Crossroads Clever Ideas

Last modified: Wednesday, January 24, 2007 05:52 PM

Crossroads Girl Scout Association

Clever Ideas from our Troops

Court Of Awards

Here is an idea to try for your next Court of Awards. Cut out two pieces of felt (brown for Brownies, green for Juniors etc.) in the shape of a vest. It's about the size of a sheet of paper. Then glue the felt to the front and back of half a manila folder or some thin cardboard to give it a little firmness. Make color photocopies of the Girl Scout USA and Council identification strips, troop numbers and felt tab with your pins. We used puff paint to put the girl's names on their vest. When the troop is ready for a Court of Awards you can use tape to stick the Try-its and badges on the front and back of the vest. Put the whole thing in a gallon size plastic zip bag so the badges don't get lost if any fall off. You might also want to add a small zip bag with each girl’s name to put her badges in. The girls then give their vest back to the mom in charge of putting the awards on next time.

Wire Angel

They can range in size from slightly over 1 inch in height to approximately 6 inches...the size is usually determined by the weight of the wire used and the size of the cylinder it is wrapped around.

Materials:
24- or 26-gauge wire
cylinder to wrap wire around *
seed beads or other small beads for halo
bead for head in proportion to body
needle nose pliers

* The wire is wrapped around the cylinder to form the body.
For a cylinder You can use a bottle of acrylic paint, measuring 5-1/2 inches in circumference. For even smaller angels, a standard bottle of acrylic paint can be used or film canisters. For larger angels, use a hair spray can, a pop can or any cylinder that is of the desired size.

Steps:
1. Wrap wire around cylinder, leaving an 8- to 10-inch tail at the starting end. Wrap cylinder anywhere from 15 to 25 times. Try to not overlap the wire when wrapping.

2. When wrapping is completed, cut wire leaving an 8 to 10-inch tail. Carefully slip the wound wire from the cylinder and, holding all the wires together, wrap the tail ends around them one or two times to secure.

3. Select anywhere from three to six wires from the circle and bend them up away from the others. Press them together in the center and press to the top of the circle below. Wrap the tails of wire around them one or two times to secure them to the circles. The loops will form the wings.

4. Bend one tail wire straight up and thread it through the hole in the head bead. String approximately 15 seed beads onto this wire, shape into a circle and push the wire back down through the hole in the bead. Twist the wire together with the first wire. Twist around the neck a time or two; then cut off any excess.

5. Push the body wires up in the center so that a slight upside down heart shape is obtained. Pull the wires apart to separate them. This will give the angel a base on which to stand.

6. Separate the wing wires, and fan them out. Bend the circle of seed beads forward to form a halo.

Giving this as a gift for a leader or volunteer in you troop. Use green wire and one of these two poems. I have found two versions of the Green Angel poem and posted both of them here.

Credit where credit is do.
Pictures and Information from:
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/cr_metal_wire/article/0,1789,HGTV_3257_3897570,00.html