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Spring Break programs for teens at the Fox River Valley Libraries!

We have fun activities going on during the week for anyone staying in the area over Spring Break:

Teen Gaming Club
Dundee Library
Sat., March 26, 2 to 4 p.m.
Hang out and play Wii U, PS3, and Xbox 360 games. Bring your DS/3DS and battle each other, or bring your Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic cards. For ages 12-18. Drop in.

Craft Lab: Duct Tape Projects
Dundee Library
Mon, March 28, 3 to 4:30 p.m.
Make pencil pouches and beads out of colorful duct tape. For ages 12-18. Please register.

Anime Club
Dundee Library
Tues., March 29, 7 to 8:30 p.m.
Weigh in on your favorite manga, make buttons and crafts, play games. Share ideas for future events and meet other anime fans. For ages 12-18. Drop in.

Craft Lab: Duct Tape Projects
Randall Oaks Library
Thurs., March 31, 3 to 4:30 p.m.
Make pencil pouches and beads out of colorful duct tape. For ages 12-18. Please register.

Book Bite: "Great Expectations"

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."

- Great Expectations (1860) by Charles Dickens

Teen Tech Week: Create Pocket Green Screens

This week is Teen Tech Week, and the theme is Create it @ Your Library. This week we will create pocket green screens with mint tins, bright green cardstock, and magnets. We will insert small figures into the pocket green screen and take a picture after they are arranged. Using GIMP, we will remove the green background and insert a fun background. As you see above, I edited the background to make it look like the two boys above are on the moon! The two kids below are on the beach, on a shelf of books!

This program is for teens ages 12-18. Please register:
Monday, March 7, 6:30 p.m. (Dundee Library)
Thursday, March 10, 6 p.m. (Randall Oaks Library)

Book Bite: "Speak" by Laurie Halse Anderson

"Slush is frozen over. People say that winter lasts forever, but it's because they obsess over the thermometer. North in the mountains, the maple syrup is trickling. Brave geese punch through the thin ice left on the lake. Underground, pale seeds roll over in their sleep. Starting to get restless. Starting to dream green."

- Speak (1999) by Laurie Halse Anderson

Make string art in Craft Lab!

All you need is cardstock, needle and embroidery thread, tape, paperclips, and a silhouette design to make your own frame-worthy string art.

We will be doing this project in Craft Lab at Dundee Library and the Randall Oaks Library on these dates (be sure to register!):

For ages 11-18.
Saturday, February 6, 3 p.m. (Dundee Library)
Monday, February 15, 3 p.m. (Randall Oaks Library)

Interested in learning how you can make these cool designs? Here are the steps:

1. Find and print a silhouette design. I chose Darth Vader, and this design turned out to be a little more complicated than the squirrel, fox, and Batman logo above. Working around the holes in his mouthpiece and eyes took a lot of time (between 3 and 4 hours). I'd recommend starting with a simple, solid design for your first string art project.

 2. Choose your color of cardstock and embroidery thread. I went with red cardstock and black thread.

3. Use paperclips to secure your design to the top of your cardstock.

4. Take your needle and poke holes to outline the entire design, plus any "interior" portions of the design, like eyes, nose, etc.

5. When you have outlined all parts of your design, remove the paperclips and top piece of paper.

6. You can choose how many strands of thread to use. For this project I used two strands. Thread your needle and then tape the thread to the back of your project.

7. Now you can get creative and make whatever patterns you wish for your design.

8. The back of the project should look like a bunch of dashes.

9. I recommend working section by section. Later you can go back and fill in sections as you like.

10. When you finish each strand, tape the end to the back of the cardstock. You may also have to do this if you run into a bad knot situation (you don't see it in this picture, but it happened several times as I worked on this project).

11. Notice how for this design I had to go around certain areas so that Darth Vader's mouthpiece, eyes, and helmet would stand out. This required a lot of patience!

12. Here's the finished project. I might still go back and fill in more string where there are some larger gaps.

Make your own scratch art in Craft Lab

In this month's Craft Lab, we'll use cray-pas oil pastels to make unique scratch art. Sign up for the session on Monday, January 18, 3 p.m. at Randall Oaks or on Saturday, January 30, 3 p.m. at Dundee. With a simple technique, we'll create fun designs and mini pieces of art. Read below to see a couple examples!

Steps to make scratch art:

Fill the piece of cardstock with lots of color:

Next, use a black cray pas to completely cover your design:

It should be completely black!

Now, it's time to get creative. Use toothpicks, paperclips, or coins to make your scratch art:

Here's another one I tried with a bull's eye design:

Covered in black:

Scratched up!:

Hope to see you at Craft Lab!