Summer Nostalgia

When I was younger, alright, when I was of age to be technically considered a child (although I personally feel I was never really a child, just an old soul who was having fun doing childish things) I went to summer day camp at the YMCA.  Now, day camp was about as much as I could possibly handle at the time.  I've never necessarily been the first person to jump to mind when the term "outdoors-y" is thrown around, nor did I aspire to submit to daily tick checks; however, day camp was great.  Arts & crafts abounded, brown bag lunches encouraged and enough Vitamin-D gained through exposure to sunlight to ensure that I didn't have to get checked for Rickets, all of which was fine by me.
I guess with the onset of summer and some pretty large life changes roaming just there on the horizon, I've been getting a tad nostalgic for the times when my biggest worry was not being able to tie-dye a t-shirt to make it look exactly like the ones you could buy.  So in no particular order, here are what those days back at YMCA day camp made me think of:

Clearly Canadian- To put it mildly, this stuff was my jam.  Every day at lunch.  Sure the bees couldn't get enough of me, but did I care? Nope. 

GIMP- There were just never enough spools of this to go around.  If you didn't make friendship bracelets as a kid, I simply don't know how to relate to you, I mean I'm sure I'll figure it out, but something key is missing from our shared upbringing experience.

If you want to get into it all over again, there are some nice, slightly more updated tutorials on how to bring this classic arts and crafts staple back into your daily wardrobe:

Over at I SPY DIY there's THIS how-to guide

Or you can take some cues (or just skip the DIY frustration and buy them) from ETSY stores like THIS or THIS

Tie Dye-if you're like me, Tie-Dye-ing was probably your introduction to the DIY world.  It was fast, easy, and could keep kids occupied for long enough to give camp counselors and parents alike a decent enough break.  Mine never came out looking like the one pictured, nor have I tried it very often since, but summer pretty much seems to scream the only acceptable time during the year for sporting your homemade swirly goodness.  For the shirt pictured, you can just go ahead and buy it HERE or if you're looking for a nice afternoon project for yourself  the kids, there are some more updated tutorials:

Tie Dye Denim- from UNIQUE
Helpful Hints-from Urban Outfitters
Bunches of Projects-from Paper & Stitch

Baby Love-The Supremes


I can't explain to you why this was the song that I knew all of the words to at the time I was attending day camp, but I'm sure that it probably explains why I was usually chosen towards the bottom of the kickball team barrel