Posts Tagged ‘VBS’
VBS: Up, Up & Away We Go!
When I say life is a whirlwind during the week of Vacation Bible School at our church, it’s totally in theme this year! Our theme changes each year (check out past decorations). The theme for this week’s VBS is “Sky: Anything is possible with God’s love” and the decor is all things sky-related. Picture blue sky, clouds, balloons, giant paper airplanes and hot air balloons.
Since Erick and I were in charge of decorations again this year, I wanted to send thank you notes to all the fabulous volunteers who helped us assemble everything we’d prepared. The clouds all had to move from our garage to the church, and it all happened quickly with so many willing helpers. Of course the Up, Up & Away stamp set (see it online) was PERFECT!
I made about 15 of these cards to send out, so I wanted to share a quick tip. If you have a large project, like wedding invitations or baby shower invites, be sure to do them assembly line style to make the most of your time.
Here are some Assembly Line Stamping tips:
- lay out all your pieces at once for a single layer — stamp all the Calypso Coral parts, then all the Pool Party, then the next color and so on. Finish them all before going on to the next step.
cut all your ribbon pieces at once (when you’re sure of the size)- use the Simply Scored tool (see it online) to score all your cards in a flash
Want to see our decorations from VBS this year? We didn’t use any of the recycled Stampin’ Up! packing paper, like in past years, but I have no doubt that we’ll be able to use it for next year’s theme. In the meantime, we used lots of recycled cardboard from refrigerator boxes!
If you need the Up, Up & Away stamp set for your own VBS, be sure to check out my online store, or drop me an email. It’s possible to use a tax exempt number with your order if you contact me directly!
Happy Stamping!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Subscribe to the comments for this postReduce, Reuse, Recycle: VBS Style
Have you passed a church with a giant panda out front this summer? Our church has been overrun with pandas this year too, and I’m the VBS Decorations Lady at our church, so it was my garage that was overrun before all the pandas made it to church!
How does this relate to Stampin’ Up!? Good question! Every year, we demonstrators are also overrun with the brown packing paper that Stampin’ Up! uses in shipping boxes. Fortunately for VBS, that packing paper comes in handy for all kind of decor themes (here are a few over the years).
So do you see it? Can you spot the brown packing paper in our scene here?
This year the brown paper serves as:
- rocks for the waterfalls
- dirt under the bamboo forest backdrop
- rocks along the sides of the streambed
- vines on the waterfall
Further keeping with the Reduce, reuse, recycle, we used empty stove and refrigerator boxes to paint our cardboard backdrops.
So if my posts are a little sporadic this week, I may have been taken over by Pandamania!
Happy Stamping!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
The Many Lives of Brown Packing Paper
For the past several years I’ve been lucky enough to be in charge of decorations for our church’s Vacation Bible School Program. Each year I manage to find a way to turn miles of Stampin’ Up! brown packing paper into a decor item that fits that year’s theme.
This year our theme is PandaMania, “Where God is wild about you!”. I’m thinking that the brown paper will be perfect for vines and dirt.
Reuse and recycle are great words to live by, so in addition to the paper, each year I’ve also been reusing the main ‘ticket booth’ display piece and repainting it to fit the theme. Here are the last 2 years, plus this year’s booth, with the paint still drying.
Our Asian-inspired ticket booth holds the sign-up papers in the gathering area at church, to help get the kids excited about the upcoming VBS theme. Here are the vines, too. All I did was cut the width of the brown packing paper in half, then twist and tie a few knots. Green latex paint turns them into jungle vines.
Speaking of VBS, if you live in the Champaign-Urbana area (central Illinois), you’re welcome to send your kids or come and help us! Drop me an email and I’ll send you the link to sign up.
If you’d like to see our decorations from past VBS years (brown packing paper included), here are the displays from Crocodile Dock and High Seas Adventure.
Happy Stamping!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Recycle that Stampin’ Up! Packing Paper: VBS style
Have you ever received a shipping box from Stampin’ Up!? If so, then you know about the fabulous brown paper that is included as packing material. Really–it’s great stuff!
Last year I put out a plea with my fellow demonstrators, asking them to save their extra paper for me. We used it in various ways to disguise and decorate parts of our church for our annual Vacation Bible School. Check out the ways we used our paper last year (think ‘swamp theme’ for last year’s VBS).
I asked my fellow demonstrators to save paper for me AGAIN this year… so check out this year’s decorations! Our theme this year is “High Seas Expedition“, so we’re thinking ships, fishing and water. Thanks to our friends Lyndsey and Dan for doing the set in the front of the church–wow!
You’ll see Stampin’ Up! brown packing paper making an appearance several places…think 150-200 yards of it! Coverings for ship masts, covering for the wall posts in the narthex of the church, as extra ‘decking’ at the bottom of our scenery… We even used it down the hallways, rolled sideways to give us the look of sand dunes up against the walls.
Speaking of recycling… see the faux-stone ship terminal? Last year it was a swamp shack. Amazing what a coat of paint will do! That’s my friend Mickey there–she’s our VBS coordinator this year. (Thanks Mickey!)
If you’d like to learn more about our VBS (or even bring your kids) you’re welcome to join us this week!
You never know where you can use that brown packing paper. If you need to find some near you, let me know and I can help you find a local source!
To Order Stampin’ Up! Products On-Line 24/7, CLICK HERE!
Stamper vs. the Clock: the Race is On!
Last Friday, as I was watching the weather and wondering if our Vacation Bible School picnic was going to have to move indoors, I suddenly decided that I wanted to make the 55+ Thank You notes that we are sending to our volunteers. (nothing like adding excitement at the last minute!)
So here’s how it all went down:
1:55 pm: Emailed co-VBS leader to see how many notes we were going to need
2:00 pm: Looked through my “on hand” supplies to find something fun to use
2:05 pm: Decided the Wild About You set with the alligator is PERFECT for our Crocodile Dock theme! (soon to be retired!)
2:10 pm: Finished searching for my Wild About You set
2:15 pm: Designed a cute, but easy-to-duplicate, card
2:20 pm: Started cutting cardstock (Kiwi Kiss and Pacific Point, with Good Morning Sunshine Designer Series Paper accents)
(cardstock and paper cut for 60 cards!)
2:35 pm: Laid out Kiwi Kiss cardstock pieces and stamped Kiwi Kiss alligators all over the fronts
2:55 pm: Still stamping (**TIP** for mass production, I didn’t fold the cards in half before I started. I stamped them all flat, so that the cardstock wouldn’t shift while I was speed-stamping)
(60 cards stamped!)
3:00 pm: Started to attach DSP strips to the Pacific Point cardstock strips (**TIP** for mass production, I lay out my strips in sets of 10, add SNAIL to all 10 strips, then attach all 10 strips)
3:10 pm: Back to stamping, packed supplies to move upstairs to the kitchen
3:20 pm: Handed out mini-muffins to Tucker
3:25 pm: Paused to check the weather radar for possible picnic-canceling cloud cover
3:32 pm: Break to clean up mini muffin mess from kitchen floor
3:35 pm: Still attaching DSP strips
(60 cards with Designer Series Paper strips attached!)
3:45 pm: Talked with Co-VBS Leader about threatening rain clouds, started stamping the “Wild About You” tags. (**TIP** for mass production I stamp and punch all the tags at once–rather than stamping one, punching one, attaching one, stamping one, punching one, attaching one, etc.
(20 cards finished!)
3:55 pm: Picked up more mini muffins from the kitchen floor… where are these coming from?!
(40 cards finished!)
4:00 pm: Made the call–our picnic is ON at the pool!
4:02 pm: Spread the word by posting to the church website.
(60 cards finished!)
4:01 pm: Decided to stamp matching envelopes (after all, I have a few extra minutes!)
4:07 pm: Story time break with the kids
4:30 pm: Back to the envelopes after story time… all DONE!!
Off to VBS!!
What do YOU do with Stampin’ Up! packing paper?
If you’ve ever received a Stampin’ Up! shipment via UPS, your box probably included a yard or two of the eco-friendly brown packing paper. Normally I take my packing paper to our local recycling center, but sometimes I save it for a special project.
In this case, not only did I save my paper for a 
month, but I asked other demonstrators to save paper for me! You see, the Vacation Bible School theme for our church this summer is “Crocodile Dock”, and I thought the packing paper would make great swamp decorations.
Armed with at least 120 yards of brown packing paper (courtesy of Stampin’ Up! boxes), we were able to cover walls, bulletin boards and faux swamp trees for VBS. We also twisted the paper to form some really cool vines that hang from the walls, fishing nets and ceilings.
The pre-crinkled paper was perfect for our swamp theme!
Check it all out–how many uses for brown packing paper do YOU see here?
Oh, and if you’re in the Champaign, Illinois area, feel free to bring your kids by for VBS this week! We meet in the evenings — 6 to 8 pm, and we would love to have you join us for even 1 night!
You can find details online here.
