Vintage Felt - Creation Circles Day 5

This is Creation Day 5 of a vintage Creation Circles felt board set.

These are meant to be used to tell the creation story over several weeks in a children's Bible class. The interactive nature of the story is achieved by gluing each piece in place. On creation circle 5, the pieces include:

• white bird
• whale
• 2 red fish
• 2 yellow fish

You can match the set of numbers to each creation circle studied to date as a revision activity, which helps with learning.

The spaces created on Day 2 have now been filled.

I let Tahlia glue the whale down on this circle, and didn't supervise well enough cause he ended up half in the sky. At least we can say he is breaching. One of the fish was missing from this circle as well, so I asked my mum to draw me a replacement. I bet you can't even tell which one it was. I'll tell you at the end of the post.

And then someone else gave me two circles from another set (I guess the other circles had been lost), but it "happened" to be Day 5 so now we have a correct circle featured at the top of the post as well as a breaching whale circle!

There also appears to be another red bird in the second version (see below).

New versions of this idea are available in small and large options of Creation Circles from Betty Lukens as well as this cartoon style Beginner Bible Creation set from Little Folk Visuals.

Once published, I will link to the other Creation Circle posts below:

• Vintage Felts - Creation Day 1 - includes a photo of the information sheet
• Vintage Felts - Creation Day 2
• Vintage Felts - Creation Day 3
• Vintage Felts - Creation Day 4
• Vintage Felts - Creation Day 6
• Vintage Felts - Creation Day 7

My mum made me a replacement version of the large red fish on the right on the version I didn't supervise properly. She used Korean hard felt and a Posca fabric marker. Mum's are awesome (at least mine is).

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Isaiah 40 - Grass Withers and Flowers Fall Quiet Book Page

In Isaiah chapter 40, God contrasts the faithfulness of His Word with that of all people.

 

Memory Verse: “All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.

The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.” Isaiah 40:6-8 (NIV).

 

Materials needed to create the Grass Withers and Flowers Fall quiet book page:

• A4 felt background sheet - I used white
• the free template from Jocelyn and Jason at The Quiet Book Blog
• felt scraps in gray, blue, orange, yellow, red and purple
• metal jean buttons
• green ribbon scraps
• sewing thread to best match the page

Cut out your flower pieces from coloured felt (one large and one small from each colour). Sew them onto the same colour felt and cut out again. Use your jeans button to measure the size buttonhole needed and make a buttonhole in the centre of each flower.

Cut five strips of ribbon for flower stems, melt the edges (How to Stop Ribbons Fraying). Sew them down onto your page, lining them up with where you want your flower heads to go, and ensuring the bottom ends will be covered by your planter box pocket.

Cut out your flower planter box from gray felt and sew it onto the same colour felt and cut out again. Sew it onto your page along the side and bottom edges to form a pocket.

Insert your jeans buttons at the top of each ribbon stem, adding extra felt behind for reinforcement. Button on your flower heads.

Finished! Now you can play with your page.

Difficulty Level = Easy, Difficulty level = No Sew

Jean button installation can be scary - but the following YouTube tutorial by OnlineFabricStore should help.

How to Attach a Jeans Button - OnlineFabricStore

Key Learning Areas and Skills

• Isaiah 40 - God's Word endures forever, unlike the faithfulness of people, who are like the grass and flowers that wither and fall so quickly and easily
• Buttoning - clasp and unclasp the hands as if they are "meeting together" or shaking hands greeting each other
• Pocket Play - young children love pulling things out and placing items and putting them back (not always lol) into pockets - the flower pieces can be stored in the planter box pocket
• Colour Matching - match the large and small flower petals together (or mis-match as desired)
• Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
• Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination

Read the Chapter

Isaiah 40

Devotional

The only thing we can trust is God and His Word. Everything else withers and falls as quickly and easily as the grass and flowers. He only is faithful.

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Which colour flower is your favourite? Does it remind you of someone amongst your family or friends?

Church flower wall - Interview with Marlene

A while ago I visited a church where one of the members had come up with a brilliant idea to store artificial flowers used in the flower arrangements each week. It was a lovely flower wall made of mesh that the flowers slipped into for storage, but that also looked stunning. It formed a beautiful flower wall in the Deacon's Room to provide a contemplative environment for those preparing to lead the service, and to greet those who just came out of the Baptismal font.

Marlene, the idea's inventor, was very generous and allowed Tahlia to explore her interest in floristry and gave her free licence to use all the flowers and vases at her disposal. Tahlia had a great time playing around with them. It made her day!

I also wanted to capture her great idea for my blog, so I hope you enjoy the interview I did with Marlene below.

Carissa D: Marlene, your flower wall is very impressive and a terrific way to store all the artificial flower options for use in beautifying the church every week. What need drove you to this invention?

Marlene: All these flowers were in plastic boxes and it was very difficult to find what I was looking for, plus it has created more floor space as the flowers and boxes were piled on top of each other in a frustrating mess. It has made such a difference to efficiency. Being colour coded I can now find what I’m looking for plus the flowers are being cared for. It saves me so much time.

Carissa D: Tahlia absolutely loved experimenting with all the different flowers (and vase) options and coming up with arrangements she was happy with. You have a great range to choose from. Did you invest in these flowers (and vases) yourself or did multiple people build up the collection over time, or was there money in the church budget to cover this project? How often would you use artificial flowers vs fresh flowers at church and why? 

Marlene: It is good we have a great range to choose from now and something in every colour. It certainly has taken time to build it to this stage and the church didn’t have a budget for flowers. When we moved to this church I noticed there were the same arrangements every week and apparently it had been like this for many years, they looked so tired and out of date. I offered my services to help with the flowers. I decided to update by finding new flowers. I mix flowers, I buy fillers from the cheap shops and the more expensive flowers are the feature flowers. It does take time to develop a good selection as it isn’t cheap. I usually use the same tones throughout the one arrangement.

On special occasions I use fresh flowers; funerals, weddings, communion, ordinations etc.

Carissa D: The flower wall is located in the deacon's room to the side and rear of the pulpit, baptismal font and rostrum area. I didn't notice any dust at all, so I am wondering if you dust the flowers regularly, or are you rotating through the flowers regularly enough that they don't get dusty? Basically, how to you deal with dust?

Marlene: Dust hasn’t been a problem. I think that small area is closed off to any outside interference.


Carissa D: How many people would use the wall, and do you have any issues that come along with that?

Marlene: There are not many people who use the wall but if they have a need they are very welcome to use it.


Carissa D: Are there any other issues and solutions you can share for the advice of others?

Marlene: I have a belief that many people who sit in a pew are visuals. It makes such a difference to enhance the church by some creative arrangements. To me it enhances worship. When God gave the instructions to have the Sanctuary built, He was so particular and it must have looked stunning. I believe this is how our earthly Sanctuaries should look….every detail cared for, including the flowers.

Carissa D: Do you have any photos you could share with us of your arrangements? What do you enjoy about this task for church? How did you develop your skills?

Marlene: I’m not a professional Carissa. My husband was a pastor and so we cared for several churches over the years. We both worked together in making every church look ‘loved’ Too many churches today look tired and out of date.

What happened - we lived for a time at a university, where I was asked to be a deaconess at the church there. They asked me to do the flowers, I freaked out. I had no idea how to make an arrangement of flowers and it was a big church.

I was very blessed to have a head deaconess who really knew how to make amazing arrangements. I was fascinated with her work, so I took the opportunity to watch her, and she gave me some valuable lessons. Her arrangements were very large and dramatic. Most people make the mistake of making their arrangements far too small, they are afraid to use size. An arrangement in a church must balance the size of the building. A small display gets lost in a large building. (Also, there are some colours that get lost, they disappear in the distance. Blue is one of those colours). And so, with practice and many prayers God has helped me develop this skill. I never do an arrangement in church without praying beforehand.

Carissa D: Could you also tell me about how you went about getting the mesh on the wall - from your idea to completed?

Marlene:
The Mesh - My husband was a very practical person and I had the same issue with flowers at our previous church. It is very difficult to store them as they are all shapes and sizes and they can get very tangled in boxes sitting on the floor. He suggested some wire mesh on the wall. Unfortunately we only had the very large squares (what they use in concrete) so we tried that.

It was Ok but someone else suggested the smaller squares that you saw at church. It has worked extremely well. It is set on the wall with 4 blocks of wood in each corner. It needs to be brought out from the wall by the blocks by about 8cm to allow the stalks to slide down behind the mesh. The larger flowers sit best at the top of the mesh and smaller ones towards the bottom.

Carissa D: Is there anything else you would like to tell us?

Marlene: Another way to enhance worship and make a visual impact is to create a theme around the theme of the sermon:

• Communion: have some grapes and a goblet and bread in a basket arranged near the communion table
• Easter: is a good time to decorate a cross, maybe the three crosses
• Spring Festival: Arrange fruit and vegies, flowers and greenery on bales of hay
• Fruits of the Spirit: Large covered boxes labelled with the different gifts
• International day: Flags of the world
• Ask the preacher what his theme is…..then use your imagination by building a theme.

Carissa D: Do you have any ideas for what is next? How do you envision the flower wall being used in the future?

Marlene: I will keep adding flowers to it. I look out for sale prices.

Carissa D: Do you have a favourite Faith and Felt Obsession blog post? What inspires you about it?

Marlene: Carissa, I think this is such an amazing idea. I love creativity and so I give the blog a 10 out 10. If there is something we can do that will inspire others in their worship, parenting, or enjoy using their talents in some way for God I am right behind it.

Thank you for allowing me to share, Marlene.

Carissa D: Thanks so much for being willing to share! I love a good idea, it's so inspiring.

I think a stained glass window frame with the mesh inside might be good for using as a flower wall display at the front of church.

I have also seen round mesh backdrop stands used as balloon displays and for party decorations, sometimes as photo backdrops. These might be a solution for churches who don't wish to have something permanently attached to the wall.

I hope this idea can help other people deal with similar problems!!

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Have you found a solution to storage at your church? Comment below!