Friday

How to Make an Attendance / Chores Wall Hanging


Here is a simple tutorial for making an

                      Attendance / Chores Wall Hanging 

for your Sunday School class or a small Children's Church, which will cost very little to make.


It has been made so that it can be reusable by changing the simple decorating feature.


It can also be easily adapted to suit a Home Chores Chart







PLANNING



I got out my card table and some card and a ruler and pencil to brainstorm the first day.





I wanted something that the children could actively take part in each week as an attendance incentive and this is what I can up with.





Some form of card or light wood for the Header, ribbons representing each week hanging down in sections of the 4 months up to Christmas.

As you can see I sort of drew part of it out and then wrote down my ideas.

But as you will see later - I modified it!




PREPARATION



If you are like me you will have various leftover crafting embellishments from other projects so you can hunt them out to help with this one.






I got a sheet of A3 coloured card.
There was no choice of colour as it was the last sheet in that size.
(Just hoped the boys would not object)


Then I folded it in 3 lengthwise but with one end section slightly narrower than the other two.


Next it was off to the computer







and I used a nice thick Alpha from my digital scrapbooking files to use for the font of the Header and this was printed on to a white A4 Card.


I made 3 because I only needed the header to be less than a third of the width of an A4 card and thought I wouldn't waste the rest of the card and I would have two headers for future use.


Then I got out my embellishments





All three containers.






Next I got out the container with the odd pieces of ribbon.






I didn't need all the pieces of ribbon to be the same colour as this would have made the Wall Hanging rather bland so I was happy to use my left over pieces which gave me a nice variety of colour.







I also needed my container with two sided sticky tape because I didn't want to mess around with glue and the tape makes it all so much quicker to do.






The next stage was getting the pieces of ribbon long enough so I placed some ribbon down flat on the table and put the larger embellishments beside to measure how long to cut the ribbon.  I would probably have 12 children at the most in the class so it just needed to be long enough to hold 12 of those butterflies plus a little bit more to be stuck inside the card.






When the 15 pieces of ribbon were cut to the right length (15 because I was going to use it for attendance on 15 different weeks before Christmas) I then had to make sure they were all ironed flat because ribbon likes to curl round when it is cut.

So now that everything was ready it was back to the card.




PRODUCTION


I folded the card over from one side towards the centre and then the narrower section over on top of that.





Then came the two sided tape






I cut a length of the tape just slightly shorter than the length of the card and pealed off one of the coatings and stuck this down on the card in far enough from the folded edge remembering that the last section to fold on top was slightly narrower.






Next I peeled off the other coating from the tape but did not stick down the last section of card because the ribbons had to be put in first.






There were 15 ribbons so I was able to start easily with placing one in the centre and pressing it down to have it stick to the card.
I had of course taken a little time when ironing the ribbons, to consider the colours I had and worked out the arrangement I wanted to place them in.






So I placed all the ribbons in the right order of colour on the table and spaced them out evenly before I stuck each one unto the tape.






Then I folded the card over and pressed it down firmly.
I did not need to put any more tape on the last part to fold over because there was enough of the tape between the ribbons for the card to stick well.






Using my card and paper cutter I cut the header sheet into 3 pieces and put two away carefully to keep for another time.






Using more two sided tape I cut two strips and placed them along the two long edges on the back of the Header.

I peeled off the coatings, carefully lined up the Header on the Front of the Card and stuck it down.






Next I took the butterfly cut outs that I planned to use for the first week and cut small pieces of two sided tape to put on the back of each one and then tiny 2.5cm long wooden pegs were stuck to the butterflies so that the children could clip them to the ribbons.
(I had enough pegs to do for about 4 weeks but since then I have bought more on Ebay and they only cost around £2.97 for 100 pegs inc P&P)

Each week we will have a different shape and have different colours in each of the shapes so that the children can pick which colour they want.






Before the children clip their shape to the ribbon they will write their name on the shape.
Then at the end we can count each of the names and see who has attended best and there will be a small prize for that person.

All of the children will then get to take all their shapes home with them - so they will all actually get something.

Now all that was needed was to stick two other butterflies to the Card to decorate it and the whole thing could simply be used again by carefully removing the two decorations and adding two different ones (perhaps balloons, or animal shapes).







I hope you can try this out for yourself

or

use it as inspiration for something that might suit you even better.



Other Kids Resources can be found Here.


Plus

There are many Free Printables etc. in the RESOURCE LIBRARY











Sunday

I Love the Bible - It's God's Love #14


This is just a simple, short post each week
consisting of a Bible Verse around the topic of
God's Love and I would be very pleased if you
would join me each Sunday.





                                                           


 I Love the Bible



Why?


Because 

It is God's Word

and God's Word is POWERFUL!






Because

It is Truth

and Truth sets me FREE!



Because 

God's Word is full of love,

God's LOVE!








Nothing


No One


No Place


No Situation


No Separation




WHY?



Because

The Love of God

is in

JESUS



















Wednesday

I love Arks - A Dose of Encouragement


I collect Noah's Arks,
  -  but I don't think there's a Flood coming!


Some people have joked with me about
"is there a flood coming?"

 when they have seen my collection (or some of it)

 of Noah's Arks.







I have always loved arks and pictures of Arks but my collection really began when our daughter was about 8 or 9.

Linda went on a weekend away with a Christian organization called Girl Crusaders.  While she was away she saw a poster picture of an Ark and decided to buy it as a present for me.
On the journey home the corner got dog-eared and Linda was very disappointed but I love my picture.
It was put into a blue frame and has always been in view somewhere in our home ever since.

In our present home it sits on top of a bookshelf in the Sun Room.



Can you see the crease in the top right corner?



Well since then I have collected:



An Egg from America


On the Mantlepiece in the lounge






A Utensils Holder


On top of my Paper drawer set in my study







A Money Box & Snow Globe


On the bookshelves in my study







A Wall Hanging



In our guest room







A Decorative Plate, Beleek Biscuit Barrel, Silver Trinket Box & Decorative Tea Pot



All 4 of these have ended up on the large dresser that is now in our kitchen







A Photo Frame



On the corner edge of the kitchen worktop 






Some Bags


On the back of the door of my study






A Memories Box


Which can be found in various locations





Cushions


On our various couches / settees





An Apron



Also on the back of the door in my study - used for crafting.





More Pictures


In various rooms 





Plus a Clock 


In the kitchen






A Wooden Carved Ark with Animals


When our oldest son went to Malawi for 3 months to work with a missionary couple he brought it back for me





and he had me in tears at this lovely gift.



The Ark has always been very special to me.

In the Ark there is safety  -  God's Protection
In the Ark there is compassion  -  God's Mercy
In the Ark there is forgiveness  -  God's Grace


The Ark is a symbol of Salvation and our salvation is in Jesus so the Ark is a symbol of Jesus.


When I was young and accepted God's Gift of Salvation I knew I was safe.  Even though I may not have understood all about God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit or the Bible; I still recognized the fact that I was safe with Jesus.

So even though some may joke about my Arks my friend Jennifer in Belgium saw things differently and has always referred to our home as the safe Ark.



Are you safe with Jesus?

Are you in the Ark which is Christ Jesus?



As a teenager I listened to songs by Len Magee and one of them asks the question


 "Are you in the Ark, or are you outside?"



I want to encourage you today with some other words from that song 

Oh don't hesitate
You'll be too late
His arms' open wide


there will come a time when it is too late but right now it's not!

So please consider that Question again


       "Are you in the Ark, or are you outside?"


and but also with the fact that


You can be safe with Jesus, 
He is the only one you can truly trust.










Sunday

It's God's Love #13

This Sunday Series is all about God's Love.


A simple, short post each week
consisting of a Bible Verse around the topic of
God's Love and I would be very pleased if you
would join me each Sunday.










Which man laid down his life

for all his friends?


The man Christ Jesus.






God

in human form

gave

His Life

for

you & me.



There is no greater expression of Love than this.




















Wednesday

How many times? - A Dose of Encouragement


How many times have we told that story? is something my husband and I often ask ourselves as we laugh with friends.





What do you say to your 17 year old son at the airport just before he is flying off on a month's language experience to Germany with 29 other kids from the UK?


Well I bet you would not think it was what I said
 to Jonathan our eldest son.


And all these years later he has never forgotten, and doesn't let me forget it either.


You see as soon as Jonathan would return he was going into his last year at school finishing his A levels and then the following year he was hopefully going to university.

And I felt it was important that all our children would be able to look after themselves before they would be living away from home for any length of time.

The previous summer I had told him that it was time he learned to do his own washing, so we had proceeded to arrange a day each week when I would not use the washing machine and dryer and it was all free for him.

He managed that ok getting used to it as the year went on.

He had understood that he would eventually need to be able to sort his clothes into suitable washing bundles and know how to read labels and wash and dry items without shrinking or dying anything so accepted the task and did it.

However I did continue to do his ironing along with everyone else's.


So no doubt you can guess now what it was that I said to him at the airport


"As soon as you get back 
you will have to start doing your own ironing."


Well you would think I was the cruellest mother ever to walk this earth, not because I was insisting he now learned to iron but because I said it then at that specific time and spoilt the trip for him.






Yes he said this was because he now had a rotten chore to look forward to.

It was a bit of an exaggeration really because it did not spoil the trip for him although he will still to this day try to claim it did.

Of course I didn't just expect him to be able to do the ironing without being taught to do it properly.
I so I showed him how to iron his shirts and T shirts and trousers and watched as he tried and gave advice where it was needed until he was able to do the job.

Since then Jonathan has been to Cambridge University and got his Bachelors Degree in Theology, then to Belgium and got his Masters in Theology and is now living in Leeds UK working on his Phd and pastoring a church part-time.  During all of that he has lived both with us and on his own at various times and has coped with a lot more than just his washing and ironing.

But sometimes he still needs to consult his dad or I on things to do with his appartment like how to fix the timer for his central heating etc.

Just the other day he rang up to check with me about bleaching white items as he wanted to make sure he would not ruin his clothes.


When I answered the phone he said




I laughed and said that yes the weather in NI was very good for the start of autumn but not that good.

But he wasn't talking about weather he was ringing with a washing question.

You see when he was 15 years old Fred & I celebrated our 20th Wedding Anniversary with a trip to Hawaii. My parents came and stayed over in our house with the 3 kids but Jonathan being a very sensible boy thought that he should help with the washing; but not knowing about how to use the machine then he decided to ring me in Hawaii to check it out.

How many times has that story been told to dinner guests!!!

I love the fact that our son, who is well established in his own home and has learned to do so many practical things there and is a very clever lad, is still willing to lift the phone and ask a question of his old mum and dad.

I also love the fact that he will often just lift the phone to tell us when he has done something new as well.





You see this is our son who loves books and reading and learning and has a fantastic memory but has always thought he was useless at practical things.

How many times do we think we are just not good at something?

How many times do we think that we couldn't possibly do something God wants us to do because it is so different to what we have been used to doing?

How many times do we think that we couldn't possibly learn something new to be able to help our church?

How many times do we think that we couldn't offer to help in a situation that could be a blessing to someone simply because we don't know them very well?


We need to take an example from Jonathan and just ask for help

  • to do those things we don't feel adequate about,
  • or to learn a new task,
  • or to change our attitude to certain situations,
  • or to know what to say to others.



We need to ask God for help in tackling these things that we have been hesitant to do in the past.

We need to come and pray for wisdom, understanding, or even a change of heart in some circumstances.


God is not asking us to do something if He does not intend to help and guide us.






Just as I helped Jonathan to learn to iron, God will help us learn what ever we need to.


When Jonathan was very young he asked a lot of questions about everything.

We would get tired sometimes answering his questions.

God does not get tired answering our request for help.

God is not limited in any way even though we are.

But so often we feel we are more limited than we really are.


How many times can we ask God for help?    
There is no limit.








Sunday

It's God's Love #12

This Sunday Series is all about God's Love.


A simple, short post each week
consisting of a Bible Verse around the topic of
God's Love and I would be very pleased if you
would join me each Sunday.







We are in the world

but the Bible tells us that 

we should not be of the world.









God's Love

cannot

be in us

if we love

the world;

if we put the things of the world

before God.

Therefore

God's Love

has nothing to do with

the world;

it is not determined by anything of this world,

but is unique

to God.









You are welcome to copy the Bible Verse Graphic above and any of the others that will be in this Sunday Series on God's Love.  Please use it as it is with no editing for your own personal use including on social media but not in any commercial way. 

With regards to any other pictures or graphics - please contact me. 


Thanks.