The idea evolved into decorating photo frames. It picked up support after I made a couple of samples so the ladies could wrap their brains around the idea.
Mom and I gathered supplies. We charged $10 per participant. Nine signed up, then three of them couldn't make it. But the other six had a great time. I base-coated a few frames for them to get started. One who was nervous about starting made two frames. Others brought more Foofy Doo-Dah to share. No one was on time at 9:00, but we were rolling by 9:45.
They had great ideas. They asked each other for help and ideas as much as they asked me. They were tickled when I reminded them that it was for themselves, not for a grade, not for a contest. If she liked it, then it was right.I helped them make some bows, like the one in this first photo.
The one with the 6 and 4 is my birthday card for me my mom, who turned 64 this week. I wrote inside that I still need her and will still feed her, and gave her $3 worth of Dairy Queen gift certificates.
I taught them how to add a second layer to make an item pop when two pieces were too close in color, such a as the pink and lavender tissue papers on the tall purple frame. The words on the sticker weren't showing on just the lavender.The partially hidden frame was my demo frame, made with Mod Podge glue and lots of collaging. Today's ladies were more interested in just using hot glue, which I agreed with. Quicker results. Notice that a few ladies took some of the larger papers and put them in the frames, either for now or for always.
Since the ladies were tending to themselves enough, I started crafting, too (which was my secret ulterior motive). I made frames for the ladies who had wished to come but were absent. I made the RED HOT frame for a lady born in Mexico. Thus the chili pepper. It was clear-red plastic, too dark on the purple, so I backed it with white. The paper cut-out hat had feathers, so I hot-glued on more and bigger feathers over them. This lady likes beadwork and makes her own jewelry. I left space for her to add more if she wishes.In the Tall purple frame, the upper left corner has a piece of fabric that was "like a shawl." I told them that it was a shawl. When Ganoush and Skunk were four, they could not unknot a tassled scarf of mine, so they cut off the knot. Argh.
The center frame was another of mine, for a lady who loves to dress for holidays and often has glitter hair accents and glitter highlights on face, neck, and skin. I used sparkly papers and one lady's die-cut machine to make flowers, then added lots of glitter glue.I also made the frame on the left. That recipient is much quieter in her style and lies Americana. I started the red frame for the Glitter Lady, but most of my papers were red-toned, so they needed a purple frame. I had already put the big sticker on the red frame, so I was able to add just a couple more quiet elements and call it done.
The Red Hat Ladies were so good, they were even careful to ask about which scraps were big enough to keep. And since they all helped clean up nicely and stuff my mom had sorted stayed sorted, I'll have an easier time putting all back into the basement (where I'm headed right after I post) and finding the stuff again next time.
