trooping girls earn their Gold Awards as an individual. I recently spoke to a Juliette mom that told me her girl is pairing up with another Juliette (from another service unit) with their project. How they got that one approved is a concept I don't even want to dwell on...

We are learning from Juliette Gordan Low to Discover, Connect, and Take Action!

The Steps:

Discover: Find out your Council's position on and rules regarding their Juliettes. Our Recruitment Officer helped us with the uniform set up and seemed to have the most information about how to begin. Find out who does what. Each aspect of this program has a side note about individual girls, so you may have to speak to many departments to get all the info. Sign up for your council and service unit emails! I can't stress that one enough.

Not everything happens at the Council level - sometimes it's the Service Unit that handles specifics for you, the Juliette. Research who GETS what. I found out from our Service Unit Director in a totally unrelated conversation that there have been recent policy changes in our Council in how cookie sales are handled for Juliettes. On the other hand, you have the option to find a troop that is willing to host you for events like World Thinking Day booths and cookie booths. So far we have developed sister relationships with 3 troops, but it took time...

Connect: Make friends. Put yourself out there. Attend those functions. Attend those Leader's meetings - you ARE a Leader too! (I personally think that Juliette Leaders are afraid to speak up for their daughter, but there are more of us than you may realize.) Represent Girl Scouts in a positive way. Contact those people. Don't whine! But don't curl up in the fetal position and give up either.

I recently found out that many girls in my council just pay the membership fees and wait for a troop to appear. They are out $15 a year and don't even participate! I wish I had a way to reach out to them and form a coop like the homeschoolers do!

Our Council has formed what is called "Epic Troops" (or HQ directed troops) where the administration at Little Rock headquarters take some of those individually registered girls into the fold and hold meetings after business hours. They have created a chef shuttle partnership for cookie orders that benefit those "troops". This has created some bad feelings with some troop leaders, and I agree on some points, but I don't have all the info on it, so I refuse to take a position on it. Since both of those concepts are new they are probably (IMHO) just trying to get start up money for it and I am sure, like most new things, it will evolve as they work out the kinks and get established as a "thing".

To be fair, all scouts have the option to opt-in to the I want cookies map and add their digital cookie page, so all girls kind of get equal opportunity and free promotion for online cookie sales. These links are for Diamonds of AR, OK & TX Council, and are for informational purposes only. Research your council's website and even their Facebook page for info specific to you.

***Since I began this "work in progress over 4 months" post, our Council retracted the policy for chef shuttle to only benefit epic troops and are distributing cookie proceeds to benefit all troops in the council. There is no mention of Juliettes benefiting, but I have faith in the process and the good will of the Council.

Take Action: Find creative ways to show that your daughter is an asset and also has valuable voice as an individual member. Let them know that your walking the Girl Scout walk but that your path is not to follow the crowd. Let your service projects shine and speak for you as well. Talk about your activities - I think you'll find that most Leadership is curious about how you have walked this path. This is a relatively new pathway, so they are learning right along with us.

My Council is also trying to make positive changes for Juliettes and I have been quizzed by a couple of council admins for my ideas to find solutions for the many Juliettes in my area that are getting lost. Some councils even offer the Virtual Pathway! (We probably would have taken that route if it had been available in our Council.) If you are not willing to share your experiences, they just won't know how to accommodate your pathway!

My first suggestion to my Council would be to please make a handbook for us too!

You are not a renegade, or oddity. This is an official Girl Scout Pathway that was created for girls to be included in Girl Scouts that may not have access to a troop, or in a holding pattern for a troop to be created in their area, or for girls who have other activities to schedule around. This last usually being the case for girls who are older and increasingly busy with many other school and sporting activities. You don't have to follow the crowd to have a voice! That is absolutely not the message that I want my daughter to believe and it is not the Mission of Girl Scouts.

My Little Brownie and I are at the tail-end of our first year as practicing Juliettes. It was frustrating at first, because we didn't know our way around. I was a parent/volunteer for her first year of Daisy's and a more active volunteer for her second. I took the New Leader Training so that I could take a more active role this year and further lift up the Troop Leaders, but my plans evolved into something else. I learned a little from watching her Daisy Leader as she muddled her way through being a new leader, but I learned the most from breaking out on my own. I talked to established troop leaders and council admins, tirelessly researched the GSUSA materials, and (don't laugh,) Pinterest links that lead to the many, many Troop Blogs that are such a wealth of information, creative ideas, free printables, and encouragement. New troop leaders have it just as rough as we do (times more girls and other moms), so don't be discouraged!

So, Ladies, you have YOUR mission - if you choose to accept it! Get out there and make some positive changes - Let your girl's voice be heard!

All you Juliette moms out there, now that we are all liberated, lets have some fun with this!

Cookies, Of Course

Wednesday was the cookie drop for our service unit. Taking orders is rough on the whole family because it seems like everything this time of year revolves around just this one thing...


Then the cookies come and the true madness begins! I couldn't help unload the truck this year, but I did last year and it was actually fun. The cookies are brought by semi to a central location for the service unit. Then the cases are sorted by troop order. Each Troop Leader picks up the cases for the troop, then they are distributed to each girl (parent). The girls have to further break down the boxes by orders. Easy peasy, right?

The marketing doesn't end when the orders are delivered, because now we want those wonderful customers to come back next year!

Last year my little brownie had 23 large orders, but this year we had 63 smaller orders... All but 3 of last year's customers were returning customers - and those 3 had moved away, so... Keep your order forms! Use them next year when you start trolling for new orders!

We add thank you tags to our orders with each customer's name, order, and total for convenience - and it looks nice. Last year we even put some in those Dollar Tree gift bags, you know the 3/$1 ones. I saw that people really do appreciate the extra effort with presentation and decided to go a little bigger this year. (You know me - go big or go home!) Thanking your customers is also the last step for the "Meet My Customers" badge.

I took the time to do something I wish I had done the last 2 years and took a picture of my little brownie with her cookies. I saw something very similar on Pinterest and made it my very own. You don't want to see what my living room looked like to set this up! I had to move the couch and take about 40 shots to get the perfect one. Yes, it was a pain and very time consuming. They fell over twice until I got out my left over boards and several different sized boxes to stack the cookie boxes on. The backdrop is our cookie table cloth, then I cropped it and added the text in Photoshop.

I bought some postcard stock and plan on making this year's tags by printing these out 2 to each postcard, trimming them down to 3x4" and putting our contact info on the back - you know, in case someone runs out of cookies. I am going to print out a full sized postcard to send to the nice lady (distant cousin by marriage twice removed, lol) that ordered online and paid that extravagant shipping to help my little brownie go to camp this year!

Maybe next year we will get even more orders!

Have fun with your cookies!

Wigs For Kids

Today my Little Brownie got a haircut. We struggle daily over the rats nest that her hair becomes when she forgets to brush it many times a day. I have had to keep her hair in a braid to save my sanity, and I feel cruel when I have to threaten her to get her to let me brush it. She has wanted to cut it short for a while, so I told her as soon as it was at least an extra 12" we could take her to donate it to Wigs for Kids. She was thrilled with this idea and fascinated that it would go to help a child that lost their hair from chemo or many other health problems. She was very happy to wait for the length and Spring to arrive, but asks me to measure it occasionally.

Before

So with today being the first day of our Spring Break we went to the local beauty college and took the plunge! The students there doted on my little brownie and made sure she felt special! Apparently there aren't many people that do this at this particular location, so it was a new experience for this student - she even got an extra grade!

Pic with student stylist

I printed the card before I went because I am a picture hound (mad scrapbooker). We are both thrilled with the new look and my little brownie loves not having to deal with the snarly hair.

Wouldn't it be cool if the program sent a picture of the finished wig?

There was a part at the bottom of the form they gave me to fill out that if the donor was a Girl Scout you could get a patch for an extra $3. I had already ordered the patch that morning (shown above) from Advantage Emblem for $1.69 because with their March Madness sale I got free shipping.

So we are taking a much needed break from (most) things. I am trying to catch up on adult stuff and getting the house spring cleaned as well as resting up for the big cookie drop and sort and deliver madness!

Until next time!

How we spent Girl Scout Week 2016

Girl Scout Week is celebrated each March, starting with Girl Scout Sunday and ending with Girl Scout Sabbath on a Saturday, and it always includes Girl Scouts' Birthday, March 12.

My Little Brownie spent the week earning the Girl Scout Week Patch.


March 6, 2016 - Day 1: Girl Scout Sunday

The requirements to choose from for day one:

____ Think of three different ways you can serve God or your country. Do one of them.

____ Attend a religious service AND wear your Girl Scout vest/ sash.

____ Say or sing grace at a meal.

  X    Do a good deed for someone.

____ Spend 20 minutes in quiet reflection.

My Little Brownie brought eggs around to a couple of the neighbors. With 9 laying hens, I had several dozen in the refrigerator. Helped them, helped me! She actually went out and collected the eggs that morning without me having to ask 3 times :)

We didn't go to church, so we wont get the Girl Scout Sunday patch, just the patch for Girl Scout Week.


March 7, 2016 - Day 2: Community Day


  X    Put some bird food outside for our feathered friends.

____ Help clean up an area in your community or at school.

____ Recycle as much as you can today.

____ Pick three toys donate to your organization of choice.

  X    Fly a flag in front of your home today

We filled up the bird seed and hummingbird feeders. I showed her how to make homemade hummingbird syrup: One cup boiled (NOT microwaved) and cooled water to 1/4 cup sugar. The hummingbirds don't show up in Arkansas until the first week of April generally, but since Spring is early this year we took a chance.


March 8, 2016 - Day 3: Spread The Cheer Day

____ Say “Hello” and smile to as many people as you can today.

____ Do something to help someone without being asked.

____ Visit with an elderly friend or family member.

____ Write a note to a family member or friend about how much you appreciate them and why.

  X     Learn to say "hello, good-bye, please and thank you" in another language.

Of course, my Little Brownie chose Mandarin, as Ni-Hao Kai Lan use to be one of her favorite shows. Thank you Google Translate! Not only did it give the Chinese (Mandarin) characters, but it showed how to spell it in English and had a sound button to hear the word spoken!

March 9, 2016 - Day 4: Health & Safety Day

  X    Do at least 20 minutes of exercise.

____ Discuss with an adult ways to handle stress

____ Check to see if your smoke detectors and fire extinguishers are working properly





____ Eat only healthy snacks today. Stay away from foods with high amounts of sugar and salt

  X    Learn some stretching exercises and do at least three of them.


I took advantage of this one to get the Dancer Badge knocked out as well.
I'm glad that warming up is the first step! These old bones wouldn't have been able to get through this badge without it!

For step 2: Try a new dance, we spent some time on YouTube learning some "new" moves for the 50's dance coming up on Saturday with our service unit. We tried out the Hand Jive, the Stroll, the Swing, the Mashed Potato, the Jitterbug (epic fail), and the Twist!

50's dance

Step 3 was interesting... We practiced curtsies, proper carriage in walking, and good standing posture. This made me remember when I was a kid and my mom showed me how to walk with a book on my head. I guess that was something they did when SHE was a kid. We had a blast with step 2 & 3 because we were also wearing our poodle skirts!

Step 4 was fun too. My Little Brownie made up a new dance using current and 50's moves together when I played disco music! (I couldn't help myself!) I wish I had that on video for posterity...

For step 5 - completed on March 12th- that was a gimme :) We went to the 50's dance and had fun! She was able to do the Hand Jive for the other scouts that were there!



I showed her how I change the batteries and check our smoke detectors and fire extinguisher on Sunday (today) when we set the clocks ahead, so I wasn't going to get technical on that one... That is also the day I change batteries on all my clocks. I didn't do it last night because she fell asleep on the way home from the dance and I wanted to let her help me do it.


March 10, 2016 - Day 5: Outdoor Day

____ Do a rubbing on a leaf, tree bark or any other thing in nature.

____ Take a scavenger hike. Find something in nature that starts with each letter of the alphabet.

  X    Plant a vegetable, flower or herb in a pot to enjoy.

____ Identify three different plants in your neighborhood.

____ Play games outside for at least 30 minutes.

We spent most of the morning getting my seeds started. I feel like I'm kind of late on that this year (for Arkansas), but if it's as wet this spring as it was last year, I guess it will work out OK. We planted cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, lettuce, cabbage... you get it. We also planted some herbs from seed. I was worried that she planted the seeds too deep, but I guess I shouldn't have -as of this morning some of them have already started to sprout! I hope she helps me get them into the garden when it's time. This activity also went with the current unit that she is studying in Science about life cycles.

March 11, 2016 - Day 6: Family & Friend Day

  X    Draw a picture of your family.

Our family living in
Minecraft world

____ Do something extra special for your family or a friend and leave them a note.

____ Make a friendship gift for someone special.

____ Be extra nice to your siblings. Do a good deed for them.

  X     Plan a route and take your family on an evening walk.

I have no explanation for the picture, but she used to be fixated on Monster High, so I'm just going to go with it... We also planned and took the evening walk around the neighborhood so that I wouldn't have to deal with the inner struggle of whether this picture counts towards the requirement.


March 12, 2016 - Day 7: Girl Scout 104th Birthday

____ Recite the Girl Scout Law to your family.

  X    Read or reread the Juliette Low story. (Here is a version for Daisies)

____ Plan something special for Leader Appreciation Day on April 22.

  X    Learn about when Girl Scouting first started.

____ Learn a new Girl Scout song and teach it to a friend.

Here is a great resource with Juliette Gordon Low games and crafts.

This week has been way crazier than I expected, and I am just exhausted. All of our "why didn't you tell us you were selling Girl Scout cookies" friends came out of the woodwork! We didn't even sit down and make the swaps for her pen pals like we had planned, but we did put together some for the 50's dance. These are mini 45 records cut out of a black plastic folder with a 1" hole punch, then green glitter paper punched with a 1/2" punch stuck to the center on each side. We took a regular hole punch to the center (I had to do that part), and scooped it up onto a safety pin. Even though we are the only ones to bring swaps to service unit events, they always go over well. There were a couple of daisies that said they didn't even know what swaps were. (I shake my head...) But the thing is, when you bring these to events, your daughter ends up speaking to every single girl there because they all want one!

Mission accomplished.

Troop leaders ask me in awe about my daughter's activities for scouting, and I'm sure it sounds like this is easier. Really, the only difference is that I don't have to deal with moms - wait, OK, this is easier...

My Little Brownie met her initial cookie sales goal. Mostly because we have to order our cookies by the case like the troops do. As an "Independent Girl Member" my daughter can't do booths unless we participate with a troop. Our service unit doesn't want us to tie up an official booth location for one girl, so we were told that we can set up "a stand" anywhere else. Whatever. It's still kind of a booth - right? I'm not going to over-think it... So worst case scenario is that I get stuck with 11 boxes of each kind - I am sooooo doing a "stand" this year!

So that pretty much caps off my week! I hope everyone enjoyed their Girl Scout Week festivities and are looking forward to cookie booths - if you haven't already done that.

Love,

One Tired Juliette Mom

Swap Banner & Computer Expert

This time of year is always so crazy. Cookie season is a couple of months of activities (and sales), Thinking Day, Girl Scout Week, the list goes on - and all of this starts before we are fully recovered from the holidays! The crafts never end :)

I have posted about the swaps that my daughter does with the Girl Scout Swaps group. The last one was World Thinking Day and we received ours back last Monday, but I haven't had a chance to do anything with them until this weekend.

This is what we got back! 100 swaps! We even got the one from the Juliette in California that my daughter writes to. What can I say, you already know that I am an enabler! But really, I'm so glad she joined - I love her being there too!

We did 2 countries/participants because there were 74 countries claimed and we wanted more than 50 of them. We ended up with 57 out of 74. And it was really fun, too.

And I finally ran up that swap banner I've been wanting. Maybe I should've made it bigger...

Before                                           After

My Little Brownie is planning on making a Girl Scout Birthday swap for her pen pals and I've been planning my next few weeks with her Girl Scout Journey. Over the last week she completed her Computer Expert badge, and we are brainstorming ideas for the project to earn her Take Action badge and complete the Journey. We've got it narrowed down to two...

Here is my latest scrapbook layout, though I still prefer the Project Life style, I'm giving this to My Little Brownie for her scrapbook. She loves Photoshop and she hovered over my shoulder while I made this. She helped me pick out the pictures and I let her move the elements around. They say a picture is worth a thousand words!

 


I'm working on my Girl Scout Week marathon. The first day of Girl Scout Week is March 6th. For us it's the last day of initial orders for cookie sales where things slow down a bit while we wait for cookie drop. You can join us as we wade through it to earn a fun patch or two!

And here is the binder card for Computer Expert:

I'm Looking forward to seeing you during Girl Scout Week!

Door Hanger Craft

Tonight we decided to crash the Fire Dept. meeting. We showed up about 30 minutes early so we could catch them standing around chatting before the meeting started.

Anybody that has sold cookies (competitively), has some in the freezer when the next cookie season rolls around. Well, I had 2 cases left. I got stuck with a 10 box sale plus the ones I ordered for myself -and for this year's taste test. What can I say, after we had our fill I blocked them out forgot about them! So I gave a few boxes away to neighbors and friends to make room for this year's. And we thought maybe if we gave out cookie samples we might have better sales this year :)

But - passing around a box of cookies to a group of people is unappealing to me and possibly even a little distasteful...

So this is how we served 'em up, and I think it's pretty cool even if I do say so myself.

Step 1. Download your council's door hanger from their cookie page. They're all different depending on what kinds of cookies they are selling this year. (Check out all of their cookie selling tools while you're there.)

Step 2. Go to www.pdfescape.com and fill it out for free on their site (I messed up 2 door hangers trying to fit my handwritten email address on those cards before I just gave up!)

Step 3. Trim your cards and carefully crease then fold the card like this:

Step 4. Put your Girl Scout to work to put a cookie in small plastic snack bags (or small craft bags). Insert the filled bag like I've shown below and staple. Make sure to staple like a matchbook.

Easy peasy. At first I thought I could cut these up and staple them like snack toppers, but I think the matchbook setup is way better because the order form just folds out.

These door hangers were formated perfectly to fold them this way. I printed up extra to punch holes in the top and use them for their original purpose, but using them for sample packs was a very happy situation for my Little Brownie. We put Toffee-tastic in half and Rah-Rah Raisin in the rest. (I marked them with a small "T" or "R" so I could look slick when people asked for a certain kind.) Those are the flavors that people I've spoken to ask me to describe. Then people give you the hairy-eye when you describe them like they are afraid to try them out anyway :( This was a no-commitment solution for them.

My daughter handed these out and got orders from all but 2 of the guys there, but they still had the order form and our contact info so they could order later. (They admitted that they wanted to ask their wives which kinds to get.) Not one of them refused the sample. I love handing out samples anyway, I really think they make a difference. I call them "gateway cookies", and even went so far as to bring thin mint brownies to our cookie booth last year. I had printed up the recipe cards from the Little Brownie Baker website and put them on the table with the brownie samples.

In case anyone is wondering, each order tonight included at least one box of one or both of the sample flavors.

And I have room in my freezer for this years cookies. Win/win!

On to the next adventure - Good luck and Happy cookie sales, my friends!

Ode to Lemonades...

This weekend I was scrapbooking. I do Project Life, but there is a serious shortage of Girl Scout themed pocket cards in this world. I Googled some keywords and ended up on Pinterest. Well, I completely lost track of why I was even there - it happens... Cookie season being what it is, I stumbled across (and am swimming in) everything cookie!

There are so many activities and patches to earn that could quite possibly leave you with no time whatsoever to SELL the cookies! Here are a couple that I have found:

There is a new cookie patch for the Lemonades for their 10th birthday. These are ABC Baker products, but if you're a collector it doesn't matter. This is the only place I have seen them so far, but I'm sure other councils or service units will have them in stock soon. On the up side, service unit shops are way cheaper on shipping :)

If you look hard enough, you can even find recipes that feature this little gem. I am dying to try Lemonades Pie and  Lemonade Cookie Gelato, but if you check Google or Pinterest you'll find tons! If you just can't find these bad boys in your area, there are even knock-off recipes to make your own - but you didn't hear that from me...



It is on this same site for GSMH SU 738 out of Columbia, MO that I saw the Cookie Booster Activity complete with...wait for it...a patch!

You can download either Little Brownie Bakers version or ABC Bakers. There are a bunch of fun games and other activities, as well as printables.

They have a limited number of patches available, so if you decide to do this activity, get your order in quickly.

Be sure to share your Lemonades recipes!


Happy Julietting!

Thinking Day Crafts & A Girl Scout Week Patch!

Our Service Unit hosted their World Thinking Day event on Feb 6th, but it is officially on Feb 22nd. There are lots of crafts and traditions associated with World Thinking Day and here is a site with tons of info for your reading pleasure.

This year's theme is "Connect" and since it changes every year, you can find the most current info here. I have read that you can put this patch on the front of your vest, but I have never, ever, ever seen anyone do that...

I read up some of the traditions when I was researching for our booth last year. I don't remember what site I was on, but I particularly liked the idea of placing a lit candle in the window and reflecting on Girl Scouts around the world, knowing that Girl Scouts around the world were doing the same thing and also thinking about us! My daughter and I whooped up a little craft that only cost a dollar and scavanged bits from my scrapbooking stash.

Thinking Day 2015

We just got a votive holder from the Dollar Tree and printed "This Little Light of Mine, I'm Gonna Let It Shine"  (because it was mentioned on the website I was looking at) and the WAGGS logo on vellum paper. We cut it to size and curled it around the short votive. We only had it lit for a few minutes because I didn't want to burn the house down... I am looking for ways to actually affix the image and lettering onto the glass so we can relax and enjoy it.

The Vellum sat correctly in the holder until I took it out to dust it and take pics... 

I don't want to move onto the next thing until I mention that there is also the World Thinking Day 2016 Challenge Badge that can be earned by completing an activity pack. Most of these look pretty much like many of the other team building or confidence building activities that you would normally do with your journeys. So even if you don't want the patch, the info for the activities could be useful for other things.



Now, on to the next thing! I was scrolling down through the Girl Scout Gab Facebook page and a nice lady posted the requirements for the Girl Scout Week Patch! Girl Scout Week is celebrated for 7 days each March, starting with Girl Scout Sunday and ending with Girl Scout Sabbath/Shabbat on Saturday, and it always includes the Girl Scout Birthday, March 12. This year it is March 6-12. Even if you don't have a group you can do this with you can still have fun and earn the patch. The first page is the requirements sheet that an adult must check off and the second sheet is the order form for the patch. Complete the requirements each day and send $2 along with both completed pages for this year's fun patch! You can also order this patch here for $1.75 plus shipping. (This is NOT an affiliate link)

And let's not forget this one... I believe you only have to wear your Girl Scout uniform to church on Girl Scout Sunday to earn the Girl Scout Sunday Patch. Please look up the requirements before purchasing this patch.

So hopefully everyone is on the patch train for the next few weeks! I don't know about you all, but I still haven't ironed on anything since before the Fall Festival, and I'm thinking I may need to go get out the iron!

As usual, until next time, my marvelous Juliette friends, and Happy Ironing! (I think there may even be a patch for that, lol)