Cookies, and patches, and elves. Oh my!

As an avid supporter of both the Girl Scouts of America and cookies I was honored to have the opportunity to design this years ‘Super [cookie] Seller Troop’ patch for the Colorado chapter. You can see here the production artwork and the final piece:

A sugary doorway to heaven if ever there was one.

These are commissioned pieces so while I generate the artwork they are heavily edited for production. I wanted more color, less heaven. Potential detail is also obviously a limitation. Something that looks relatively simple can translate all funky in embroidery. Note the ‘Early Bird’s’ unfortunate crest, he’s never going to get any ladies or cookie sales with a crest like that -and it’s all my fault. Alas.

Just in case you’re not familiar with the early bird: he’s a cookie selling role model, meant to be emulated with early cookie sales.

I have designed a few other patches for the Girl Scouts over the years. Predictably my favorite is the Mile High Space Camp patch:
At the tender age 8 of I followed in my fathers bold footsteps and became a Girl Scout.
To clarify that: my grandmother was the troop leader and as there were no boyscout troops in the rural area he grew up in, he was officially christened the troop ‘elf’.

I feel this portrait of the Founder of the Girl Scout Empire, Juliette “Daisy” Gordon Low, accurately conveys her motivations for starting an organization dedicated to enabling women to be dynamic and self sufficient. Here we see young Juliet stuffed into a pink frilly mess, eyes silently begging to host a food drive or go camping in a sensible cotton uniform.

In 1912 Juliet made good on her belief that women should be let out of the house and pink frills once in a while when she founded the Girl Scouts of America. Girl Scouts was and remains run exclusively by women, for girls and women. Although my dad and I can both attest that they still accommodate the occasional rural farm boy and gender-bending little girl.

The aim of the organization is that girls develop to their full potential by: relating to others with increasing understanding, skill, and respect; developing a meaningful set of values to guide their actions and to provide for sound decision-making; and contributing to the improvement of society.

That’s good stuff.

My Girl Scout troop was the perfect forum for a lonely tomboy to learn by doing and to feel accepted.

The lessons learned,  friends made and patches earned were hugely formative for this lil’ Olive. -To this day I still love tying knots, eating cookies and starting fires!

Here’s a big shout out to The Girl Scouts of America, my troop leader (Hi Mrs. T!), my troop sisters (783 Represent!) and all those lovely lil’ girls (and the occasional rural boy) out there, who are realizing their full potential!