Operation Christmas Child

Operation Christmas Child is an amazing Samaritan's Purse program. I've been leading it at my church since I was in sixth grade, so this is my fifth year! The first year, I collected about 30 boxes and last year we collected 59. It doesn't sound like much, but my church is tiny (we have about 75 active members) and if you think about it, that's 59 kids whose lives are touched, so I think it's pretty amazing! This year Samaritan's Purse's goal is to collect 100 million! So my goal, with the help of my church, is to collect 100. Last Sunday, I started passing out the empty shoe boxes. I cannot wait to get them back and look at the goodies! I seriously have so much fun looking through all the toys. I would love it if some of y'all could put together some boxes and maybe even get some of your friends involved! Here are a few things that are great for the boxes:

• Bouncy Balls, yoyo's, slinky's, stuffed animals, dolls, toy cars and other small toys (they just ask you don't include any war related toys, like toy guns)
• Toothbrush and Toothpaste- I like to buy the set with a plastic pouch. I feel like the plastic pouch is a way for them to keep it clean. You can get the sets at Walmart or Target for $1. It's also cost effective if you're making a ton of boxes.
• Soap and Washcloth- I've heard the kids love this, because they have to share bath water and they feel if they have their own soap and washcloth, they're clean.
• Flashlight with Extra Batteries- A lot of the countries the boxes go to have power outages and flashlights are great.
• School Supplies- crayons, notebooks, pencils, pens, markers, erasers
• Hard Candy- lollipops, smarties, peppermints, and gum are great, just no chocolate or other food
• Hair Brushes, Combs, and Hair Clips
• T-Shirts and Socks

National Collection Week is November 12-19. You can find your local drop off location here and here's more information about OCC.

This Weekend's Crafting

This weekend, I painted a chevron monogrammed canvas. It turned out super cute and I wanted to share! Here's what you need:

1) A canvas panel (I used 8x10, but you can definitely get bigger or smaller panels)

2) Sponge Brushes and a Smaller Paintbrush

3) Paint (I used pink and white, but any color will work!)

4) A ribbon to hang your finished work!

5) A ruler, masking tape, and a pencil

First, I drew a grid with one inch square boxes. If I had this to do over again, I would have just done dots at the intersections, instead of the full lines.

Then, I masked off the top triangles.

The other masking is where I got a bit confused. My tape was to fat to be the masked line, so I ended up cutting it in half and overlaying them so I still got the straight edge. So, I first connected A to B, and the C to D, with their straight edges to the outside.

Make sure you press down on your masking tape. My masking tape was old and wasn't as sticky so I still had some leaking. I did paint the edges with white (my contrast color), so some of it would seep under and dry to form a seal.

Then, paint over the whole thing in your color (mine was pink, of course!) You definitely need to do 2 or 3 coats, especially if you drew the entire line grid.

Then, remove the tape. Next time, I'll paint it all white before and have a dotted grid, so I won't have to go back and freehand the white.

I added a pink circle and then my monogram in white!

Finally, I glued a ribbon on the back to hang it from my door knob!

I also glittered a pumpkin! All I did was coat with half elmer's glue half water (I can't find any modge podge!!!) and then glitter! You might want to add another coat of modge podge, just to make sure it doesn't shed!

Happy crafting!