Sandra Vanderveen

Hi - I am also a GEMS counselor, a club coordinator and even an Area Coordinator.

My favorite craft that we've done in my club is a decorative ladder.  It in involves wood, hammering, staining and decorating. The girls loved it.  I even did it with my Women's weekend retreat from my church and they all loved it, especially the ones that aren't crafty (like me).  It is a two-part craft - the woodwork the first night and the decorating the next night.

The wood needs to be cut ahead of time.

Two posts per ladder - 1" x 2" x 4ish ft long.  We found them in the fencing area at Home Depot.  They come in a big bundle. Not expensive. They may have points at the end which you'll want to cut off to be flat.

Rungs - Use another wood post and cut point off then cut into 8" pieces.  To make attaching the rungs easier you might want to mark the post to indicate where rung should be nailed. Three rungs per ladder should be enough with a decent amount of space between the rungs (8 inches or so).

Stain the assembled ladder. Smelly - might want to do outside.

When completely dry, decorate.  We took dried grape vines or young willow branches and bunched a few branches together and attached them to the ladder.  Tie with wire.

We got wooden decorations from Michaels - hearts, stars, etc  (must have small hole on top) and painted them (the girls did the painting at the start of the decorating night).   Attach when dry with wire.  We also bought wood placards and wrote or stenciled WELCOME.  The welcome sign could be done ahead of time or at GEMS. (needs to be painted first).

Looks really good hanging on a wall or by an entry way in your house, at church, etc.