Creative Church Crafting

There are many opportunities to be creative at church, especially since we were crafted by a creative God in his image! ☝👨👩 We sang a song at church last Sunday that mentions all the different colors of the world - 

"Jesus loves the little children, 

all the children of the world - 

red and yellow, black and white, 

they are precious in his sight,

 Jesus loves the little children of the world." 

I was delighted to see the children's faces - they were surprised that we of the mature set knew that song too! 👴👵

I wanted to compile a post like my best tips post and include an index to other longer church craft posts I've created in the past. Enjoy! 

* Advent Article & Crafts
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* Banks
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* Bargains Galore
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* Bulletin Boards
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* The Bethlehem Project
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Date: December 21, 2011-Christmas Stockings

I was rooting around in our church’s Sunday School teachers Resource Room and found two boxes stuffed full of pieces of old felt leftover from some other project, so I decided to make Christmas stockings for my Sunday School kids.

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* A Bookmark
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* Christian Acronym ATC's
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* Christmas Card Exchange
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Date: December 21, 2011- Church mouse Cookie

Making a list and checking it twice. Okay, I just finished sewing up the felt cookie with the bite out of it for our children’s church mice Christmas drama. It has white felt “icing” and bugle beads for sprinkles sewn on. The rather flat “pillow” is stuffed with plastic grocery bags. They mold a little flatter and stiffer than pillow stuffing will. Some of the children were to hold candy canes and they came from the dollar store. Now to find “nests” of blankets/towels for all the “mice” and wrap the HUGE “gift” with wrapping paper and a large bow (hot water tank box) for the stage. 

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Date: Jan to Dec 2020: Weekly Coloring Sheets I'm doodling weekly coloring sheets to share with my church family. There are adults as well as children who like to color! I like to use Twistable coloring pencils by Crayola to color with myself. For instance, our associate pastor takes a coloring book with him to medical appointments and colors in the waiting room. He said it is very relaxing and better to keep his hands and mind active while waiting to see the doctor than to watch a pot to boil, so to speak. 😇 The printable coloring sheets are FREE and available linked into our church website . The image is paired with scripture. IMHO, nothing is better to meditate on than God's word. 

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Date: April 23, 2011- Easter Baskets

I made fifteen of these Easter baskets for the kids in my Sunday School class out of the small nut cans. They are like the banks I made earlier. The only thing I did differently was to add two punched holes on the sides of the can and thread in tinsel pipe-cleaners for the handles. I found tiny goodies to put inside. On most of the medallions, I hot-glued a stamped duck (Stampin' Up) to the front. The duck's bow was colored to match the scrapbook paper.





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* God Richly Provides!
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* Golden Rule ATC 

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* Hand-Crafted vs. Store-Bought Toys
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* Mission Project (July/Aug 2019) = this is our ladies current mission project - crocheting scarves for young people in another country. To date, we have 60 of the projected 80 scarves. My first scarf and hat (blue & gray) is at the very top of this mission scarf tree.

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* More ATC Ideas!

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Date: Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - Mr. Egghead

Here’s what I made for my Sunday School Kids this year. I made a template pattern of a large egg from heavy  white cardstock a printer gave me and cut it out with a handle so they could carry it easily. I kept it black & white so they could color it if they so desired. After watching Rack, Shack, & Benny (a Veggie-Tale movie) a few weeks ago, one little girl in my class said she wanted a chocolate bunny for Easter, so each egg had a chocolate bunny taped to the front. I also found a magnetic refrigerator Creation Bible story toy at a surplus store for 50 cents apiece which I taped to the back.

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* No Glue Playdough Slime Recipe  Note: This is NOT a gluten-free recipe. 
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* Pillowcase Aprons
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Date: March 28, 2012 - The Last Supper

I come from a long line of crafty women and one of the photos I found while digging in a box of photos is of my grandmother’s “Last Supper." She loved dolls and wanted to make a realistic representation of DaVinci’s painting.

To find enough male doll figures (I believe they were GI Joes) Grandma came to town for a visit with a shopping list in hand. She and mom went thrift shopping to purchase the figures,  to buy material for the Biblical costumes she sewed for them and the tablecloth for the table. Also, they purchased tiny dishes and clay for the miniature loaves of bread. Some even got wigs of hair glued on and tiny sandals. My Uncle made the long wooden table and benches for the “disciples” and “Jesus” to sit at. Grandma displayed her creation for many years on her sideboard at Easter and after she passed away, my mother displayed it on top of her restored upright piano. It might have graced the communion table a time or two at our home church during the holidays too. 

I bet my preschoolers in Sunday School would love this hands-on representation of the Last Supper. I just may have to do as Grandma did and make one too. 

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* Tissue Box Notebooks

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* Veggie Tale ATC's
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* Veggie Tales

Scripture Art Journaling 2018

I'm still following Stephanie Ackerman's Documented Faith 

and receiving her scriptures by a weekly email. 

But this year, instead of using a 3-ring binder notebook,

I'll be art journaling the scriptures in a spiral, 5.5" x 8.5" (14 x 21.6 cm) 

Strathmore Sketch book 

and hanging it in my kitchen this way so I can read 

and meditate on the scriptures while I do my daily kitchen chores. 

If you want to see details, click on the photo to enlarge.

I'll be sharing what I consider my best pages. 

I've doodled this introduction page. 

Ain't it cute? 

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Cover on front and back. The flower is a Stephanie Ackerman Sizzix die 

that I cut out on my Cuddlebug using white cardstock,

 then water-colored, Sharpie stitched, and glued the parts together. 

I may add more to the front later -- haven't decided.
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Here I repurposed some used note-pad tea-cups and water-colored a lattice pattern in blue

around the stenciled dots. 

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Can you tell I have a theme going here? smile!

I had been tracing a line for the scripture box with a pencil and ruler, but decided that making a window mask with a bit of clear packaging would make it easier to trace around 

and I could use it for eyeballing placement. I've been experimenting with spritz paint and used 

Tim Holtz's cross-stitch stencil. 

By the way, that "Salted Caramel" tea flavor is yummy! 

And low-cal, when I use stevia to sweeten it!
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Inspiration: May-May's Scripture Art Journaling Page 

May-May not only inspired me to design my page similar to her's but she also inspired me to use a separate sheet of cardstock and glue it to the page which prevents two foreseeable problems with using the sketch-book. The Sketch-book's pages are perforated near the spirals and I had been using masking tape on the backside of the pages to prevent the pages from tearing and also, since I'm a magnet for oopsies messes, I can turn the cardstock over if I make a mistake. I cut a 8.5" x 11" piece of cardstock in half and then cut off a quarter of an inch from one side to make it the perfect size for the page. I don't have a cri-cut, only my Cuddlebug, so used what I had - a tea-cup stamp that I stamped twice (once on the cherry paper and again on colored cardstock), fussy -cut and assembled. 

Then I traced around a tea-pot favor that I've had for years. 

And while I can doodle scallops, I decided to trace around a new stencil that I die-cut from clear packaging using a Christmas gift -- a Tim Holtz On the Edge Sizzix scallop die.

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Inspiration: Monica of "Because Jesus Bible Journaling"

I doodled and stamped this scripture art journal page!
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Inspiration: a Tea-riffic  Card!
I decided to create ahead when I get inspired, so here's the next one! The sentiment is doodled and the cups are stamped, just like the above one!

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I didn't know if I liked my version or not of this one, 
but after I got it up in my kitchen, it began to grow on me. 

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My friend, Karen, gave me flyers from a Christian company called Prince of Peace, 

a tea that she regularly consumes. I fussy cut the tea cups, brand name, & a heart from the flyers and attached them to the inked masking tape background, then gave it a clear coat of mod-podge. The ink lifted a little and made the scripture strips look a little grungy. 

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I should finish this notebook. . .  

Brace Bling

A year and a half ago I was diagnosed with drop foot. My prescription was a steel brace attached to my  right shoe. I wondered how I could pretty it up, but didn't want to glue anything to the brace in case I got tired of it and then couldn't remove it.  So I saw these flowers at Pinterest and wondered if I had something here at home that would make something similar in my stash and yep, I did have something.  

I have no idea what I saved these pieces of Velcro from, but I measured the circumference of both my cane and my brace and I found two pieces that would work! 

If you want to make some Velcro pieces like mine,  overlap two pieces of Velcro about 3/4" inch so that the join is in the middle (mine have a stitched on tag board piece over the join which you don't have to have) with the loops on one side facing towards the back and the fabric that the loops attach to  faces towards the front. The whole length for the brace is 3 1/4" (inches) long and the piece for the cane is 4 1/2" (inches) long.  You can stitch or hot glue the Velcro pieces together. 

Next I found some flowers that were attached to wires.

I punched two holes in the cardboard with this teeny-tiny diameter hole punch . . .

and threaded the two wires through and pulled it tight. Then I twisted the wires closed and pushed them down into a spiral against the back of the Velcro strap, wrapped it around both my cane and brace to see how they fit and Viola! Almost instant bling! 

One flower. . . 

Or many! I could almost skip through a garden in these, don't you think? 😊

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20 Aug 2018

My cane flower didn't last long as it got knocked around too much, but I get compliments on my brace one frequently. I decided now that I'm using two canes because of vertigo and hip pain, I needed a station to park them at during the night. My husband found these Command - brand broom grippers at Walmart and I attached them to this cabinet next to my nightstand, so they are within easy reach when I get out of bed. And yes, I'll have to open both doors to get into the top cabinet if the canes are still attached, but that's no problem to me. 

Two tips I wanted to mention -- since January, I've been using a C-Pap machine for sleep apnea. (I also have a nebulizer for asthma). That's my c-pap up on my nightstand. I have a case for it and I take it when traveling as both are medical devices that I need.   I purchased an extension cord and that little stepping stool at Walmart in the children's department for $10.00 and poured some of the distilled water into a plastic water bottle with a tight fitting lid to take with us. The little stepping stool pops out as a little stand for my c-pap during the night if I sleep on the side of a motel bed without a nightstand. 

Also, the black cane's foam handle was beginning to split from wear and tear and we could not find a replacement. I saw a video at YouTube in which a lady had used tennis racket handle tape on her baby's stroller handle and yep, Walmart carries it back in the sporting goods department. I used a little daisy decorative duct tape to fasten the end down and I'll tell you, the tennis tape makes  a most comfortable handle over the top of the foam.

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21 May 2022

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since I wrote last. I no longer wear the brace, but do wear a built up shoe on the same side as I wore the brace. The built up shoe is as stiff as the brace was, but that's okay because now my hips are even and my back doesn't hurt as much as it used to.  My right leg is about 1/2 inch shorter than the left leg. 

And I've graduated to forearm crutches because, not only were the canes wearing out, but I also got tired of the canes falling over when I had to grab something.  And since I had to bend over to pick them up, I hoped that vertigo didn't strike me at the same time and I go splat! I love the forearm crutches (I call them my pogo sticks 'cause they have spring shocks in the legs) and I just purchased a bicycle flashlight for one of them. They stay on my arms like a bracelet when I let go to grab something. I've also gone to wearing a backpack. Had to try many on before I found one that fit me since I'm a BBW (big beautiful woman). I wore a cross-body purse for many years, but the left crutch kept bumping it as I took a step and knocking me off-balance. So had to get my thinking cap on and problem solve it. 

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You might be interested in reading these posts too and be sure to check out the label "adapt" over on the side menu for more articles: 

• Never Alone
• (off-site) Brace
• Walker Bags
• New and Improved Walker Bag
• Why I'm Refashioning My Wardrobe
• (off-site) Disabled Placard Paper Receipt Fold

Joanne Hodges' 5 Minute Quirky Characters

As some of you may know, I've become a YouTube Junkie and found Crafty Hodges because I spied one of her quirky characters in the side menu and had to go look. I collected dolls when I was younger and discovered I like paper dolls because they take up less room, especially if you collect them via an art journal or as framed art. I think I like Joanne's quirky characters because they are as imperfect as I am. smile! 😊

Joanne uploaded a series of tutorials which I watched all the way through and asked questions about her process. It's a personal decision of mine that I don't cut up magazines or books, because today's magazines may someday be a future family researcher's way of documenting their family tree. I began several years ago researching my family tree, especially my  paternal 3rd great-grandparents and I began with nothing but our family's story. And as any professional genealogist will tell you, you have to pair the story with documentation.  Because people saved vintage newspapers and news magazines, I discovered his name in papers coast to coast when most of middle America was only a territory during the mid-1800s. What a lovely surprise!

Well anyway, Joanne has begun to offer FREE Collage Sheets of her Quirky Characters and I decided to take advantage of her offer. So my sweet hubbin copied two collage sheets in greyscale for me and I colored one of them in with Crayola's Twistable 30-Count Colored Pencils today (will do the other one tomorrow), cut the pieces out, prepared a business-sized envelope card, and glued it down. I didn't use all the pieces and spelled out the word LOVE instead across the top with the available letters. It's so cute! 👼 Thank you, Joanne! 

Here's the flower princess that I made today. You know, the first pair of glasses I had in 2nd grade was a pair of pink and white horn-rims. My second pair looked just like these blue ones. . .

Met a new member of the family this last weekend and was inspired by Joanne's newest quirky character to make a card to send to them.

 

Made this card with two different sheets of Joanne's. By the way, the backgrounds were created with my doodles, not rubber stamps.  

This is Joanne Hodges design also -- Atc Coins. I cut out a bunch of circles with a 2 1/2 inch circle die on my Cuddle-bug of both food packaging (cereal/cracker boxes) and white cardstock and glued it all together and then placed them upside down on a paper napkin that I pulled apart until only the 1-ply design remained. Got all twelve coins on the one paper napkin. Edged it with brown ink and glued on Tim Holtz's small word strips and finished it off with a layer of white glue brushed on. The girls in our ATC club really enjoyed them. Our theme was "Out of Africa." 

(8/6/2020 Update: The newest card trend is "slim-line" cards. I made invitation and business sized cards because they fit the available envelopes that I could purchase easily from any discount and/or thrift store. I didn't want to put as much effort into the envelope as I did the card, when the envelopes usually get tossed anyway. So I guess my cards are trendy! Who knew? 😁)