Creative Gift Wrap

 What do you do when you don't have any wrapping paper and you are too lazy to go to the store?  You get creative, of course!  I needed to wrap gifts for a brother and sister birthday party.  I looked around to see what materials I had available and then just let the shape of the gift dictate what I did.  (The paper for both was bulletin board paper.)

This top gift was such an odd shape.  Instead of trying to wrap that handle part, I decided it looked like a nose, so I just went with it.

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This box I thought was shaped like a truck or bus.  Since she would soon be starting pre-k, I decided a school bus would be appropriate.  The number 4 represented her age at the time.

I was pleased with the final results, and they were a big hit at the party.  I also had a great time making them.  Sometimes it's a good thing when you have to think outside the (gift) box.

Thanksgiving Teepees

I host Thanksgiving each year and I like to have a fun activity available to anyone who would like to participate.  Last year I found a teepee printable on the Made With Happy blog.  I thought the kids and some of the adults would enjoy it.  I was pleasantly surprised at the participation, especially from one of the newest members of the family, my youngest sister's husband.  He is very creative and seems to be good at everything!  He took the teepee to new levels (literally).  Here are some of the creations:

 

My creative granddaughter's teepee

 

 

This one was done by one of my crazy nephews.

 

 

Not sure who did this one, but I like it.

 

 

My sister's family compound/reservation, including the royal palace complete with a hot tub and an outhouse.

 

 

Here's a close up.

 

 

Somebody burned the turkey!

 

 

My patriotic nephew's version

 

Not sure what we'll do this year.  I'm still trying to decide.  Hope we have as much fun as last year!

Falling Leaves

Just a quick post.  I ran across these pictures from several years ago.  I cut a bunch of leaves (and a few pumpkins) from black contact paper and applied them to my bathroom wall for a fun little addition to my skeleton shower curtain. 

VBS Rewind - Colossal Coaster World

It's summer, so that means Vacation Bible School.  Our church used to do much more elaborate setups than we have in the past couple of years.  These pictures are from the last year of big decorations.  Our director at the time really enjoyed planning VBS sets.  It was a lot of fun but also a lot of hard work.  Sadly, he passed away suddenly last year.

 

The theme for this particular year was Colossal Coaster World.  My husband built the roller coaster car.  I put the stripe down the side using vinyl and cut the letters on one of my cutting machines.  My nephew made the cardboard cutout people.  The swing ride was borrowed from another church.

 

I made the carousel from cardboard.  Using a projector, I enlarged a carousel horse from purchased clip art and traced, cut out and painted three.  I cut the trim around the top from poster board using my Cricut machine and added some signs given to us by another church.  The poles are painted PVC pipe. 

 

 

The ducks in the shooting duck game were cut on my Cricut from "A Child's Year" cartridge.

 

Sometimes you have to get creative to work with what you have.  This was the room where the children made their crafts.  The room had an unused chalkboard which I turned into a ticket booth.  This room also has footprints painted on the walls, so we cut out balloons to cover them on one wall and my daughter cut out a paint palette and paint splotches to cover some of them on the other wall.  We left some footprints to appear someone stepped in the paint.

 

One of the men in the church did these booths from cardboard.  I thought they turned out cute.  That's Paul (formerly Saul) working the popcorn booth.  ;-)

 

Here is an overall view of the sanctuary.

 

This was one of the crafts the children made.  I designed them in Cricut Craft Room combining some glasses from the "3 Birds - Life's a Party" cartridge and a roller coaster from the "Carousel" cartridge.  I also cut a slit so the coaster car could move along the tracks.  It is attached with brad "wheels".  The children decorated the glasses as their craft that day.  I think they enjoyed making them and wearing them.

 

(See post about VBS Colossal Coaster World bulletin board HERE )