May Book Club, Meeting #8

Supplies and prep:

• pretzels
• printer paper plus art supplies
• prepared silhouettes
• small inexpensive frames
• various scrapbook paper sheets
• cupcakes

We had a word search with American Girl names AND the names of girls in our book club to do as everyone arrived. And of course pretzels! 

Book discussion: Our discussion was pretty much a free-for-all. Most of the girls have read these books years ago. The theme was really to celebrate each individual girl, just like the American Girl series does. We did talk specifically about each girl's own name and if they know why their parents chose it. 

The main activity required a lot of preparation beforehand. I had taken profile pictures against a blank wall at the previous month's book club meeting. I used a computer program to "cut out" the background so I was left with just the silhouette. I printed these on small black chalkboard paper with adhesive backing that I found at a craft store. Then cut them out with scissors and exact-o knife. I also had a couple packs of scrapbook paper, lots of variety. I found small colorful frames.

To assemble their silhouettes, each girl got to choose a frame and background from the stash. They had to trim the paper to fit the frame, then peel the adhesive back and put their silhouette on. Some chose to write their name underneath, or their age. Then reassemble the frame, glass, paper, backing and voila!

We did a second craft, since this one didn't take too long. This was a fun craft using each girl's names, since we'd talked about it earlier. You fold a paper in half and write your name in cursive, or close print, making sure to always touch the bottom fold. Then turn it around and trace it on the other side. When you unfold it, the mirror images of each name make a unique design that is fun to color.
A simple dessert of cupcakes and water to finish off the night.