It came ... and went ... months ago

It took me long enough to post them, but here are the pictures of our VBS set this past summer referred to in my last post HERE.  We did the "Shipwrecked" theme.  I'm posting this the middle of winter.  I guess I'm dreaming of warmer weather.  (Click on the pictures for a closer look.)

 

 

 Here is one view of the main stage.  This is the first year we have purchased the backdrop.  That was really helpful.

 

 

 

A closer look at the hut.  It was constructed using cardboard tubes (from carpet rolls) for the uprights, real bamboo for the cross bars and rafters, cardboard for the roof and covered with grass skirts from the Dollar Tree.

  

 

 

 Here is a close up of one of the palm trees.  We made these also from empty carpet tubes covered in brown paper scrunched up.  The leaves were made from green bulletin board paper with a wire taped down in the middle for shaping.  We used brown balloons for coconuts.  We got most of our ideas from other churches.  So grateful for all the help!

 

 

 

Just some more props.  (I see Wilson!)

 

 

 

 I think this says it all.

 

 

 

Looking back the other direction.

 

 

 

More palm trees and our sloth.  I had a lot of fun moving the props around each night.  The treasure chest was used for the children to drop their offerings in.

 

 

 

 This was about mid-week and the balloons were starting to lose air. 

 

 

 

 

 

It takes a while to make these sets, but I really enjoy doing it!  I had a great team helping and really appreciated everyone's hard work.

 

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.

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 )

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!