“Paint my foot blue!?” VBS Craft Idea Takes Flight!

Adam did not want anything to do with painting his foot blue! It was simply not going to happen—until Sally Cramer showed him that his blue foot would turn into a really cool blue airplane!

His shoes and socks were off in a flash!

Once the foot print dries, it is outlined with fabric paint pen—the kind that bumps up a little.

Every year during VBS, Sally Cramer tries to come up with a hand print or foot print craft for her 2 & 3 year old VBS class. Check out this year’s amazing fleet of little blue feet!

Dabbs gets a blue pedicure!

“Parents love to have foot prints or hand prints at different stages of their kid’s lives,” Sally said, “so why not bring that idea to VBS every year?”

The Blue Feet Fleet!

It started several years ago when Sally, Sherry Vick and Becky Clay helped their class of little people create hand/foot print tote bags! Sally recalled, “It was pretty cool to see the 4 year olds use their VBS tote bags to carry their stuff in when they promoted to BIG Church in the fall”.

Game Day tote bag!

To mix things up, Sally and friends decided to alternate tote bags with t-shirts. Tote bags on the even years—T-shirts on the odd years. The rest is VBS history!

Arctic Edge! Hands and feet—just don’t paint the toes!

Outrigger Island! Hand print palm trees. William’s hand is still green to this day! jk

Sally and some of the little people!

A bit about Sally: she is married to Steve, has two great kids, Alyson (9), and Lucas (10), owns and operates her own graphic design business Little June Bug Graphics from her home, teaches graphic design at The Art Institute, and loves VBS! (She totally qualifies as a VBS Geek of the Week!) …and she goes to my church, FBC Nashville.

Lance and Sally

Thanks Sally for what you (and all of you reading this blog!) do to make VBS happen for kids everywhere! Teaching kids about Jesus—doesn’t get any better than that!

Bonus: gotta give a little shout out to Lydia (Adam’s mom) who is pretty “crafty” herself. The airplane shirt Adam is wearing? Lydia made it! Also, Patrick (Adam’s dad) works here at LifeWay and led music at VBS this year! Thanks Patrick!

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Today on Kids Ministry 101, We’re part of the Family Ministry Blog Tour!!

VBS 2013 – Pictures in My Head

One of the cool things about my job is to see something on a LifeWay Bookstore shelf that was once just a picture in my head.

Check this out. Here’s a sketch of the idea for the New Testament covers for VBS 2013. It’s not the best drawing I’ve ever done but it doesn’t have to be. Scott Burroughs, my artist friend in Arvada, CO, sees pictures in his head too. He can make any ‘ole rooster scratches look good!

Below is what Scott sent back—clearly a much better sketch, still rough, but one that we can pass around for suggestions/changes to those editor types like Melita.

After any suggested changes are made and the editors and managers sign off on the skecth, it goes back to Scott for “final art”. When we get the final art back, we add titles, barcodes, LifeWay logos, etc, and send it off to the printer!

Soon, here’s what you’ll see in LifeWay Bookstores everywhere. You might even use one of these New Testaments to introduce a child to Christ—which is after all what it’s all about!BONUS! Below is a sketch of an idea for one of the VBS 2013 Visual Pack posters. The idea for the posters, and many of our graphics this year, is put the viewer, that’s you, IN the park—to see Colossal Coaster World as if you were actually there. Ummm, it’s the back of a carousel horse. Again, not my best drawing ever but you get the idea.

Another artist friend of ours, Geoffrey Brittingham (who does a ton of VBS art) sent back the following sketch. See! It is a horse!

…and then the final art!

Well, almost final. The people aren’t done and we’re gonna put some shine on that hand rail, add the words, etc… but for the most there’s your “finished art”!

Enjoy!

BONUS 2! My son Evan and I just back from a trip out west where I actually got to meet Scott Burroughs, his wife Chrysti and their great/fun/cool kids Max and Ti. Scott and I have worked together for over 7 years now, sweating through some tough deadlines and praying through some tough person stuff. This is first time we’ve met face to face. It was a very cool!

Scott Burroughs at his desk in his new house. (boxes are cropped out!) That is some actual VBS 2013 art on his screen!

Playing angry robots by one of Scott’s super fun robot paintings!

What Scott really does when he says he’s working on VBS art! That’s Ti – their youngest – a real live miracle kid. Just so you know, God is good!!!

2013 VBS Sets Brainstorm

Hey guys! We’re getting ready to plan sets for 2013. Nope. Can’t share the theme but I’d like to invite you to BRAINSTORM a bit.

What’s your favorite VBS set or VBS build?

What’s your favorite set building material?

What worked?

What didn’t work?

Any tricks of the set building trade you wouldn’t mind sharing?

We use a lot of foam insulation board (our non-technical term). It takes latex house paint and craft paint very well, cuts easily, and is lightweight to carry. You can also glue it to wooden frames or to itself using Loctite All Purpose Construction Adhesive. The sheets are 4′ X 8′ and come in either .5″ or 2″ thicknesses. Check out your local home improvement store for both.

We like to use a carpenter’s knives (box cutters) with retractable blades, jig saw’s and hack saw blades to cut or form our foam insulation boards. We also use hot knives and hot wire knives. Here’s a link for the hot knife:
http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/ST1438/page/1

Here’s a link for the hot wire:
http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/Item/ST1435/page/1

You may find them cheaper elsewhere. Just Google “hot knife” or “hot wire knife.” We ordered our knives from the above links a few years ago and I must admit – the prices have gone up!

Also, you can hit the foam board, especially the Styrofoam, with a hot gun. It melts the Styrofoam slightly creating great effects while also making it easier to paint. Here’s the link to one – and it has hot knives too. http://www.harborfreight.com/professional-heat-gun-with-digital-temperature-settings-97114.html

PEEL THE THIN PLASTIC OFF THE FOAM BOARD BEFORE YOU PAINT.

For free set building material, you might also want to check out local furniture stores and carpet stores. Many of them will let you dumpster dive for cardboard, big chunks of styrofoam or used carpet rolls.

Thanks and let us know you thoughts!

Gordon

AWA Accessories

Hey guys! VBS Previews are great for many reasons—the biggest one is the people. Besides getting to see old friends and making new ones, I’m always impressed by the “amazing” enthusiasm preview folks have for VBS! It’s great to hear stories about last summer’s VBS, and talk about your plans for the coming year. It’s difficult to put into words exactly how that “fires me up”!

Check out a couple of my new friends who take their enthusiasm beyond what they say to what they wear!

Andrew created a flight helmet (sorry no photo) and this “amazing” jacket!

Andrew painted the AWA logo on the back of his leather jacket! Awesome!

Here’s Paula Royal wearing some of her “amazing” creations…

Paula's cool black vest with embroidered AWA logo

Here's the front!

Paula's embroidered jacket! Note the embroidered pant leg!

Here's the back of the other pant leg—with scripture reference—a conversation starter "fer shur"!

Do any of you have VBS accessory photos you’d like to send? I know a couple of you do: Becky Mitchell—send us a photo of your awesome knit pilot’s cap! …and Christy Law—send us some shots of your VBS ear rings. (Christy makes ear rings out of some of our promo items every year! Deb Muller too!)

Again, send in those photos!

Grace and peace,

Gordon

Geek of The Week – Christy Law!

Introducing Christy Law – VBS Geek of The Week! Hey guys. Gordon here. I sure wish you could meet Christy in person. I had the opportunity several years ago. Christy is a regular at the Preview Events so introducing her is like introducing one of the VBS team. I ask Christy to answer a few GOTW qualification questions. Here’s what Christy had to say:
1. What are you VBS roles (state, association, church, etc.)?  

I teach the music at my church, I also help setup the crafts before VBS starts. I have been on the Illinois state team, that was a lot of fun.

2. What is your “geekiest” VBS moment?

That would be hard to decide I have so many. During Rickshaw rally I carried people from the parking lot to the church in a rickshaw.

Another would be to make earring out the VBS stuff,  or breaking out in VBS songs when you here a VBS verse.

Currently I am looking for a zoot suit for this year’s theme.

3. What makes you continue to do VBS year after year?

I enjoy seeing the kids doing the music (singing the songs doing all the motions). Hearing them tell me what they learned at VBS.

When I see them later they say, “Hey music lady! What are we doing this year!”

4. What is your favorite VBS theme to date?

I have love them all, but I might have to pick Outrigger island because I want to go to Hawaii even if it though VBS, or I might pick Saddle Ridge Ranch because I’m a country gal.

5. (Based on your experiences, complete the following) You might be a VBS Geek if… you use the music songs as a workout plan throughout the year. (Gordon here – this is one my favorite GOTW answers of all time!)

…I didn’t know till recently that Christy is the daughter of another GOTW, Deborah Muller! Deborah is Ministry Assistant for the Church Strengthening Team of the Illinois Baptist State Association!

Thanks to you both for all your hard work, dedication, enthusiasm, you bring to the kingdom and to kids and to families at your church through VBS and throughout the entire year!