Throwback Thursday

I came across this picture of Paul while cleaning out our shed. I hadn't seen it before. He says he was in middle school. Got the Beatles' vibe going doesn't he?

Camp Sharon 2014

We're just back from a great week of church camp at Camp Sharon on the Lake of the Ozarks. We took 13 kids from East Prairie to Junior I week which is for 2nd-4th graders. Paul spoke each night and was a counselor. I was a counselor for the second year in a row and we both loved working with the children and the staff all week.

It was exhausting but exhilarating. We were definitely two of the oldest counselors but we hung in there as best as we could! A cute 20 year old counselor came up to me on Friday and asked if I could cover for her during one of the rec times for which we shared team captain responsibilities. She said she needed a nap and was so exhausted. I thought to myself, "how do you think I feel?!" ha! But I was glad to help out. The staff worked so well together. The younger set was so great. They are really great examples to our kids and I sure would love to see Mallory and Michael in those roles one day.

Here are a few pix from the week. We were so busy we hardly have time to take any pictures.

The kiddos we took from EP. Nine girls and four boys. Two years ago we didn't have any kids going to camp, last year we took 7 and this year 13. WE also have 8 going to Junior II which is 5 and 6 grades.

 

My cabin was Shady Oak for the second year. I slept in my same bunk. Hannah, my co-counselor and I had five darling girls.

Michael LOVED camp. He just did great for being one of the youngest campers there.

This is the water front where the kids swim and canoe. Paul and I both had a canoe class during the morning class times.

A few of the sweet girls getting ready for dinner one day!

Mallory thoroughly enjoyed camp again this year. She wasn't in my cabin this time which went well. It's almost not fair to be the only girl whose mom is telling them what to do all week!

Getting ready for camp

The whole family is off to Camp Sharon next week. Paul is speaking and being a counselor. I am a counselor again and Mallory and Michael are campers. Camp Sharon is the Church of God camp in Missouri. This is the Junior I week which is for 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders. We're all really excited. Last year we took 7 kids to camp and this year 22 are going spread out over three different weeks. We have 13 going to JI.

My cabin for this year is Shady Oak which I happened to be in last year. I wanted to screen the girls shirts since I have learned how to do it the DIY easy method. I found these bright shirts at the Dollar Tree on Tuesday for, yes, you guessed it, just a dollar each! Score! As in most cases at the Dollar Tree they only had one size in this color which was adult S. I figured that would work for most of the campers. I picked up three extra ones of the same color at Hobby Lobby in bigger sizes. While they weren't a dollar they were on sale and were only 2.79 each so that was great.

So our theme is sort of a nautical, cruise type theme. "Welcome Aboard, where will the mission take you?" Paul will be speaking on water related stories from the Bible like Noah, Jonah, Jesus walking on water, etc. There will also be a missions emphasis in the afternoon classes.

I've always love sailor theme so this is a great one for me! I used to wear sailor dresses all the time and one time even told a woman wearing a nautical outfit at Darryl's Restaurant where I worked in the 90s, "I love your outfit." To which she replied, "It's my uniform." She was in the Navy.

So, this is the design I came up with. I did the Shady Oak first in blue. Then added the anchor in red. Once again I just printed the words and the anchor out on the computer and cut them out with an exacto knife. Then placed the paper on my shirts, the screen over and then did the screening. So easy and fun. Also, I have discovered you can place the little 'island' that you cut out of letters like A, O, P, D, etc right on the shirt in the place it is supposed to be when you put the paper with the words down. It just stays in place when you screen the design which makes those letters look much better.

 I think they turned out really cute! So much fun to make these shirts!!!

Oh Say Can You See

Our children's group from the church was honored to get to sing the National Anthem at the Memphis Redbirds game a couple of weeks ago. They did a really great job and it was a neat thing for them to get to do. Paul and I told the kids we had never had a chance to sing the National Anthem at a sporting event so they'd done something we hadn't.

 

It was also a fun night because my friend from Montgomery, Jeanine, and her family joined us for the game. They had just recently relocated to the Memphis area from Chicago so it was great getting to see Jeanine and Steve and their children.

Before and After

I still haven't had a chance to put together a good post on Michael's Messy Party but here are the before and after pictures~!

You can click on the photos to see them bigger...

Michael is 7

Michael turned 7 on the 7th. We had a big party and a big time. I will post pictures soon but wanted to at least post the annual "cake pic". We're so proud of our big boy! We love you Michael Paul!

DIY Screen Printing

I wanted all the kids to wear a white tshirt for Michael's Messy Party so we could really see the messiness! However I didn't like them completely plain white. Here's where the do it yourself screen printing comes in. I googled how to make your own silk screen and found a lot of info. Some were much more complicated than others. I didn't want to put a lot of money in materials. I was trying to go cheap since I had quite a few shirts to do after all! 

I started picking up solid white tshirts at goodwill and many were new while some were used. Most I only spent a dollar on. 

I picked up some screen print paint at Hobby Lobby. Cost was about 2.99 so not bad. 

Here are the steps I took to screen the shirts at home:

First print out what you want to screen. Pick a font that will be simple to cut out with an exacto knife. 

Cut out the letters with an exacto knife. This takes some time. I usually put the paper on a magazine while I cut.  It'll look like this when it's all done. 

Next you need a curtain sheer to use as your screen. I got a pretty big one for two bucks at Goodwill. 

Take an embroidery hoop and fit it with a piece of the sheer. Pull it nice and taut. 

Put something inside the tshirt to keep the paint from bleeding thru. I had an old piece of foam board. Hobby Lobby sells cardboard tshirt forms for this purpose but they're not neccessary. 

Next place the paper with your image on the shirt where you want it. 

Then place the screen (emb hoop) over the paper. It should be upside down so that the screen is directly on the shirt. 

 

I don't have a pic of this but here is where you'd squeeze some paint across the top of your image. Then using a squeegee you drag it down until the image is sufficiently covered. 

Then just lift off the hoop. The paper just stays stuck to the hoop which is good. Easy to use on the next shirt. 

This was so easy and FUN to do! I ended up doing the word STAFF on the back for my helpers' shirts then did DAD and MOM on Paul's and my shirts. I put 7 on the 7th on the back of Michaels shirt. The shirts were great for the party. I had to go cheap so used mostly thin undershirts but if I were to make them for my kids or for our family I would buy 'real' tshirts. I would make the words bigger too but I really wanted a lot of white so it was ok. 

There are sooooo many possibilities now that I know how to do this and it's so simple. Try it! It's really neat!