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).

Spring Explosion Box

Here are some close-ups of the explosion box mentioned in this post.  It has been so long ago I don't remember many details, but if anyone really cares you are welcome to ask and I'll try to answer any questions.  You can't see it very well in the picture, but the line of green beads is supposed to be a caterpillar. 

Then when you open the box, a butterfly emerges.

This picture shows a little of the detail.  You can barely tell that the corners are punched/embossed.  Each of the boxes I made had different butterfly stickers added.  This one probably was the one I liked least, so I kept it for myself.

 

Ladies Tea 2011

This was from the 2011 annual Ladies Tea at church.  It was my first attempt at anything like this.  I was really outside my comfort zone and very intimidated.  Each table is decorated by a different lady (or team).  The other ladies are so creative and talented.  I won't show their tables so mine won't look so bad.  :-)

We were supposed to give each lady at our table an inexpensive favor.  I made these explosion boxes.  I had planned to give them photos from the tea to add to the inside.  Yeah, that didn't happen.  Oh well.  The ladies at my table were my friends and family and they still love me.  I didn't get a picture of the inside of the boxes because I had stayed up all night finishing the boxes and was running late.  But I do still have one so maybe I'll post more about it later.  (Update:  I posted about the explosion box here.)

I made these as place cards.  My sweet daughter wrote the names for me because she is so much better at that than I am.  The bottom one was for my niece who was 8 months pregnant at the time.  :-)

The centerpiece I made.

This shows what I did for chair covers.  I used white pillowcases over the chairs and then just added the bows and butterflies.

It was near Easter so I made the theme for mine Spring/Rebirth.  I wasn't thrilled with how it turned out, but it was ok and we all had a good time.

She's the Artist

Why is it that I've been crafting all my life (we don't need to talk about just how long that is -- trust me, it's a long time), but my daughter (who has some interest in crafting, but mostly can take it or leave it) can make beautiful cards like this? She is an incredible artist! It makes me proud and jealous at the same time (mostly just proud). These are pretty much her first attempts at cardmaking (other than just drawing pictures). I love them! She constantly amazes me with her many talents!

Prayers for B

Does that butterfly look familiar?  This card was for a young mother at church who is battling cancer.  I like this pink and white version.  I'll probably use it again.

Thank You Card

A simple thank you card.  Scalloped circle is Spellbinders with inked edges and stamped sentiment.  Butterfly border is Martha Stewart.

Jenni's Card

There's that butterfly again. I made this card for a lady at church who was going through a difficult time caring for her sister who was ill. The labels/tags are Spellbinders (I think). The embossed heart is a Martha Stewart punch. The card was DCWV Linen Closet collection.

Versatile Card

I liked this card so much I've made it twice (with just slight variations) -- once for a birthday and later for a get well card. I got the background paper from one of the paper packs (couldn't tell you which one, but it was a long time ago). I think that is what I like most about the card. The butterfly is from QuicKutz. This is my go-to die for semi-quick cards. (No card is truly quick for me.) I just love this butterfly! I like to attach only the body and fold the wings for a 3-D effect. The grass is a border punch, which I inked a little for dimension. I also inked the edges of the background paper. The flower is a punch (my go-to flower punch) with two punches layered together and a flower brad in the center. The ladybug is cut from a border punch. I just used a Sharpie pen for the details.