Crafty Antics

(Click on any photo to view a larger image.)

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

Summer Decorating Begins

(Click on any photo to see a larger image.)  

I had promised the director at the Dorchester Senior Citizen Center that I would come back every few months to do the seasonal decorating. I was past due on decorating for summer because the month of June was incredibly busy for me but I finally went to the center to start livening up the space for the hot summer months.

Fortunately I had done a pretty good job of decorating for spring because summer's decorations were added to the already festive look of the room. The walls were already decked out with dozens of butterflies and flowers. To that, I added some kites, colorful flip-flop sandals and two large and very colorful pennants (first photo) that the center director had purchased, all familiar symbols of summer. Coincidentally I had created my own Summertime pennant (second photo) to replace the Spring sign that I had created and hung in the center several months ago. Even though I had no prior knowledge of the pennants the center director had bought, the colors and the motif of my pennant were a perfect match for it and the rest of the room. I couldn't have planned it better. The kites were pinned to several large decorative fabric panels that I had scored for the center last year through a Freecycle donation. You can see some of these panels in the last two photos. In the last photo you can also see those colorful flip-flops strung from a heating pipe, looking for all the world like those sneakers you see hanging from utility lines all over the city. The sandals hang about 8 feet above the floor, low enough for everyone to easily see them but high enough to prevent any of the light-fingered members from making off with them. (Oh yes, those seniors will steal anything that isn't nailed down.) What you don't see in these photos is the Summer Goddess that I showcased in my last post. She was safely on view in a locked glass display case.

I'll go back to the center to finish the summer decorating and then I'll disappear again until September when it will be time to take down all the spring/summer decorations and switch over to fall. On the heels of fall decorating comes winter holiday decorating and that is a huge job. Until then I'll be in my garden, watering and weeding, planting and picking.


Ballo ergo sum
 - Gitana, the Creative Diva