Relaxing & Fun Spa Day for TWeens

For the past few months, I have been trying to pamper myself a little more than usual. I do a lot of running around at work, so when I get home my feet are very tired. I decided to start getting pedicures at least once a month and now my feet feel great and look so pretty. I love picking out a color and then topping it off with glitter!

I recently saw something that really spoke to my heart. On Saturday, I went to get a pedicure and I saw a tween boy getting a pedicure. He and his sister were both getting pedicures while their mom waited in the sitting area. I thought to myself, how cool is this? Later on, I reflected on how these two tweens making lasting memories and bonding which is an amazing thing for a brother and sister to do! 

So, in honor of all of the tweens out there, this blog post is chock full of spa day ideas and activities for guys and girls. Here's a list of fun activities you can do at your library that tweens will love. 

DIY Bath Bombs: Tweens will think you are the bomb after making these amazing bath bombs! 

Homemade Body Scrubs: You'll be tempted to eat these yummy smelling body scrubs.

Easy Towel Wrap: Add colorful ribbon and pins to make this terry cloth wrap unique.

Kool-Aid Lip Gloss: Make these sweet-smelling and tasty lip glosses just for fun. They make great gifts, too!

Glitter Slime: Glittery slime is the coolest thing. 

Hair Chalk: These awesome bright colors go on hair and wash right out. They're just so playful and fun!

Any time is a good time to plan a spa day, so I think I'll start planning mine right now!

Tune in next month for more tips and ideas for tween and teen programming from Mrs. Librarian Lady!

The Antithesis of Valentine's Day

For some reason I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day. You're probably thinking who doesn't like hearts, flowers, and cards? Well, here's how it happened. One fateful night (too many years ago to admit), I had the worst Valentine's Day of my life. I was newly single, and my best friend was about to get married. We went out to what was supposed to be a fun Valentine's Day party, and I sat there and cried my eyes out the whole night. Since then, I have disliked (loathed is more like it) the day that celebrates hearts, couples and flowers. 

I'm so glad I became a teen librarian because it is the perfect way to use my anti-Valentine's Day powers for a good cause. When I first heard of anti-Valentine's Day, I thought it was an awesome concept! One of the first taglines I remember using for promotions was "Do you hate hearts and flowers? Do you think Cupid is stupid? If you don't fall for this overrated Hallmark holiday, then you're in luck!" I've hosted anti-Valentine's Day teen programs since 2012, and each one has been a blast. This year our anti-Valentine's Day theme is "It's not me, it's you," and we are getting excited for this teen shindig! The key to throwing a great bash is to plan a bunch of fun activities and offer delicious treats. Here are a few of my favorite anti-Valentine's Day crafts and activities:

Rude conversation hearts: These angsty little hearts are totally rude, but 100 percent pure fun to make.

Black duct tape roses: Give a black rose to someone you don't love. 

Bling rings: Give your BFFs bling rings, because they deserve all the bling in the world. 

Voodoo pincushion dolls: Teens will absolutely loves these controversial, yet cool, crafts. 

Valentine potion taste test: Are you up for a little fizzy bubbly at your anti-Valentine's Day party?

Geeky Valentine surprise cupcakes and "she's just not that into you" cookies: You can't go wrong with these treats! 

Ultimate breakup playlist: I know it hurts to listen, but the pain will only make you stronger.

Tune in next month for more ideas for tween and teen programming and activities!

Mrs. Librarian Lady

Hello Mrs. Librarian Lady is Back!

Wow!  It's been a long time since I posted here.  I feel bad, but I still have lots of fun ideas for teen programs and crafts.  One thing I just implemented at my library is something called the Teen Make n' Take Station.  This is really cool because each month I come up with ideas and buy the supplies, make a few samples and then put out everything at the station.  It has been wildly popular and I am excited to keep this going for our teens that come into the library.  Here is are a few of the crafts I have had at the Make n' Take Station so far.

September:  Paint Chip Bookmarks -  These were so fun and easy to make!  Visit your local home service store that has paint samples and you'll find all kinds of colors there.  Find different shaped hole punches or decorate with metallic sharpies and stickers.  Anything you do with these bookmarks is awesome!

October:  Decorated Animal Masks - The cutest masks ever :) Just print out the masks and make sure to have stickers, glitter, markers, hole puncher, and lots of ribbon

November:  Simple White Tile Coasters - I bought a box of  50 - 4" x 4" white tiles for $20 and decorated a few of them with colorful and metallic sharpies.  They turned out to be so adorable I gave mine away as gifts!

I'm looking for ideas for December, so if you have any easy holiday crafts ideas let me know!

Mrs. Librarian Lady

Looking Ahead for Fun Summer Crafts

Are you looking for a fun and easy craft to do with teens this summer?  Look no further!  I bet you have all of the materials you need right on hand.  All you need is yarn, school glue, a bowl, and plastic wrap.  That's it and you won't believe how cool it looks when it's all done.  Here are a few links to some awesome Yarn Bowl tutorials.

Y is for Yarn from Fantastic Fun.  Learning blogger Shaunna Evans shows us how easy it is for teens to make a yarn bowl.

Glue Yarn Bowl DIY - Red Ted Art blogger Maggy gives us the scoop on how to make yarn bowls for any occasion.

Yarn Bowl - Kiwi Crate shows you how to get messy with yarn and glue, it looks really pretty when it's done!

Here's a great idea!  How about taking the fun outside and creating life size games for teens to play?  Here are a few ideas that could be a huge hit with teens during the summer.


 Messy Twister Game With A Paint Twist - Try this out, it looks like a blast!

Sponge Water Bombs

Giant Jenga

Tune in next week for more fun summer crafts from Mrs. Librarian Lady!

Teen Summer Challenge Extended!

Hello everyone!  I know it's been a while since I have checked in here.  I've been busy writing for the Programming Librarian blog and was working on a great piece called the Teen Summer Challenge.  I didn't get a chance to finish up on the PL blog, so I was thinking that since summer isn't officially over until September 22nd that I would post the rest of my summer challenge ideas here.  My plan is to post about projects that teens will love to do at the library during the summer. I’ve got ideas for refreshing summer recipes, creative crafts, and even some outdoor activities. If you are a teen librarian or school librarian you can join the challenge by duplicating these engaging ideas at your library. Here's a sneak preview of some of the projects on my summer list that are still left to do:

• Yarn bowls
• Games 101
• Leaf art
• Kaleidoscopes
• Plant pals
• Sock puppets
• Mastering the jump rope
• Waterproofing the jump rope
• Custom crayons
• Lazy summer day playlist

Here are some crafts and activities that I already tried at my library!


Summer Fun with Adorable Tape and Dancing


More Summer Fun with Dream Catchers and Playing in the Dirt


May the Fourth of July Be With You


Feel free to try these crafts and activities out any time of the year!


Love your library!


Mrs. Librarian Lady

Playful Craft Ideas for Teens

It's January and you know what that means? It means that the end of the school year is approaching faster than we think. You know once spring hits there's an edgy and spirited feeling in the air for teens, but really, they can't get too distracted because they still have class assignments, backpacks full of textbooks, and their teachers keep loading them up with homework!

Speaking of being playful, I saw this article “How to Bring Playfulness to High School Students” that really inspired me to think about how we can introduce more fun and playfulness since teens have to deal with so much stress in school. The article talks about the pressure that teens are experiencing with school and how teens need to find time to be creative and have fun in spirte of their daily pressures.

I was lucky enough to see this awesome quote "Never lose your sense of wonder" and I feel like I can identify with this quote so much. If we lose our sense of wonder then we are going to be losing out on having fun and all of the amazing possibilities out there in the world. With the ideas of bringing out playfulness and keeping the wonder in teens lives here are a few ideas for some activities that could bring a bit of playfulness in either a library or after school club for teens.

DIY Embellished Animal Ears - Make these adorable animal ear combs and all you will be all set to look super cute in them!

Eye Magnets - These eye magnets will be an awesome addition to any area in your house or even your locker at school. The eyes have it on this fun craft.

Ultimate Guide to Sharpie Mugs - This guide will help you to make a super cool Sharpie mug! We just made these over the holidays and it was so much fun to draw your own characters and add in your own sayings. You don't need to be an artist, just have fun with it.

7 Layer Sculpey Cake - This darling seven layer cake is so much fun to make. You can make a rainbow colored cake, or choose your own favorite colors of Sculpey polymer clay.

Here are two of my Pinterest boards that have tons of great craft ideas for teens:

Crafty & Fun

Cheap Crafts for Teens

Tune in next time for more great teen programming and activity ideas!

Mrs. Librarian Lady

Look Out All You Fairy Tale Drop Outs!

This week Mrs. Librarian Lady is featuring the new release of Flunked: Fairy Tale Reform School by Jen Calonita!


WOULD YOU SEND A VILLAIN TO DO A HERO'S JOB?

Gilly wouldn't call herself wicked, exactly... but when you have five little brothers and sisters and live in a run-down boot, you have to get creative to make ends meet. Gilly's a pretty good thief(if she does say so herself).

Until she gets caught.

Gilly is sentenced to three months at Fairy Tale Reform School - where all of the teachers are former (super-scary) villains like the Big Bad Wolf, the Evil Queen, and Cinderella's Wicked Stepmother. Harsh. But when she meets fellow students Jax and Kayla, she learns there's more to this school than its heroic mission.

There's a battle brewing and Gilly has to wonder just how good these bad guys are.

Ok, so I bet you are pumped up now to find out about how this awesome twisted mash up of fairy tales plays out. I can tell you that Flunked is clever, cute and adventurous all in one! When Gilly gets busted for stealing a fancy hair clip her whole life goes haywire. She is sent to the Fairy Tale Reform School(FTRS, which seems to have a good mission, but as we get further into the story we find that maybe this reform school might have some major flaws. "Our mission: To turn wicked delinquents and former villains into future heroes." And then we meet Flora, the infamous and so called "formerly wicked stepmother" of Cinderella. Calonita's description of Flora is hilarious. She calls her "stepmonster" which sounds pretty scary to me! Although she does admit that she doesn't have "devil's horns poking out of her head," but rather that she is thin, pointy nosed, with two-tone colored hair.

You'll also love the Happily Ever After Scrolls that frequent the pages of this book. One of my favorites is "Why We Fear Apples: Meet FRTRS's Psychologist, Professor Harlow" which features Harlow the (formerly) evil queen from Snow White and how she has changed and oh yes how she loves fashion and "doesn't terrorize people" anymore. You might also like to know that she like being pretty and extremely dislikes rudeness. And LOL she doesn't have a love life because she is too busy looking at herself in the mirror. Seriously, this is some funny stuff!

I love Gilly because she is such a spirited character and it's so much fun to follow her on her journey in a school of fairy tale misfits. FTRS shows how strong bonds can become when friendships are made, and how sometimes a band of misfits can result in a team working together for the greater good. Enough said, I don't want to give away the ending, which you will never guess who ends up being the most notorious delinquent of all.

Happy reading! I hope you enjoy Flunked by Jen Calonita!