Starting The New Year Right.

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

"Precious Metals"

Our crafty mavens at the Dorchester Senior Citizens Center have started 2018 with a couple of cards that highlight the gleaming sheen of metal.

"Precious Metals" features metallic card stock in gold, silver and copper colors. The silver cardstock, in particular, looks like vintage pressed tin when it is embossed.
The tiniest bit of black card stock peeks out from under the embossed pieces to offer a bit of contrast to the creamy white base card layer.

These crafters love their "LoveBirds" card.

Our second card takes a look ahead to one of the many minor holidays that occur during the month of February. This love themed card comes just ahead of Valentine's Day on February 14th but the color scheme makes it a perfect choice for a wedding or anniversary card. The silhouetted love birds on a branch and the sentiment "Always and Forever" undeniably make this card one for lovers. Like the previous card, this one also features silver card stock with just a touch of gold and some sparkling rhinestones for accent. Not shown is the inside card liner which also has subtle silver and gold accents.

I made an large poster-sized version of this card in traditional Valentine's Day colors to use as part of the senior center decorations. Here they are, side by side, so you can see the size difference.

Also on the calendar for February are Mardi Gras on February 13th and Chinese New Year on February 16, not to mention President's Day on February 19. It's going to be a busy month.

Life is a creative process.

- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Christmas? Already?

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

Where has the time gone? It seems Hallowe'en was just a few days ago and now Christmas is fast approaching. Well, we haven't been letting grass grow beneath our feet at the Dorchester Senior Center. We've been busy crafting! Just take a look at some of the things we've made in the past month.

We celebrated the beauty of autumn's colors with two different cards. One card featured a bare tree that was covered with tiny, multicolored leaves applied one at a time. The other was an easel card that featured detailed rubber stamped images of autumn leaves and a diagonal border of leaves across the front. The unique construction of this card allows it to stand up like a painting in an easel, hence the name. The ladies liked the easel card so much, I created another one, this time featuring a photo frame.

With the holidays right around the corner, it was time to start Christmas crafts. My crafters really liked the decorated gift bag they created some weeks back so I designed another one for them to make. We followed that with paper ornaments, reindeer gift tags and a Christmas card.

On top of all this crafting madness, I have been doing my annual holiday decorating thing for the senior center. Decorating for Christmas and Hanukkah takes a lot of time because there are a LOT of decorations and because it is a large room. I'll take pictures of the room when it is completed and post them for you to see.

In all of this, I haven't done a lick of holiday shopping or decorating for myself. Time's a wasting'. I'd better get cracking.


Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Another Year Gone By.

The past two months are a blur. Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve have come and gone and we're already past the middle of January 2016. Why does it seem that time is moving more and more swiftly as I get older?

Some of the highlights of the past couple of months include gardening. Yes, gardening. In December. In New York City. Early winter 2015 boasted some of the warmest weather in recorded history with temperature hitting 70 degrees two days before Christmas. As a result, my garden was in quite a confused state. My front yard hoop house, which had been winterized with a plastic covering, was now as warm as a spring day and producing a bumper crop of cilantro and some red leaf lettuce. The lettuce was sufficient for a small side salad (yum) and I am still harvesting cilantro for cooking. I find this winter cilantro to be even more fragrant than the warm weather variety.


The holidays would not be complete without some Christmas-related crafting. Although I was busy with many things, I made time for some last minute card and tag making. The tags came from my RTU (Ready To Use) stash of leftovers and I embellished them a bit with gold edging and text cut from gold card stock. For the cards. I decided to go simple. Instead of designing something from scratch, I chose a free ornament cutting file from birdscards.com, mounted the finished ornament on cardstock squares that I had in my RTU stash, and used one of my favorite card styles: the matchbook. The cardstock I used for the card was double-sided so the inside was a coordinating print to the outside. A bit of ribbon, a small ornament and a bow round it out. I printed out my own greeting on my computer, slapped in inside the completed card and, voila!, a finished card. You can find the free cutting files on Birdscards.com's website HERE .

I also made time to create an winter themed over-the-door sign for the Dorchester Senior Citizens Center. A couple of years ago I made a spring themed door sign and I thought it was time for another season to be represented. Again, I used cutting files from www.birdscards.com for the corners and some of the snowflakes. The plan is to eventually create signs for every season so they can be changed every three months.

Valentine's Day is around the corner and I haven't done a thing to prepare, craftwise. I better get moving. Looks like the next few months will be a blur also.


Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

Throwback to the Holidays

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

Gift for grandson #1

Gift for grandson #2

Dancing at our community association
holiday gathering

It's only the end of January, just one month after the December holiday festivities, but it feels as if they took place eons ago, having been buried under several feet of snow. During this frigid, unforgiving time, I want to look back to some of the benchmarks of my annual holiday traditions like coquito, bread pudding, wrapping presents and decorating the house. Here are a few snapshots of my holiday celebrations.

Bread pudding in the making

Coquito - traditional Puerto Rican
holiday drink

My Coast Guard daughter and her beau.

 All the decorations have been packed away and the good food  has been eaten. Now I can look forward to longer, warmer days and the promise of gardening come spring. Goodbye, holidays. Until next year.

Decorations dragged down from the attic.

Rocking the new scarf my
sister gave me.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva