Steampunk your junk.

Steampunk has so many possibilities, and so many complications. Many of the crafts I tired to come up with would require too much time, money or expertise. We finally decided to ask for a little help from our friends. Namely the friends who ran the bookstore. They receive many book donations that they can not sell. Often the books are damaged and dirty and headed for the recycling bin. We asked for those books, so we could give them another chance.
We decided to make book boxes. I admit, this craft took some time. I didn't want to leave the cutting of the book up to the teens, since it had to be done with a sharp blade, so I did it myself. Cutting them is tedious if you have a large group. I gave myself plenty of time. I took my cutting pad, which semi-hard plastic sheet used to cut materials on, and placed it inside my book where I wanted the end of my box to be. Then I started to cut a square into the paged. I left a few pages at the front of the book uncut, to be decorated and to cover the hole. When I was done cutting, I used duct tape to seal the hole. I covered the tape in my book with scrapbook paper so the tape didn't show and my box had a nice design.

This is the front of my book. I used scrapbook paper, scrap-booking rivets, ribbon and a fake flower.

The inside of my book. I used duct tape, scrapbook paper, stickers and pictures I printed and cut out. I also painted the outside of my pages in gold.

The back of my book has some asian coin charms I got online. You can also get them in craft stores. 

This craft was worth the prep time. Teens were concerned about the books being cut up at first, but understanding that they were giving that broken book another chance seemed to really matter. Many of them carried the books around for days after the craft to work on them when they came in after school. Some used pictures of friends and family to fill the free pages, others decorated, drew or used poetry.

I realize it's not steam powered, it's has no clock parts (though it could if you wanted it to), it's not leather or brass. It can be anything you want it to be, look like the future and the past, and it drives you to fill it with what is important to you.

If you don't already have some books on Steampunk, there are a few out there. Most are nice to look at, but more than a little complicated when it comes to making the items inside. Here are some I've at least enjoyed the pictures in-

  

Steampunk Style Jewelry: Victorian, Fantasy, and Mechanical Necklaces, Bracelets, and Earrings

Steampunkery: Polymer Clay and Mixed Media Projects

And, some good YA Steampunk fiction to get you started-

Leviathan

Airman

Thief Lord

Haunting Of Alaizabel Cray

Charming!

Cell phone charms are fun, simple and you can use them for more than your phone. That comes in handy if you have an iPhone, since it lacks the notch to connect a charm to.

You can use an assortment of items to make your charms. I've done this program twice, using different materials. The first time, we used FIMO, a brand of polymer clay. We shaped our clay into our charms (mine was a strawberry with a little green leaf) and place a jump ring in the clay, so that it could be attached when we were finished.

I recommend attaching a lobster claw clasp to the jump ring before placing it inside the clay. You don't need to use a clasp, but it will allow you to attach the charm to bracelets, backpacks, zippers, keychains, etc.
The clay should come with instructions on how to bake it. I printed out copies of the instructions and lets teens take them home to bake. Once baked, the charm is solid. The ring and clasp can be baked along with it, since they are attached. Just be sure to use metal. You can then use the clasp to attach your charm to the cell phone strap.

Where do you get these items? You can get the clay at most craft stores, or through catalogues for children's programs. You can get the lobster clasps and jump rings at craft stores, online (Oriental Trading has them) or my favorite for quality is Etsy.com. It's usually cheaper than the conventional ordering methods, and you have more choices. Make sure that your rings are the open kind, not the shut. If you want to skip the clasp, you will need to be able to open and close the ring around the end of the cell phone strap. You can get the strap from Oriental Trading Company, Etsy, or even make one yourself.

We also used beads to do this craft. I used Sushi lampwork beads I found on Oriental Trading, but you can use any type of bead or charm. I used a headpin to thread the bead and made a loop in the top with pliers. I attached them to a jump ring, and the jump ring to a lobster claw clasp. Some teens chose to use a decorative ribbon, knotted at one end to thread through the bead and tied to the jump ring. This craft is so versatile, there really isn't a wrong way to do it.

Go green, get clean!

Sometimes you find a book that you love so much, you want to build your entire program around it.

EcoBeauty: Scrubs, Rubs, Masks, and Bath Bombs for You and Your Friends

by Lauren Cox and Janice Cox

After flipping through this book, it was clear we needed a spa program for our Make a Splash at your Library summer series. One thing I liked was that most of the ingredients were easy to get. I can't count how many times I've picked up a D.I.Y. spa book, and have no idea what I'm looking for.

Some of the fun things we made-

Molded Glycerine Soaps (we used different molds, food dyes, scents and even glitter to make all kinds of soaps...though you will need access to a microwave)

A popsicle mold, some oil and some sticks with your favorite colors and scents results in a soap you have to remind teens not to eat.

We also had fun with bath salts. We had asked staff to save jars and lids for a few months, which is always a good idea. You can use jars for all sorts of great projects. You will need a few mixing bowls and some trays to let your scents, oils and colors dry on your salts. Then you can mix them to make great gifts. Some teens added ribbons, some made hand printed labels, and some just left the jars as they were. They all looked great.

                                                 

The book features bath bombs, after beach hair spray, foot scrub, chocolate bath soak...even a stress ball made with bird seed and balloons.

EcoBeauty: Scrubs, Rubs, Masks, and Bath Bombs for You and Your Friends

Natural Beauty at Home, : More Than 250 Easy to Use Recipes for Body,Bath, and Hair (Revised Edition)The Green Beauty Guide: Your Essential Resource to Organic and Natural Skin Care, Hair Care, Makeup, and Fragrances

Zen...at your desk.

Making a Zen Garden that would fit on your desk is not hard, or expensive. The only problem we had was in moving them. Our teens didn't want to disturb the images they made in the sand, but the only was to get them home safe was to dismantle them and put everything in a ziploc bag.

Here is what you need-

Plastic Plates- make sure they have a good size rim and are durable. We found square ones that looked great and worked well.
Plastic Forks
Playground Sand- we got this in a large bag at a hardware store. We've used the same bag for several crafts, it goes a long way and looks clean and soft.
Polished Rocks- You could use everyday rocks you find on the ground, but we chose to purchase bags of polished black stones we found at the Dollar Store. I've also seen them at Target in the home decor department.

That's it. You're almost done. Use a cup to pour sand onto the plate. Shake the plate gently to settle sand. Place your stones where you like, and use the fork to decorate in the sand.

It's so simple and looks beautiful.

Candy Sushi, 100% Ick Free

Candy sushi is fun, it looks great and tastes even better. It's also easy to make.
Here's what you'll need-
Rice Crispy Squares (it's much easier to get the pre-packaged ones because they are mess free and the perfect size)
Fruit Roll Ups
Licorice
Gummy Worms
Gummy Fish

• For the roll, take one fruit roll up and unwrap it. It's best to have pieces of wax paper set out to work on, since these will stick to just about anything. 
• Unwrap a rice crispy square and flatten it out with your hands, like dough. Place it on the fruit roll up and try to press it out to the edges.
• Take your gummy worms and some licorice and line them up the middle, from right to left.
• Roll upwards from the bottom, pressing down gently. You want everything to stick together nicely. Once you get to the top, press the edge of your fruit roll up so that it seals the roll.
• Using a knife (even a plastic or butter knife will work), cut your sushi into pieces.

You can make Sashimi by taking a gummy fish and placing it on a piece of rice crispy treat. Take a fruit roll up and cut it into strips that will wrap around the gummy fish and rice crispy treat to make your Sashimi.

Making food is always popular, especially candy. Candy Sushi fit in great for our Anime program.

A good display of books for this program is books on real Sushi.

The Complete Book of Sushi

The Best 50 Sushi Rolls

Easy Sushi

Braiiins!

You may have noticed that zombies have taken a leap in the supernatural race and are passing those tries and true vampires. A good Zombie program doesn't have to wait until Halloween anymore.

The title of our program was Zombie Daze!

We put a few things together that were both easy, and cheap.

First, we put together a Zombie Library Survival Survey. We asked questions like "Where would you hide?" and "What would you take with you?" and my favorite "They heard you. What do you do?" We put all of the finished surveys in a draw for chocolates. You could use other prizes, like more computer time, picking the next movie for movie night...it doesn't have to cost anything.

We also had a contest for best zombie. We had cheerleader zombies, infected doctors, poor librarians with a taste for brains. We also had some teens chose to dress as survivors, with face masks, goggles and water bottles.

Our zombie ducks were frighteningly cute. We ordered little rubber ducks from Oriental Trading Company that glow in the dark. Pulling out our basket of permanent markers, we let teens at them.

One artistic librarian painted a zombie and printed out organ pictures. We then played "pin the organ on the zombie". I suggest tape, since blindfolded teens tend to put kidneys on the wrong zombies.

As a treat, we made jello brains. We found a brain mold in a party store and filled it with pina colada jello, adding a bit of green food coloring. We threw in some gummy worms and it turned out to look almost too icky to eat.

Here is a good book list for your zombie program-

The Zen of Zombie: Better Living Through the Undead (Zen of Zombie Series)
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem!
Zombie Haiku: Good Poetry For Your...Brains
The Forest of Hands and Teeth (*coming to a theater near you!)
The Dead-Tossed Waves (Forest of Hands and Teeth, Book 2)
Zombie Blondes
Feed (Newsflesh, Book 1)
Never Slow Dance with a Zombie
Zombie Queen of Newbury High
You Are So Undead to Me (Megan Berry, Book 1)
Generation Dead
Generation Dead: Kiss of Life
Generation Dead: Passing Strange