My hubby and I get the Kindergarten class again this year and how exciting. Last year we had 19 kids in our class but this year we have a smaller group. We know we will have a minimum of 5 so we need to step up the game and invite families and friends.

Because of how our rotation is setup, we have Missions, Crafts and Music come to us. So we learned last year that our kids needed to keep moving all the time or they got bored.

Solution:

Divide the room into 4 sections. I already have 3 tables in the room so I plan to use one for Crafts and the other two will go into our tree house for Bible Study.

Section 1 (Bible Study) Tree House

I plan to make the walls of two sides of the tree house (Bible Study) from cardboard. This will be placed in one corner of the room.

Well that was my plan. Now since we have moved to a smaller room, one half of the room will be the Tree house for Bible Study while the other half will be more of Shady Grove!

Here is one section of my Tree house. There will be a walkway/doorway in the middle. I have attached the sides with tape to the walls. I learned that if you use painters tape and then use a hot glue gun you can easily take it all down at the end of the week without the mess on the walls.

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And here is my floor! I actually found 4-5 of these already at the church and thought I could also use some for the walls. I will need 3 for the inside of the Journey off the Map Tree House.

Section 2 Rushing Waters (Music)

I haven’t actually spent time on creating our rushing waters area yet but will put up pictures as we get closer. Our VBS week is not until June 22nd but we will be starting to decorate June 1st. So only a few more days away until you get to see my Journey off the Map Decorations as they go up.

Section 3 Boulder Bridge(Missions)

Section 4 Shady Grove(Crafts)

Above you will see the Pool Noodle and Serving platters that we made into flowers and mushrooms. You will need a hot glue gun and some sand. Be sure to check out other Shady Grove decorations.

Outside our room I created this fake wooden panels that read “This is the way – Walk in it” Part of the Journey off the Map theme.

If you are like me and planning is a must here are some helpful resources and downloads from Lifeway to take a look at.

Foam Flowers – Journey off the Map

Still need some decoration ideas? Here is a great flower craft that you can get kids involved with.

What you Need:

– Foam Flowers pre- cut or Foam sheets

– Pipe Cleaners

– Glue

How to Make:

1. Get all your supplies together. You will need green pipe cleaners, Foam flowers pre- cut or you can get the foam sheets and cut your own. You can purchase a SVG flower file for $.99 in the party store.

2. Cut and X in the middle of the flower to insert your pipe cleaner. Most pre-cut flowers will already have the X. Simply slide your pipe cleaner in the X and fold slight at a 1 cm. You may want to tape or glue down to have it hold longer.

3. Glue on the circles over the pipe cleaner and opening of the middle of the flower. If you don’t already have these circles you can purchase them with the SVG flower in the party store.

4. Now it is time to make a whole bunch! You will want to line the bottom of the walls or hallway for your Journey of the Map VBS 2015 Week.

That is it! You are done.

Be sure to check out other VBS 2015 decoration ideas – Journey off the Map

These dragon fly spoons are a great craft for Lifeways Journey off the Map VBS or you can use them to help decorate the hallways and make a wonderful colorful and living jungle atmosphere. An alternative Journey off the Map Craft that can be made for pennies per child and lower the cost of crafts especially for those churches and groups unable to afford the expense of the pre-made crafts.

What you Need:

– Plastic Spoons

– Googly Eyes

– Glue

– Paper

– Scissors

– Gems

– Glitter Glue

How to Male:

Step 1

Lay your Spoon face down and place two glue spots on the front of the spoon. Carefully place the googly eyes onto the glue spots and hold down. Allow to dry completely.

Step 2

Cut out your dragon fly wings as desired. I cut an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet in half hamburger side. Then took each half and folded hotdog style. This would get me 4 for each half. I then cut from the fold and made a heart shape without the bottom point ending at the fold. When you unfold this you can clearly see the wings.

Step 3

Glue the wings at the neck of the spoon as shown below.

Step 4

Place your gems using glue if they are not self adhesive as you desire.

Step 5

Trace the edge of the wings with glitter glue. Allow to completely dry before picking up.

That is it! You are done!

These are great to be added to the Journey off the Map Background and flowers.

Topic: Dragon Fly Spoons

By Rebecca Autry January 8, 2018 January 5, 2018 Director Helps for VBS 2018 Game On Game On VBS Dollar Tree Decorations Part 2

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So what would make your heart jump out a million times over in a matter of seconds?

Above pictured is my power bill we just got with a termination notice in a week. YIKES. So how did we get here? Well you can read about how we are paying for the wrong meter!

Yup you read that right we are paying for the wrong meter. a meter that is not even attached to our home or in our neighborhood.

We hadn’t received a call or letter in the mail so while I was thinking about it I called yesterday at the same time I login online to see our bill and have the info in front of me to see if there was any resolution.

My heart started pounding quickly and jumped in and out a million times when I saw this amount.

That wasn’t it. Yesterday was Feb. 6th and the termination notice was for Feb. 15th. We do not have that kind of money at all, I was horrified. The representative came on and naturally asked how would like to take care of our bill to avoid termination. I was like “Ummmmmm, I’m not paying anything until I know what is going on.”

She had to place me on hold to look into things. She came back on about 4-5 mins. later and gave me a number to call at 4 pm if I do not receive a call before then about my account.

I got a call this morning assuring me they are taking care of our bill and will adjust it accurately to the day we moved in so we should see a size-able credit to our account. We will still owe some for the current month but no way near the amount we had been paying for the other persons meter.

So I can now sit down and rest a moment but my I’m sure I won’t rest well until I see our electric bill adjusted according to our actual usage.

Thanks for reading.

The Verdict is in! Well after 3 hrs at the eye doctor our boys are in need of glasses. I can’t believe between the 2 of them we spent just as much as buying a new lenovo laptop thankfully all but part was covered.

The only part not covered was the  anti-glare and replacement lenses.

So yes we got a letter from the school nurse that our oldest son may need professional attention to his eyes. you can read when glasses are needed. Well we had asked about our other son and they did try screening him but could not get much of anything out of him so it was inconclusive so at the Drs. today we found out he has even worse eyesight. He is very farsighted but not as bad as I was when I first go my first pair. So in 10 days my boys will be smiling with the ability to see clearly.

So I want to encourage you even if you do not have the financial means there are programs thru the school you can apply for. In this case we did not have to because the majority of their visits were covered and I only paid the extras that were not covered anyway. It could have been a whole lot worse.

Thanks for following along with my crazy life and my kids.

Topic: The Verdict is in!

In a recent conversation with my hubby I mention that churches really should tap into social media more.

As our conversation progress it occurred to me that I have a Daily Captive audience bigger then a mega church. Did you notice I capitalized Daily? Yeah I have a Daily audience that I reach actively each day than the average Mega Church. Now in comparison to many frugal bloggers I’m on the low medium side.

So why this post? Well the biggest difference from me to a pastor of a mega church is that most of you have never met me in person.

In actuality only about 100 people from Lynchburg, Va actually know I exist and follow me! Well my goal for 2013 is to be more personable.

How will we accomplish that? Well starting tonight I will be holding an Free online Coupon class by google hangout. I know when they first started they would only allow 8 persons per hangout so if they allow more we can do more. My plan is to do a class 2 times a month.

I also plan to share my journey of financial stress because like many of you we are going thru a tough time in our lives. If you do live in my area and do get to see me I may seem like nothing is stressing me out, I’m just trying to make the best of the situation and take it one day at a time.

Sordid you hear? Did I grb your attention? If so let me know.

Thanks for reading.

Topic: Do you hear me?

Ok typically I share from my own experience or from those around me because I am a real person and I have trials and hiccups in life that I know that even just one of you can relate, I have succeeded.

You are probably wondering why am I saying this or whats the point, but I recently got a comment suggesting I should keep something to myself and that coupon bloggers is meant to share ideas.

Yes I agree that sharing ideas is what I am here for and sharing with you how to save is my mission. Have you ever looked at my tag line? It says, “Helping Others Save Money.” That is just what I try to do. I recently wrote a post about something I learned to do and I wrote it to pass it on to others that they may also do the same to help save money.

It’s important to me to help others and if I open my mouth to help others that is what my intentions are. It has taken me over 3 yrs of couponing to be where I am today.

I don’t have to cut every single coupon, I can look at a coupon and realize whether it is a valuable coupon for me, I know the typical sale cycles and I know how much we use and how much we need between sales so our family can save effectively. I did not learn this over night and I am still learning. Whenever I learn something I will pass it on.

I am not most coupon bloggers, I am myself. Many large blogs my size and larger have teams who work on their blog. I can Stand HERE and say I am a ONE person show. I type my own reviews, I do my own posts, I do my own matchups with the help of a Wonderful Company. I taught myself CSS and HTML, I designed my own blog and if you ever asked me how much I put into my blog, my answer is my time. I rather learn to do something than to pay for something for my blog and yes that may show but right now every penny we bring in is vital to our home right now.

I pay monthly for my little corner of the web. I host other blogs under me even though I am not the owner but I have them for no expense to the owners because they have their own stories to share and I can afford to do that its not much but I’m happy to do it.

I have full control of what comes on my site from paid posts, sponsored posts, giveaways, and any other helpful things I feel fits my site.

I don’t tell people they have to come to my site to get the deals or they have to listen to me. I rather have fans who are eager to learn and want to be here than those who feel I am not doing a good job. There are 100’s of frugal bloggers and everyone of them is unique and has their own voices.

So sorry for my rant but this is my blog as long as I have control and I pay for my hosting and domain!

Thanks for reading and I hope you stay with me but if you feel you need to leave don’t worry I understand.

Need a simple craft idea for an Avengers or Captain America Party then you will want to add these easy to make Captain America Shields. They don’t require much and not very messy. You might get some participants to color on a wall or floor but other than that they are very easy to make.

What you Need:

– Paper Plate

– Red, Blue Crayons or colored pencils

– Cardstock

– Stapler

– Sharpie

How to Make:

1. First take your paper plate and face eating side down. You can get small or large paper plates at Dollar Tree for $1 for 20 count of the smaller solid color or 12 ct for the larger dinner plate. You can also find these at Wal-mart for $.97. I choose black because that is what I had on hand. To keep with the Captain America theme you may want to choose either, red, blue or silver plates.

Take the black sharpie and draw a circle around the bent rim of the plate for the first rim.

2. Draw a second circle about an inch in for the next rim. Draw a smaller circle of the center plate. Draw a star in the middle. I used various items such as a cup for the center circle and a small bowl for the in between circle.

3. Have your party guests color their own Captain America Shield. Provide them with plenty of red and blue crayons so they will not have to wait turns. Make the coloring experience less stressful and fun. Be sure to add your very own “Build your Own Shield” so your guests are aware they are to color the shields.

4. Take a 1 inch strip of cardstock the length of the plate and staple each end on the inside of the plate to make the handle. Make sure this is thick enough that it will not easily be broken. Be careful when you staple. Make sure it is facing inwards to keep potential harm from happening!

That is it! You are done!

Topic: Make your own Captain America Shield Craft