Girl Scout Swap Dance Theme

We are new to the world of Girls Scouts this year. But I currently have a brownie and a daisy and my girls are just absolutely loving all things Girl Scouts. I did Girl Scouts in elementary school, so it’s fun to see my girls enjoying some of the same songs, sayings and activities as I did as a child.

I had never heard of swaps, but we got an email a week or so ago from one of Savannah’s troop leaders saying they were going to be doing a swap within their own brownie troop. Basically a swap is just a little something that a girl creates to express her unique self, commemorate an event, make new friends and make new memories. When I explained the idea of swaps to Savannah she decided that she wanted to create a dance themed swap. Generally the swaps are attached to a safety pin so that girls can pin them up on their banners that they have at home…….kind of like a place to display their collection.

Savannah’s main passion and hobby right now is dance. She dances 3-4 days a week with her dance company and just loves everything having to do with dance. She felt like creating something dance oriented would represent her unique self. We set out to try to find some dance themed trinkets, crafts or something from the craft store. We walked around Hobby Lobby for an hour and really didn’t have much luck, but we were on a schedule and didn’t have time to go over to another store. We search for dance buttons, dance themed scrapbook paper, dance charms……..anything, but all we found were some dance stickers that really didn’t suit her. So while we were in the jewelry section, I got an idea on how we could achieve her dance themed swap.

Girl Scout Swap: Dance Theme

Supplies:

Blank Circle Pendant (19mm)

Dancer Clip Art (printable found HERE)

Mod Podge Dimensional Magic

Safety Pins

Pink and Black ribbon or trim

Pink Buttons (optional)

Self laminating sheets or packing tape (optional)

Directions:

Print the dance themed clip art (found HERE). On the back of the pendant package they had given a circle template for cutting the circle to fit inside the pendant. If yours doesn’t have that then you can create your own. Or better yet, if you have a larger round crafting paper punch, that would work great! I’m going to assume most people don’t have a punch, so you’ll just do what I did and trace a circle around each dancer.

Next I decided to laminate the paper. I’m not sure this is entirely necessary, but I didn’t want the ink from the printer to bleed, so I thought this would ensure that the dancer still looked perfect. You can purchase a pack of home laminating sheets at your local office supply store or on Amazon.com. You don’t need a laminating machine. You could also just use some clear packing tape and put that on top of the dancer (they really are so small). Or you could skip this step all together and try your luck.

Once you’ve cut out your circle, place it inside the pendant. Use your Mod Podge Dimensional Magic according to package directions. Occasionally it will get bubbles in it. I’ve found having a straight pin nearby helps to pop any of the bubbles. Dimensional Magic will look kind of cloudy when it goes on, but will dry clear. Allow your pendants to dry overnight.

Next you’ll want to cut whatever trim you are using for your swap. I cut each piece about 7″ long, but you can make them long or short. Either way works!

Next you will put together your swap. We put a button onto the safety pin (just for a little extra fun). Then I also printed Savannah’s name out and cut out little labels (we laminated those as well). We punched a hole in the labels and threaded some trim that I happened to have in the studio (rick-rack and flowers), but regular ribbon would work great too. Then we slid the label onto the safety pin and finally the dancer pendant.

I think these turned out so cute and are SO representative of Savannah and her love of dance. She has 15 girls in her troop so we had to make quite a few. At their meeting this week they will be creating their banners to pin their swaps onto going forward. I know Savannah is going to be excited to bring home 14 new swaps!