Panda Mania!!!

Registration Table

We've been busy the past few weeks.... prepping and doing Vacation Bible School! Our church did Group's PandaMania for our theme. We loved the panda/Chinese theme and all that went along with it. I got to lead the singing each night and be part of the skit.
It was a great week with a lot of kids attending and a great team of people to work with.

God is wild about you! Wooo!

Treetop Treats (Snack Station)

Preschool Room

Party Time Sing and Play (Opening and Closing in the Sanctuary)

Birds + Music = DIY Art

I saw these great graphics that used a text background with black and white images on another blog. I was totally inspired to create my own and knew just the spot that needed a little something. We added these cabinets in our kitchen to create a pantry of sorts. We have a 'breakfast' cabinet, a snack/baking/dinner items cabinet, and a canned goods/cookbook cabinet. For the time being, we're keeping the paneling and in the hopefully not too distant future, we'll add a countertop on this wall. So the little space below the cabinets just cried out for some attention and dressing up.

Using the Serenade Cartridge, I cut a bird cage, bird nest, and 2 different bird shapes out of black cardstock. I cut 2 little eggs out of a scrap of some Basic Gray scrapbook paper. Then using the Stamped font cartridge, I cut the letters for 'Rest', 'Sing', 'Soar', and 'Fly.'
I really liked the text backgrounds in the Winterberry Cottage graphics but being a musician (and having a damaged hymnal in my craft stash that I felt okay with dismantling) I decided to use some favorite hymns instead.

I tried to match the hymn with the word and came up with "I Am Thine, O Lord" for 'Fly,' "What If It Were Today?" for 'Soar,' "Under His Wings" for 'Rest,' and "I'll Sing the Wondrous Story" for 'Sing.'

The last step was to glue it all together and pop them into these little frames we used in our family room in the last house but were in my stash to be repurposed since we moved.

Well, the last 'last' step was to get the hubs to fix the phone cord that hung down like this for the first 5 months we've been in this house. Down the road we might add an outlet for the phone in another location so the cord won't have to run down the wall but for now we went from this....

...to this. Definitely less obnoxious!

And now I can cross one more project off the 'to-do list'!

Linking up to these fun parties! Come check 'em out!!

Summer Craft Ideas for Kids

To help keep the kids occupied during the summer (and to keep my sanity,) I have a schedule posted on our fridge. I know it sounds stiff and maybe even drill sergeant-y but it's really more of a guideline for our summer days that gives the kids a bit of the structure that they're used to from school. Here's what our day generally looks like:
Eat Breakfast and Clear Dishes
Free Choice
Get Dressed
Brush Teeth
Tidy Bed and Bedroom
Devotions
School Books (I buy either the Summer Book through their school or a Summer Bridge book, and they do a page a day to keep up with skills they learned in the previous school year.)
Chore Time
Play Outside
Lunch
Quiet/Room Time
Art Time
Play Outside
Free Choice
Dinner and Clear Dishes
Free Choice
Clean Up Toys
Shower
Bedtime

We also make time each week to go on some outings like the Make n Take at AC Moore, trips to the library, family movie day at Regal Theater, and other fun summer activities.

Part of the daily list though is Art Time. Most days, the kids just dig into their supplies and let their imaginations run wild but some days they want a bit of inspiration. To give them a little help, I put together an idea binder. Going online, I printed off a bunch of kid craft ideas that work for their ages, interests, the supplies we generally have on hand, and that don't make too much of a mess or require tons of supervision from Mom.
Great sites to check out for ideas are:
www.marthastewart.com
http://crafts.kaboose.com/
www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/
http://familyfun.go.com/
www.hgtv.com/topics/crafts/index.html

I printed 'em out, slipped them into clear page protectors and put them in a binder. If a craft came with patterns, I just put them in a facing page.

 

Same if the project was a little more involved and required more than 1 page for the instructions.

 

I grabbed a clip-art frame and typed in a quick title then printed it on a piece of cardstock. Easy-peasy cover after I slipped it into the view binder.

 

Of course, with all those finished projects, we needed some display space. This unfinished wall faces our family room space in our mostly unfinished basement (also where the craft supplies and table are.) We (meaning, the hubs) used some screws and string to hang 3 rows off of the exposed studs. The kids simply clip up their finished masterpieces with clothespins when they're done.

 

The schedule definitely helps keep the summer days movin' along. Of course if all else fails and the kids are still bored, they can always pick from the jar!


Linking up here.