Is It Here Again? Already?

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It seems impossible to believe but next week is Thanksgiving. NEXT WEEK!! It feels as if I was just setting out seedlings and applying sunscreen last week. Time is truly moving faster and faster every year. Ugh, that means I'm getting older and older just as fast. Hmmph! On to happier thoughts.

At the senior center, we've been working on all sorts of Autumn themed projects for several weeks now. In my last post there was a picture of the beautiful floral pumpkin centerpieces my crafters created. We followed that up with a coordinating Thanksgiving sign that can be posted on a wall, a door or on an easel for display. At our last session, we took a short respite from the larger, more complicated projects to create a very simple card to celebrate the fall season but, to keep my class from being bored, I challenged them to decorate it in glitter and they did a wonderful job.

Our upcoming class will be the last session before the Thanksgiving holiday and I have created a cute little turkey decoration. It's rather small, measuring only 2.5 inches tall by approximately 4.25 inches wide, but what this little fellow lacks in stature, he makes up for in attitude. His body is a small pinecone. His head features an open beak with a nice wattle and wide eyes, but it's his tail that steals the show, made up of 28 individual paper feathers highlighted with contrasting ink. Even the back of his tail is fancy, adorned with a lacy half medallion. A full medallion is used as a stand for this fancy fellow.

Yes, Thanksgiving is here and you know what that means...Christmas is around the corner. Bring on the holiday crafting.



Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Crafty Antics

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I just looked at my calendar and realized that it's nearly the end of September. Where did the time go? Well, wherever it went, it left in a big hurry and I haven't posted any of the crafts projects I've done with the senior ladies at #DorchesterSeniorCitizensCenter on Friday afternoons.

We've done quite a few things; some cards but others not. I challenged the class by doing a small project...small in size that is. I had them decorate plain dominoes with nail art decals to which I affixed strong magnets with hot glue. Voila! Refrigerator magnets. These dominoes are not large and the decals are even smaller yet my ladies pulled off the project like champs.

Continuing on the theme of useful items, we created pretty gift bags with a decorated tag. The floral paper used is actually wallpaper border cut down to size. Coordinated accents on the bag and tag make this a beautiful way to present a small gift to someone special. We also made a magnetic shopping list complete with individual lined papers inside a decorated pocket for creating a list. This project was the first of our autumn-themed projects.

Of course I can't let a month go by without creating at least a card or two. One was a colorful card with an all occasion saying on the front. The card featured die cuts and flowers with a little bling in the center. The second card was our farewell to summer and nothing says summer like a flip flop sandal. This shaped card was created using a digital cutting file by My Scrap Chick. For details on this and other cutting files, visit the website here. It went together easily and the ladies were delighted with the results.

It is officially autumn now and future projects will carry the seasonal theme until there is a nip in the air signalling the approach of winter and the year-end holidays. Until it is time for snowflakes and mittens, autumn's leaves will rule the day.

I love the colors of the change of seasons, don't  you?


Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Late Fall Garden Update

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The weather is turning nippy and the winds are blowing the remnants of fall's brilliant leaves around into whirlwinds of color. My garden, which has been so productive, is beginning to slow down in preparation for winter. Nevertheless, it still has some bounty to share before the long sleep. Here are the last of the apples in my tree. These beauties are the inaccessible ones at the very top of the tree. Since they can't be reached, we have to wait for them to fall. The squirrels and birds haven't been very cooperative in this regard, helping themselves to more than half the apples on the tree.  Apparently they have had their fill as they have left these few alone. Fortunately these apples did not get mangled, beaten or bruised from the fall and fell onto the soft dirt instead of the hard concrete surrounding the garden. There's good eatin' here.

My monster tomato plant (yes, plant...singular) has all but obliterated the azalea bush that supports it. Only a little bit of the bush is visible on the extreme right side. The rest is all tomato. It is still producing flowers which I am ripping off as fast as they are being produced in the hope of redirecting the growth hormones to the developing fruit. There are still hundreds of little green tomatoes on the vine. Because of the shorter days and cooler weather the ripening process has slowed down drastically but I am still harvesting quite a bit. I was out of town for a week and upon my return the bowl of tomatoes you see here was waiting for me.


Now begins the long process of readying my garden for winter. Spent plants must be uprooted, Pots must be brought in, and plastic must be draped over the hoop house to shield it from the ravages of snow and ice. I'm tired just thinking about it but it inspires me to look forward to next season's garden. Now I have property upstate that I can plant also. More work. More fun. More food. I love my garden .

Always and All Ways,
#Gitana the Creative Diva