I am still stuck at home, living off tea and generic DayQuil. I have also discovered that I cannot access most of my work files here at home because the new laptop my husband bought me doesn't yet have any Microsoft suites. *grumbles* Hopefully this will be remedied sometime this coming week.
So in the meantime, I can only post through program pictures I have access to. And so, we have yet another program from the hat of my amazing colleague and friend, Susan! I had the privilege of helping out with prep and day-of shenanigans.
This one is another teen program for all the Dr. Who lovers! She put this one on in honor of the 50th anniversary release. The turn out was AMAZING and the teens loved every minute! There were a number of stations/crafts that the teens were able to circulate through at will.
By and far the favorite station was making sonic screwdriver pens. Susan got the idea from Doodle Craft but it took a lot of testing on her part to get things to work out. We had to use toaster ovens for baking and first we had to make sure the temperatures were right (one oven ran too hot and had to be put out of commission) which involved getting an oven thermometer. Susan also had some browning issues on her trial runs and found out that baking the pens in a parchment paper tent on ceramic tile was the only fix. Thankfully she's done a lot with that clay before. I would never have figured all that out!
The second favorite craft was the Tardis plushie station. Fleece was on sale, so Ibought a bunch and I spent a few hours (an episode of Sleepy Hollow and some change) stitching and stuffing little blue rectangles. We then gave the teens access to extra fleece, scissors, and fabric glue to decorate their Tardises (Tardi?). This craft was my idea, so I take responsibility for the following: we also gave them puff paint for writing. Apparently they needed a little guidance on what we thought they'd do with what. The first few teens tried using nothing but puff paint to decorate their Police Boxes. Very messy and takes decades (not literally) to dry. Also, Murphy's Law kicks in around puffy paint; any uncovered surface WILL make contact with the paint. Use a drop cloth. A big one!
By far the most complicated (but beautiful) project was the DIY River Song's journal. This involved mini composition notebooks, card stock, tissue paper, and lots and lots of decoupage. It also involved liberal use of an Xacto knife. Which we probably ought to have done before the program, seeing as we couldn't very well give knives to teens. (Legal reasons and such.) I spent about 50% of the program cutting out templates like the ones on Glitter Mint and when I wasn't cutting, Susan was. It wasn't horrible, but it as time consuming.
In the picture above you can also see a scrap from some Dr. Who Papercraft we printed out. However, it wasn't a huge hit... there was just too much else to do! I think only one teen did the papercraft at all; likely the one pictured above. I still have a pile of these things on my desk. (I can't bring myself to waste perfectly good papercraft!)
Another of my brainchildren was the "How to Tie a Bowtie" station. I got a roll of scrap fleece (double sale!) and used my husband's bow tie as a template to cut out 40-some fleece bow tie shapes. I also threw together a how-to paper (which I currently can't access per previously mentioned reasons) using this website and we brought out the staff iPad so the teens could play YouTube clips on how to tie bow ties. (This is the one my husband used to learn. He took the iPad into the bathroom and played the clip over and over until he got it right. Then he taught me. Now we're both bow tie pros!)
Throughout the whole program we played Dr. Who Scene It on the TV. Occasionally it would draw small crowds (like the one below), but most the time the teens just shouted out answers at random. It was pretty cool and sparked a lot of conversation. We were lucky to know someone who had a version of Dr. Who Scene It. I can't find it online at all... not unless you want to bid on it somewhere! Maybe I just don't know where to look. Perhaps looking further than Amazon would help... but I'm not up to tempting fate.
The program was a huge hit! We had a line at the door before we were even finished setting up and had to kick people out in the end! There were costumes and sonic screwdrivers everywhere, and all the craft supplies (except the papercraft) was all used up! It was really wonderful. I had the idea that whenever Susan and I left the room we would draw hash marks on ourselves, then come back in like nothing happened. It was funny to see the teens react. The key was trying to be appropriately surprised when they mentioned it. I am not an actress.
And that's that. All around amazing! Admittedly a little pricey, but worth every penny!
So in the meantime, I can only post through program pictures I have access to. And so, we have yet another program from the hat of my amazing colleague and friend, Susan! I had the privilege of helping out with prep and day-of shenanigans.
 |
| Me trying to look intense and Dr.-ish. |
This one is another teen program for all the Dr. Who lovers! She put this one on in honor of the 50th anniversary release. The turn out was AMAZING and the teens loved every minute! There were a number of stations/crafts that the teens were able to circulate through at will.
By and far the favorite station was making sonic screwdriver pens. Susan got the idea from Doodle Craft but it took a lot of testing on her part to get things to work out. We had to use toaster ovens for baking and first we had to make sure the temperatures were right (one oven ran too hot and had to be put out of commission) which involved getting an oven thermometer. Susan also had some browning issues on her trial runs and found out that baking the pens in a parchment paper tent on ceramic tile was the only fix. Thankfully she's done a lot with that clay before. I would never have figured all that out!
 |
| Faces were blurred to protect the innocent. |
The second favorite craft was the Tardis plushie station. Fleece was on sale, so Ibought a bunch and I spent a few hours (an episode of Sleepy Hollow and some change) stitching and stuffing little blue rectangles. We then gave the teens access to extra fleece, scissors, and fabric glue to decorate their Tardises (Tardi?). This craft was my idea, so I take responsibility for the following: we also gave them puff paint for writing. Apparently they needed a little guidance on what we thought they'd do with what. The first few teens tried using nothing but puff paint to decorate their Police Boxes. Very messy and takes decades (not literally) to dry. Also, Murphy's Law kicks in around puffy paint; any uncovered surface WILL make contact with the paint. Use a drop cloth. A big one!
By far the most complicated (but beautiful) project was the DIY River Song's journal. This involved mini composition notebooks, card stock, tissue paper, and lots and lots of decoupage. It also involved liberal use of an Xacto knife. Which we probably ought to have done before the program, seeing as we couldn't very well give knives to teens. (Legal reasons and such.) I spent about 50% of the program cutting out templates like the ones on Glitter Mint and when I wasn't cutting, Susan was. It wasn't horrible, but it as time consuming.
In the picture above you can also see a scrap from some Dr. Who Papercraft we printed out. However, it wasn't a huge hit... there was just too much else to do! I think only one teen did the papercraft at all; likely the one pictured above. I still have a pile of these things on my desk. (I can't bring myself to waste perfectly good papercraft!)
Another of my brainchildren was the "How to Tie a Bowtie" station. I got a roll of scrap fleece (double sale!) and used my husband's bow tie as a template to cut out 40-some fleece bow tie shapes. I also threw together a how-to paper (which I currently can't access per previously mentioned reasons) using this website and we brought out the staff iPad so the teens could play YouTube clips on how to tie bow ties. (This is the one my husband used to learn. He took the iPad into the bathroom and played the clip over and over until he got it right. Then he taught me. Now we're both bow tie pros!)
 |
| Practicing where they can see the bow tie. |
 |
| Its honestly easier to practice this way. |
Throughout the whole program we played Dr. Who Scene It on the TV. Occasionally it would draw small crowds (like the one below), but most the time the teens just shouted out answers at random. It was pretty cool and sparked a lot of conversation. We were lucky to know someone who had a version of Dr. Who Scene It. I can't find it online at all... not unless you want to bid on it somewhere! Maybe I just don't know where to look. Perhaps looking further than Amazon would help... but I'm not up to tempting fate.
The program was a huge hit! We had a line at the door before we were even finished setting up and had to kick people out in the end! There were costumes and sonic screwdrivers everywhere, and all the craft supplies (except the papercraft) was all used up! It was really wonderful. I had the idea that whenever Susan and I left the room we would draw hash marks on ourselves, then come back in like nothing happened. It was funny to see the teens react. The key was trying to be appropriately surprised when they mentioned it. I am not an actress.
And that's that. All around amazing! Admittedly a little pricey, but worth every penny!
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