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Safe Toys

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 4,819 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—6,550 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life

For this week’s Stitching and Crafting/Safe Toys Merit Badge, my memories harkened back to the good old days of playing hacky sack at the corner of Childhood and Games. Not really; it was the corner of Maple and Main, but you get my poetic license, right?

These double-jointed knees of mine can lob some bean bags through space like you wouldn’t believe. I was the hacky sack champion of ’85-’89, till Skipper quit the Double Dutch Team and really dedicated herself to being my arch nemesis. Grrr … Don’t even get me started on our Macramé War from ’92-’93. Epic.

Anyway, having fun with bean bags is no strange idea for me, so I was all about this badge! I got out all my fabric pieces (you know, those odd-shaped edges you weren’t sure what to do with but didn’t want to throw away?) and some iron-on transfers. First step was locating the iron and then promptly blowing all the dust off of it. Ahem. Never let it be said I don’t know how to iron, precisely; I prefer to think of it as saving energy and occasionally rocking the “lived-in” look. I call it lived-in, you call it wrinkled. Potato, potAHto. Let’s not split hairs.

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Hear Ye!

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Kristina Nelson!

Kristina Nelson (FieldsofThyme, #800) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning a Intermediate Level Scrapbooking Merit Badge.

“I have been adding elements to my own scrapbooks, such as crocheting small items using #10 crochet thread, embroidery, and fabric.

I created a scrapbook to give to my husband. I know the badge suggested giving one to a ‘younger’ person, but I have 6 kids to choose from. So, I created a memory album of our most happiest times together (just hubby and I) taking weekend getaways.

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The most memorable weekend for us was going to an island on the lake. It was so relaxing that I placed a caption on the cover photo “Is it Island Time?”

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  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    What a lovely gift and keepsake! Kristina is so creative all of the time. I am sure her husband and her family will love to look at the album again and again!

  2. Terry Steinmetz says:

    Ah-h-h! Memories of weekends away. I’m sure your hubby appreciated it very much. And keep those memories coming.

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Languages and Culture Merit Badge

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 4,819 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—6,550 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life

For this week’s Merit Badge, Each Other/Languages and Culture, I was excited to try my hand at learning American Sign Language.

(Get it? Try my hand? Sign language? I slay myself).

When I first started this badge, I only knew one phrase in American Sign Language (that’s ASL, for us in the know): “Rock on!”  Turns out what I thought was “Rock on!” and what I sported all through my last Jefferson Airplane concert last summer was really ASL for “I love you.” Now I’m starting to rethink what I thought was my traditional Hawaiian greeting … I thought I was saying something like, “hang loose, bro,” but for all I know I could be saying, “please pass the toilet paper.”

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  1. Elizabeth says:

    This brings back so many memories. Many, many years ago, I worked a catering event for Gallaudet University (had difficulty hearing for several hours after their party but I digress). The University students & faculty member’s were very nice & I quickly learned a few basic words from them, like: hello; thank you; your welcome & such. Shortly after the GU event I bought a book on ASL & learned the alphabet.

    Later, I worked with 2 people (more closely) who are hearing impaired & spoke ASL; they taught me even more words & phrases. But now, decades later, I have forgotten more ASL than I remember. The same can be said w/ the shorthand I studied in high school & the foreign language I could speak (fairly well) when I was young~er:-)

    I think I need a refresher course on all subjects. Just so happens that I still own the ASL book. You’ve given me another project to consider MaryJane. Learning a new language can be challenging, fun & really gratifying. Hope you are enjoying the process.

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Light the Way

The adorable, always humorous MBA Jane is my way of honoring our Sisterhood Merit Badge program, now with 4,819 dues-paying members who have earned an amazing number of merit badges so far—6,550 total! Take it away, MBA Jane!!! MJ

Wondering who I am? I’m Merit Badge Awardee Jane (MBA Jane for short). In my former life

Being a girl who likes some twinkle in her life, a little sparkle, some bling if you will, I was excited to try my very own * drum roll, puhleeze! * …

Outpost Chandelier! (Merit Badge Madge, specifically, beginner level for Make It Easy, Light The Way.)

That’s right, chickadees, nothing says glam like a chandelier, and putting it outside, to shine and glimmer for an evening picnic? Oh my. Perfection with just some fencing, candles, and baby-food jars!

Now before you start jumping to conclusions about me doing any procreating, simmer down and let me tell you, my bestie, Midge, has a collection from her triplets that would put the Gerber company to shame. Seriously, I think we could make everyone in town an outpost chandelier and still have enough left over to store my glitter collection (also extensive).

So, with my jars in hand, and not one, but two pairs of pliers (needle-nose and wire-cutting … look at me, all tool know-how-y!) and a lovely piece of rusty old fence webbing, I was ready to start.

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  1. Winnie Nielsen says:

    This is one chandelier ! I bet it is adorable for the right setting. It is always amazing to me how some people can come up with great ideas from seemingly unconnected or throw away items. I never have any vision for those things but they are truly coming from some sort of artistic flair!

  2. Breanna says:

    Now I want to make one! What a charming post 🙂 thanks for sharing!

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Hear Ye!

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Colina Washburn!

Colina Washburn (rubyleesmom, #3408) has received a certificate of achievement in Cleaning Up for earning a Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert Level Recycling Merit Badge!

“Our community offers many opportunities for recycling. We have 2 recycling centers as well as many containers throughout the county for cardboard, glass, newspapers and plastic. It makes it very easy and convenient.

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Hear Ye!

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Barbara Roberts!

Barbara Roberts (Healthy Eating, #2237) has received a certificate of achievement in Each Other for earning an Intermediate Level Blogging Merit Badge!

“Tina Frey’s book, “Blogging for Bliss” (which I got at the library,) was very entertaining and informative. I had already started a blog using WordPress back in November 2012 and this book helped me learn how to use it better.

The topic I chose was gardening, which is an extension of my passion for helping people to find optimal health. It to me is the next step that people should be taking to insure that what they are eating is the highest quality available.

Growing your own food is of paramount importance when you look at everything that is being done to our food supply. It is scary to me and I am doing what I can to be as self-sufficient as possible and that’s what I am blogging about now.

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Hear Ye!

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Loran Watkins!

Loran Watkins (Loran, #2471) has received a certificate of achievement in Stitching & Crafting for earning an Intermediate Level Aprons Merit Badge!

“I made this apron out of some quilt scraps that I had completely forgotten about. It was part of a ‘Sew Weekly’ challenge and came out quite well. I wore it with my cowgirl boots and cherry bakelite for the full Farmgirl effect.”

 

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