It's Coming...

VBS, that is!

 

This was the first version announcing our Vacation Bible School (Shipwrecked Theme).

 

A couple of weeks later I added a larger ship that was a little closer.  (I took off the smaller one but left it in this picture for comparison.)

 

Later I added photos of some of the volunteer staff.  I had a photo booth set up at our training session and I loved the pictures so I added them to the bulletin board.  When it was time for VBS I added the wrecked ship.  I will be adding pictures of the kids soon.

SOS - VBS Bulletin Board

 

We are in full swing preparing for VBS.  This year's theme is "Shipwrecked".  I did this bulletin board trying to recruit help. 

 

In this close-up you can see our VBS director in the porthole of the sinking ship pleading for help.  😄

He Is Risen!

I was asked to do a bulletin board for Easter.  I knew it would only be up for a few weeks and I needed to hurry, so I did this one in record time.  I did some creative recycling (starting to get the hang of that) by using the mountain from the bulletin board I was replacing (posted HERE).  I'm sure it is not geographically correct, but it gets the main point across.

Pastor Appreciation Bulletin Board - Flowers

A few years ago I did a bulletin board for Pastor Appreciation (found HERE).  This year I finally got around to replacing it with this one.  Once again I had church members write short notes of encouragement and/or appreciation to the pastor and his wife, only this time I used flowers instead of lambs.  This one was also inspired by various ideas on Pinterest (my best friend).

Although I did plan ahead a little more for this one, I still ended up rushing through the assembly.  I cut the flowers out a couple of weeks in advance and handed them out, but I had to wait for them to be returned to me before I could put it all together.  I decided the flowers needed to be inked so I did that last minute too.  Fortunately, I was able to reuse the cloud border from some previous bulletin board, and I made a similar shaped border for the bottom to resemble bushes.

Unfortunately, the photo is not very good, but I added two tiny butterflies and bent their wings to make them 3-D.  Except for the ones for the word "GROW", the flower stems and leaves were drawn after I had already stapled down the flowers.  (Definitely not the best way to do it, but I had to come back and add them later because I just ran out of time).

90th Birthday Party

My mother-in-law just celebrated her 90th year here on Earth.  We were thrilled to celebrate with her and throw her a party.  As usual, things didn't go exactly as planned and I didn't make half the decorations I had hoped to, but nobody knew that except me (and maybe anybody who saw my Pinterest board).  I made her a photo book with pictures from all throughout her lifetime.  I had it printed at Costco and used it as a guest book.  Compiling and organizing all the photos took many more hours than I care to count, so that set me way behind for the party decorations.  I've learned to just let it go and it will be fine.  The important thing is that we all had a wonderful time and she can't stop talking about it.

 

 

 This was the bulletin board I did with lots of pictures of her and her family and friends.  I'm (unofficially) in charge of bulletin boards at my church (where we had the party) and this one was due for a change, which worked out great for me.  I did this for the party and then changed it out for our Homecoming celebration the next day.  I cut out the Happy Birthday balloons and the big 90 on my Silhouette machine.  You can't tell from the picture, but the letters and numbers were cut from white glitter cardstock and the balloons were cut from three different teal cardstocks (one was embossed).  I really like how they turned out.  I wish I had gotten better photos, but we were really pushed for time just to get things set up before the guest of honor arrived.

 

 

 

Here is a close up of the Happy Birthday balloon banner.

 

 

 

It took me forever to decide on what I wanted to use for centerpieces.  (I needed ten.)  I knew I wanted to use something with photos, but I had trouble choosing exactly what.  Lack of time finally made the decision for me so I made these lanterns since I thought they would be quick.  They would have been but I had to battle with both my printer and my Silhouette machine.  Also, I wanted to be able to possibly use these again in the future, so I assembled them using repositionable glue so I could store them flat.  It worked pretty well, but it slowed things down some.  The cut file was from SVG Cuts Tiki Party set (found HERE).  I wanted it larger than I could fit on the page, so I had to make some adjustments to the file before cutting.  Inspired by a few different ideas on Pinterest, I printed on vellum two different photos and alternated with text panels for each lantern.  I also cut lots of 90 confetti and spread around everywhere.

 

 

 

 Of course I had to make a crown for the party princess.  She wore it proudly during the entire party.  The cut file was a freebie by Bird's Cards.  I adjusted the file to fit an adult and cut it from silver glitter cardstock.

 

 

 

 This was also inspired by Pinterest (both the punch and the Fountain of Youth sign).  I love Pinterest!

 

 

 

 Costco made the cake, but I added the 90.  I had to guess at what size to cut it since we didn't pick up the cake until right before the party, and I almost made it too big.  I cut it from glitter cardstock and mounted it on clear plastic.

 

 

 

Here is the gift table.  (She requested no gifts, but she is just too loved.)  I had one of my helpers scatter more photos and 90 confetti.

 

 

 

 I take no credit for this.  My helpers did a beautiful job with the food table. 

 

 

 

 Dessert Table

 

 

 

I picked out some of the most interesting-looking/funny photos and placed one at each table for a game.  I asked the guests at each table to work together to make up a story about their photo.  Some tables had one or two sentence stories and others had two or three pages!  LOL 

 

Another Bulletin Board

A while back I told my husband I was done with bulletin boards for a while, but soon after I said that I was specifically asked by the church secretary to decorate two bulletin boards in the hallway outside the church offices.  I was in the middle of helping with my daughter's wedding and a baby shower for my daughter-in-law.  I told her I needed to get through the craziness and then I would see what I could do.

Now, a full year later, I finally got one of them done.  I have a plan for the other one, but I am facing some more craziness, so that one will have to wait a little while longer (hopefully not a year).

For this one, I blended ideas I found on Pinterest and other places on the internet.  I used burlap as the background and burlap ribbon for the border.  The Bible verse was specifically requested by the secretary.  For the mountain I just very quickly tore kraft paper and crumpled it for texture.  The little climbing man was recycled from another bulletin board I had previously done.  (I guess I still need to post that one.)  This is a simpler version than what I originally planned (in fact I had several completely different ideas through the course of a year), but I was on a bit of a time crunch and just wanted to get it done.  I put it up in record time (for me, at least). 

Batman/Superhero Party

 

Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh, BATMAN!

 

I had fun making this backdrop for a Batman theme birthday party for a couple of pretty special little people in my life.  This was done using bulletin board paper for the sky and buildings.  The windows were cut from various shades of yellow paper.  The Batman logo and comic action words were added later digitally.  I could have cut some photo props using my Silhouette or Cricut, but I ran out of time.  As is pretty typical for me, I didn't start on it until late in the evening and stayed up all night to finish it for the party the next morning.  That's just how I roll.

 

I think everyone had fun using it as a photo booth.  We even got the 90-year-old great-grandmother in on the fun! 

 

Two things I wish I had done -- I wish I had made it bigger (for larger groups), and I wish I had taken a picture of it with no one in it to use as a digital background.  Actually, I guess it would be quite easy to recreate on my computer.

 

There are a lot of photos here, but be sure to check out the last few.  They're my favorites!

 

 



I also made this gift bag for the Batman-wannabe guest of honor.  I cut the logo using my Silhouette machine.

 

 

Now I'll have that song in my head for days!

 





New Year Bulletin Board

Obviously this is another old bulletin board.  It was meant for the beginning of the new year, but it could be used for anytime (minus the year).  It's just a simple bulletin board encouraging church members to find what service best fits them.  The ones in the middle were highlighted and changed out weekly.

It's been so long ago I can't remember much of the details.  I do know the snowflakes were cut from sparkly prism-type paper (Crayola Stardust) which reflects the light and makes them look different colors.  I believe the puzzle pieces were cut using print and cut on the Silhouette Cameo.

Bulletin Board Promoting Sunday School

Once again my blog has been neglected.  I'm so far behind I didn't even know where to start, so I just hunted down something that matched the season. 

A few years ago I was asked to do this bulletin board and was given the layout, so I can't take credit for the design.  The only thing I added was the bird, which I moved each week to highlight that week's theme.

I used my Cricut to cut everything.  The bird is from the 50 States cartridge and the leaves are from A Child's Year.  The cut letters are the free font in Cricut Craft Room.

Faith Girlz Fall Door and Sign

I guess I'm pretty out of season on this one, but I haven't posted in so long I just dug up whatever I could find.  This was our classroom door in the Fall of 2013.  I cut the tree out of a brown paper roll and just crinkled it up to give it texture.  I added the "hole" in the tree trunk intending to add some animal peeking out, but like so many other good intentions, it just never happened.  I'm sure he's in there somewhere, but I guess he is just a little more timid than I thought.  :-)  I cut the pumpkins out using one of my cutting machines (probably my Cricut, but I've slept since then, so I can't remember for sure).  The leaves were purchased at the Dollar Tree, as was the owl cutout.

My favorite part was the sign.  I cut it out of two layers of heavy textured cardstock and sanded it to make it more rustic.  The font was from the Pooh Font cartridge.  I added line details and "nails" (dots) with a very fine point brown Sharpie.  I hung it using some jute.  I was very pleased with how it turned out.  I wish the pictures showed the texture and dimension a little better.

Here is a scan of the sign.  The color is way off, but it shows some of the detail better.

Jesus Is Our Greatest Gift

This is the quickest and simplest bulletin board I have ever done, but I like it and especially the message.  I combined ideas from the following three pins:  Victorian Christian Woman, Home and Heartstrings, and The Classroom Creative.  Thank you all for the ideas!

I used wrapping paper with the names of Jesus (from Hobby Lobby) as the background paper and just used some ribbon I already had.  I made the tag on my computer and attached it with some more ribbon. 

Pin the Nose on Rudolph

This is a Pin the Nose on Rudolph game I made last year for our children's Christmas party at church.  I started with a blue poster board and then hand cut the "snow" on the ground.  The snowflakes are punches.  I already had the Christmas tree from another project (to possibly be posted at a later date).  The tree is from the Cricut cartridge Paper Doll Dress Up, and it is decorated with different punches.  The cute little Rudolph is cut on my Silhouette using a cut file by Stinkin Cute,  and the little silhouette of Santa's sleigh is from Paper Piecings by Nikki.

Pastor Appreciation

This year for Pastor Appreciation the Faith Girlz made hearts and we posted them on the wall for the pastor and his wife to see. 

Very simple, but I think it was enjoyed by all.

Pray for Our Students Bulletin Board

This bulletin board was inspired by one I had seen on Pinterest found  here.  Sometimes we need to be reminded to pray for our young people.  The challenges they face on a daily basis would probably surprise most of us.  Satan is attacking them from every direction.

 

The school building was cut on my Cricut using the Locker Talk cartridge.  I had a really difficult time with it.  I designed it in Cricut Craft Room and made it as large as I could using the 12x24 mat.  I cut the base from white posterboard.  I had separated out all the layer pieces by using the Hide Contour feature.  However, when I went to cut the layers, the machine just wouldn't cut.  After much frustration, I finally realized it was because some of the hidden images were hanging off the mat.  Even though I didn't want to cut those pieces, the Cricut still recognized them as all one cut.  Lots of wasted time and stress.  At that point I could have started over using my Silhouette Cameo (which will allow things to hang off the page, but wouldn't have been necessary for this project) and another schoolhouse cut file I have.  I decided instead to just color, cut, paste, and whatever else needed to be done to make this cut work.  Lesson learned.

 

The cute little students are from the Lettering Delights collection "Baby Got Backpack".  I was going to cut the layers, but by this time I just wanted it done.  So instead I just did a simple print and cut on my Silhouette Cameo.

 

The school bus was cut from the Everyday Paper Dolls Cricut cartridge.  The kids inside the bus are cut on my Sizzix using the Bitty Body die.  Their faces are stamped using the Peachy Keen Everyday Character Face Assortment.  The driver is the Sizzix original doll body.  I made him to resemble my husband who drives our church bus (although I was probably a little generous with the hair). 

I thought a chalkboard look would be appropriate for my title.  I used black cardstock and framed it out using faux woodgrain contact paper.  I wrote the title with actual chalk.

No Greater Love

This was the bulletin board I did for February.  It is very simple but has a powerful message.

I used the print and cut feature on my Silhouette to cut the heart with the Scripture verse (John 3:16).  The cross is cut from faux woodgrain contact paper using the New Testament Cricut cartridge.  The text for the title was cut from vinyl using my Silhouette.

Pastor Appreciation Bulletin Board

October is Pastor Appreciation month.  Our church actually celebrates in September.  I believe that is because that is the anniversary of when our pastor came to our church.  Regardless of when you celebrate it, it is important to let your pastor and his wife know how much they mean to you. 

This bulletin board idea came to me on the day we would be celebrating, so I had to make it in just the few hours I had between church services.  Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a quick crafter, but if I was going to make this happen I had to do this in record time. 

I cut the sheep from the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge and colored the detail using a black Sharpie.  I discreetly passed these out to the members at the dinner following the evening service and had them each write a message to our pastor and his wife.  I even had small sheep for the children.  I wish I had thought about this earlier so I could have had more members participate, but I think our pastor and his wife really enjoyed it.

*** (I finally replaced this bulletin board with the one found HERE.) ***

Bulletin Board: VBS - Colossal Coaster World

I'm a little embarrassed to post this because as I was taking this bulletin board down, I realized that I never actually finished it.  This was to advertise our VBS this past summer.  I intended to put the Scripture verse and maybe some other related info on the bulletin board, but I had trouble deciding exactly what else to add and then I just completely forgot about it.  I was horrified when I realized I had left off the most important part!  Well, it did get a lot of attention, so I guess it served the purpose of advertising VBS.  (But shame on me!)

The "sky" background was some wrapping paper I found on clearance.  The border is a strip of tickets from the Dollar Tree.  The fence and gate along the bottom were cut from the Everyday Paper Dolls Cricut cartridge.  I added the Colossal Coaster World logo over the gate.  I cut the Help Wanted sign using CCR basics and put it on the fence as a subtle hint to fellow church members.  ;-)  The grass in front of the fence was actually a cattails border from Everyday Paper Dolls.  I used the cattails as the flower stems.  The flowers were from a small punch.  The ticket booth, carousel, ferris wheel, waterslide, and the roller coaster on the left are all from the Carousel cartridge. 

The roller coaster on the right is from the Summer Vacation cartridge.  I created the coaster cars by combining several shapes together and manipulating them in CCR until I was satisfied it looked like a roller coaster.  The reason I added my customized cars was because I was originally going to put photos of some of the church members on the rides, but then I decided they would have been too small to notice (and I just ran out of time and motivation).

The plane ride (bottom left) is also from Summer Vacation.

The lakes and some of the trees were from the Campin' Critters cartridge.  The other trees and bushes were cut in various sizes from Everyday Paper Dolls.

Most everything was cut out of poster board since they were so large, and I chose to hand paint them rather than cut layers.  It was a lot of work, but it was fun and I was fairly pleased with the overall result.

 

(See post about the Colossal Coaster World VBS decorations HERE )