4H County Fair projects

Every year, we tell ourselves that there will not be any last minute projects made for the county fair. And EVERY YEAR, the kids are scrambling to finish all of them and get all their goals written, photos printed to show the process to the judges, etc. 

                    .....oh the joys of motherhood, and procrastination!

Today, I wanted to show you all what they made....and some other projects that I saw in other booths that I found awesome.

Sierra's first project was to dye pillowcases. She did a fold and clamp method that we saw on The White Buffalo Styling Co. You can watch Lindsay's tutorial HERE. Sierra started with 2 plain white pillowcases that we purchased for just pennies at Goodwill! 

                   .........(Have I mentioned how much I love that store???) 

And we bought a few different colors of RIT Liquid Dye to choose from. 

This was a fun, easy-peasy project to do...I have purchased YARDS of white fabric since then to hopefully do some more projects with this method! Sierra's pillowcases turned out pretty cool, huh?

                          ......one blue, one pink

And yes, our volleyball net makes a great clothes line :)

This was the start of Sierra's second project...we are obsessed with everything "tribal" right now, especially dream catchers. She used a giant embroidery hoop and a doily that we already owned, and made this amazing large statement piece dream catcher. 

                     ....already looking beautiful

Using feathers from our farm, the only thing she really had to purchase was the leather straps and some of the wooden beads. This has already moved onto 3 different walls, I love it so much, and move it into whatever room I'm spending most of my time in on that day...

{Sorry for the grainy cellphone picture}

Now my creative little soul, Wyatt. He has so many dreams and plans throughout the year, it's hard to get him to narrow down the projects that are actually do-able for our tight (procrastinating) time-frame.

He started this snowman out of woodblocks at a 4H project meeting, then the club members were to take it home to finish it however they would like. Since it was the heart of summer...here is what he came up with....

You have all seen Frozen, the Disney-animated movie, right? Well this is Olaf. Isn't he cute?

Wyatt has gotten quite good at wood-burning...and loves every excuse to burn wood that he gets.

          ....so, of course he had to have several items to show off his skills!

This piece of wood was a scrap from our pile. It kinda has a mountain range look to it... and you know this mama can't resist mountains! 

             ....or our family name displayed anywhere and everywhere!

And with other wood scraps, my lil wood-burner came up with these....

These are garden markers! And they look so beautiful in our garden.

What I love about making projects for 4H, is that the kids get to use their creativity. They prepare a goal sheet and write (book report style) about the elements of design, costs of the project, etc. I really do "make" them do this on their own...it gives them a sense of pride...

                        .....I hope......

Here are some projects from other children's booths, some of these are really quite amazing! I only hope that the kids actually did these themselves! ;)

Both of these projects were selected to move onto the State Fair, and with good reason.... I would buy these any day! 

 I am so mad at myself for not having my camera to take these, they turned out so blurry, but I wanted to share this bookcase that spells out "Love", what a fun wood project I bet this was to make! And who could resist that little table in front of it? It's a flag pattern made from tops of beer bottles...

                         ......recycling at it's best :)........

And we personally know the girl who made this project, I thought it was a genius idea.... a spot for each family member's drink. This is where you keep it throughout the day, so no confusing who's is whose and no dirtying several cups. I just may have to copy this for our family! 

                          ....ain't nobody got time to do dishes all day!

Oh, how could I forget Wyatt's BIG project? He had been planning this all winter, and couldn't wait to see it done! I showed a peak of it on our Facebook page , but here it is again: The Miniature Garden

This now sits proudly on our back porch! And he is in the planning stages of next year's Miniature Garden... 

         ...... but won't actually DO it until a few days before the Fair I'm sure!