Friends With Flair ~ A New Generation of Stampers!

I had the best time this past week!!! Lots of rambling and pictures ahead!

I was invited to lead an activity for the youth group at a daycamp that was held for girls age 8 through 11. I got to choose the activity within the theme, "Past, Present, Future". I chose to have the girls make a collage cover for a journal, for them to record their wishes, dreams and plans in.

I bought a composition book for each girl, and brought along a huge stack of scrapbook paper, every black stamp pad that I had...and my big box of Unity Itty Bitty stamps! I keep all my SOTW and the other Itty Bitties that I have in one box...and I figured that it would be easier for the girls to sort through and choose than flipping through binders (and that it would be far more likely that my stamps would be semi-organized when they were done!

I had the girls cover the front and back of the composition books with torn bits of paper, then they could glue on their name that I cut with my Silhouette. After that, they were allowed to move to the 'stamp' table to choose stamps and apply the designs to the book. To finish up, if they wanted to glue some ribbon on the edge they could.

They had so much fun!!! I had so much fun watching them plan and decide then jump in to create! I love that they all look unique. Some of the girls covered every bit they could, some were more particular about what they put on...and all of the girls were so accepting of the creative process! None of them fussed about things not being 'perfect'. It was wonderful!

This was the sample I made to show them how it could look.

The girls were in awe of the selection of stamps...they thought I was joking when I told them that the box was not even a quarter of the stamps that I own...please tell me that some of you can relate???? I was grateful that the selection of stamps was so varied in style and theme...pretty much anything the girls asked for, they could find in the box. Big flower? Check! Owls and penguins? Check! Bicycle? Check! Heart? Double Check! Young girl? Check! Puppy? Hmm...looks like that one should go on the request list for the SOTW! Who wants a puppy SOTW by Phyllis Harris??? Ooh yeah!!!

I'm hoping that the leaders decide to make this an annual event! I know that the projects will change, but I'm sure that I can share my love of paper and stamping with the next generation again!

All in all, a great start to my week...and now I get to finish off my week with the linky party on the Unity Blog ~ Friends with Flair!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Meredith