Busy Time at the Senior Center

(Please click on any photo to see a larger image.)

As I mentioned in a previous post, the celebration of the spring season has begun at the Dorchester Senior Citizens Center have been concentrating on craft projects that incorporate a flower motif. Photos you see  here show some of the work we have done in recent weeks. During two craft sessions I had the ladies create beautiful three dimensional flowers on stems for the purpose of using them to decorate the main activity/dining room of the center. Using foam core boards and wrapping paper, I made a makeshift window box and arranged the flowers inside of it to make it appear as if they were growing out of the box. This box was then mounted on the soffit of the main room in between the floral panels I made several weeks ago.

All around the perimeter of the room, lights and paper lanterns in shades of pink, orange and white were hung, giving the room a very bright and colorful appearance, just the thing to shake off the last of winter's cold doldrums. Because I am only at the center one afternoon a week, it has taken me several weeks to get all these elements in place but it is coming together very nicely. The room feels brighter already.

Many thanks must be given to Materials for the Arts,  (MFTA) a division of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. This organization is responsible  for receiving donated materials from a variety of donors and making them available for art organizations and non-profit entities free of charge. Many of the materials used for the projects pictured on this page came from MFTA. The fabric paper used in making the flower petals, the foam core boards used to make the flower box, the tassel on the little purse card as well as the baby buttons used in the flower centers all came from materials for the arts. Even the main image and sentiment on the Victorian Rose card came from MFTA, taken from a brochure advertising different types of paper. Take a closer look at that Victorian card. Do you see the small gold buckle on the left of the satin ribbon? It's actually bra hardware - the kind used to make an adjustable strap. It also came from MFTA as do most of the envelopes used for all the cards I make with the ladies. If you are or know of a NYC-based organization that might be interested in accessing this great resource, just follow the link at the beginning of this paragraph to go directly to the MFTA website.


Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva
Design team member for About Art Accents