If you’ve ever received a Stampin’ Up! shipment via UPS, your box probably included a yard or two of the eco-friendly brown packing paper. Normally I take my packing paper to our local recycling center, but sometimes I save it for a special project.
In this case, not only did I save my paper for a month, but I asked other demonstrators to save paper for me! You see, the Vacation Bible School theme for our church this summer is “Crocodile Dock”, and I thought the packing paper would make great swamp decorations.
Armed with at least 120 yards of brown packing paper (courtesy of Stampin’ Up! boxes), we were able to cover walls, bulletin boards and faux swamp trees for VBS. We also twisted the paper to form some really cool vines that hang from the walls, fishing nets and ceilings.
The pre-crinkled paper was perfect for our swamp theme!
Check it all out–how many uses for brown packing paper do YOU see here?
Oh, and if you’re in the Champaign, Illinois area, feel free to bring your kids by for VBS this week! We meet in the evenings — 6 to 8 pm, and we would love to have you join us for even 1 night!
You can find details online here.
I am a kindergarten teacher and we are planning our graduation program. We are using some of the songs from the vast voyage vbs. I really love your vbs decorations and was wondering how you did the backdrop? Any suggestions, or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Shawn
Hi Shawn – Have fun with your graduation! The backdrop for our Vast Voyage VBS is here on my blog: https://lovenstamps.com/2010/06/21/recycle-that-stampin-up-packing-paper-vbs-style/
The backdrops are constructed by opening up refrigerator boxes (free from a local appliance store) and connecting them together (zip ties work well for the junctions). Then we use latex paints to add whatever we want. The latex paints are opaque and perfect for the cardboard. Since we are on a budget, usually I cruise the paint stores and purchase odd tints for $2-4 per can, rather than paying full price for colors. It’s VBS right? Does the blue really need to be the perfect one? I think close works fine ;)
On the Pandamania flowers, I found a picture online of something I wanted to copy, then projected it from my computer onto the cardboard and traced with pencil. It’s the updated version of using an overhead projector, plus it means you don’t have to try to print on a transparency. I trace, then paint in the main colors, then add highlights and blend.
Hope that helps a bit!
Happy Painting! –Meg