Christmas? Already?

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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

A New Start With Old Friends

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I have returned to my beloved senior center to conduct crafting classes as I did four years ago. It seems so bizarre that it's been four years already. I feel as if I never left the place. Today I returned to conduct a crafts class and, as usual, the project was a card. As with all new activities, the members have to ease themselves into it slowly so I only had a couple of women to work with but I'm sure with time my participants will increase.

This first card was a simple one based on a layout I found on Pinterest and introduced the techniques of die punching and rubber stamping to the class. The ladies had a choice of punches and stamped verses to choose from to make their card unique. They both enjoyed themselves and one of the ladies asked to make another one for her son who will soon be graduating from a trade school. Hopefully they will spread the news to the other members and more will join the class.

Last week I decorated the center for St. Patrick's Day using predominantly purchased items in addition to some hanging shamrock ornaments that were made by the center members in one of my classes five years ago and still survived. I created another version of that ornament and made some to add to the original batch and used them to dress up the center a bit. Here's a photo of this year's version of the ornament. You can go HERE to see the original version and the women who made them.

St. Patrick's Day is over now and all the shamrocks have come down in preparation for spring decorating. I will soon be putting up the pretty new panels I made a few weeks ago. Go HERE to see those panels and the original one they were based upon.

This time around I would like to introduce techniques to the members that they can build upon to create cards and other objects as opposed to creating complete kits that they assemble. I want them to do more of the work in order to foster a sense of pride and accomplishment in the finished product. We'll see how it goes. If nothing else, this is a new start with old friends. Another adventure begins.

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

How to Blow an Egg

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First things first...Happy New Year, everyone. I hope 2013 is the best year you've ever had and the least of the years to come.

Today I had the kind of morning that so easily demonstrates how everything is connected. It started out in the kitchen and ended up on my craft table. It began with me doing something I don't normally do...I made breakfast. Not only did I make breakfast, I made something I've never made from scratch...waffles. Big, fat, hot and fluffy waffles. The recipe called for four eggs and, for some unexplained reason, I had the overwhelming desire to blow the eggs. No, I'm not referring to some obscene act performed on dairy products. (Admit it, that's what you were thinking, wasn't it?)  I'm talking about removing the egg's contents by blowing it out of tiny holes, thereby leaving the shells intact. Sure, cracking them would have been so much more expedient but blowing them is so much more... work! Besides, it's the only way to get the main material for a making a decorated egg. After all, Easter is only a few months away.

To blow an egg you have to make two tiny pinholes on either end of tyhe egg. This can be accomplished with a thick, sharp needle or, in my case, a teasing needle I retrieved from my old college dissection kit. Place the point of the needle on one end of your egg and carefully wiggle it around while applying gentle yet steady pressure on it until it begins to break through the shell. Once pierced, insert the needle as far into the shell as possible then remove it. Repeat this on the other side. Once both sides are pierced, using a slender hors doeuvre skewer (NOT a shish kebab skewer -- too big), insert it into a pinhole and SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY turn it around as if it were a drill. Eventually the hole will widen slightly and allow the skewer to enter the shell. Use the skewer to pierce repeatedly inside the egg and break the yolk. Repeat with the other pin hole. Place your lips on one of the pinholes and blow hard to expel the liquid egg into a receptacle.

Now the inside of the shells must be rinsed to remove any residue or they will begin to smell bad. Take a small amount of water in your mouth, hold the egg above your face slightly and bring one of the pinholes down to your mouth, the other one facing upwards. Push the water from your mouth up into the shell and fill it about halfway. Cover the two holes with your fingers, shake vigorously then blow the water out. Voila! You now have a clean, empty egg shell and the beginnings of a great omelette. As I said before, I used those eggs for making waffles. Wonderfully fragrant, light and airy waffles that were warm and delicious. Mmmm, yum.

In the process of cleaning out a long forgotten box, I found an old decorated egg ornament I'd begun nearly 30 years ago that I never really completed. It's simple and rudimentary but it served its purpose and is currently taking up residence among the creative detritus on my crafting table. This will be the inspiration for the next generation of decorated eggs I create. First I have to get past Valentine's Day which is approaching faster than I want to admit. I've started creating some hearts for cards but that's as far as I've gotten. (Refer to the creative detritus on the table around the decorated egg.) And I have yet to finish putting away my Christmas ornaments. Ah, well. One baby step at a time.

When I finish decorating those blown eggs, I'll be sure to post them here for your review and comment. Hope you'll stick around until then. Thanks.

Ballo ergo sum
- Gitana, the Creative Diva

It's been a while...

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You wouldn't know it from the inactivity on this blog but I've been busy...very busy, both artistically and otherwise, which is why I haven't been able to catch up until now. In my last post I was creating invitations for my daughter's Sweet Sixteen birthday party which took place at the end of November. Well, no sooner was that party over than the holidays were upon us and I began a frenzy of creating Christmas cards. Of course ONE Christmas card wasn't enough. Oooh nooo! I had to make several different cards. Here are some of the cards I created this year.



As if cards didn't keep me busy enough, I decided to create some ornaments as well. Many years ago I started a tradition of creating ornaments as gifts. My sister liked them so much told me that the only gift she wanted from me every Christmas was an ornament. This year I decided to create some out of paper, something I had not done before. I was very satisfied with the results, as was my sister. See for yourself. I was so taken with one of the designs I created using Cuttlebug die cuts that I began to write a tutorial for publishing on this blog. As soon as I complete it, I will post it here.



I'm in the midst of pre-spring cleaning frenzy so my crafting is going to take a slight hiatus while I rid myself of a lot of garbage. As soon as I get out from underneath the rubble, I'll be back. See you soon.

Ballo ergo sum,
Always and all ways,
- Gitana, the Creative Diva