2022 Decorating Mom’s Door – Episode 1 – All things Valentines!

My mother lives in at assisted living facility approximately one mile from my home. This location makes it easy for me to get to her should she need anything. Most of the time, she needs me to get her Cokes, Kleenex, Charmin toilet paper, Bounty paper towels, and cookes. Especially Oreo’s and Nabisco Nilla wafers. And the occasional Snickers bar!!! She is very particular about her things!

While living in an assisted living facility has it’s advantages and we love where she is at, the hallways seem like that are lacking in something. A lot of the residents have wreaths on their door but nothing that really stands out.

The first year she was there at Christmas, I went all out on decorating her door and continued doing it for her. It brings her joy. And if my mother is happy, I am happy!

So I started thinking, why not decorate her door for all of the occasions? I decided I would decorate for all the season and occasional happenings during the year. And I will be starting With Valentines Day.

Of course, that would mean shopping for all the goodies at Dollar Tree, Hobby Lobby, WalMart, and Joanns. I want to make her door look like Cupid paid her a visit. Here are all the goodies I will be using.

From Dollar Tree:

From Hobby Lobby:

From Joanns

In this photo, the bows are from Joann’s, the red heart picks are from Dollar Tree, and the Happy Valentine’s Day teddy bear is from WalMart.

Unfortunately I am not able to decorate her door just yet as they are having a temporary lockdown of sorts. But I hope to be able to make her door stand out on January 30th.

Wish me luck and please come back to see the final outcome.

2022 Craft Project #1 – Valentine Wreath for mom… part 2

This has definitely been a real learning experience as I have never done anything like this before.

I wasn’t sure how to start this project so the first thing I did after ironing the pieces, was to cut the cloth to sections of 8″ x 21″ with some left over.

Then I trimmed it down to 8″ x 1″ then trimming those down to 8″ x 1/4″. When the strips of material were 1″ wide, it just did not look right. Probably because the wreath form is small. I thing the 1/4″ width works perfectly for this size wreath form. At least it did for me.

Once all of the strips were cut and laid them out in the order I wanted to put them on the wreath.

I started putting the strips on the wreath with the outer ring first.

And several hours later, the wreath was finished with strips of material left over. Actually lots of material left over, but I will find a use for it, that is for certain.

Now, this was my first attempt at making a rag wreath and I’m happy that it is one that does not have to be or look perfect because this one does not look perfect.

I may or may not add some things to it but I’m not 100% certain about it, at least not yet. Only time will tell and that time will be coming up on February 27th when I decorate the outside of her door for Valentines!

Please be sure to return to see how it looks when her door decorations are complete.

2018 Vista Project – installment 8: Paper selection part three, the shopping list that didn’t happen.

I had every intention of making a precise list of solid color papers I would need to complete the scrapbook pages. I was really going to do that. But then I saw Hobby Lobby was having a sale! So instead, I went to Hobby Lobby.

The first pack I found was the BRIGHTS one. I love the colors in the pack and I sure they will all be used if not for this project, for others I will be working on real soon. Here are some of the colors that really caught my eye.

I also purchased the pack UNICORN as I love the lighter, more pastel shades. These will definitely not go to waste.

And finally, I purchased some red glitter paper and some light blue glitter paper that I have a specific use for in this project.

Now all that is left to do is to start putting pages together. But first, I have some time-sensitive craft projects that I need to get started on and completed. Have no fear, I will be returning to show the scrapbook pages once they are put together.

2021 Disney inspired frame for Kimmie – it is a tradition

Once again, it is time to make Kimmie’s Disney Theme frame for her Photo with Santa her kids do every year. I decided that this years them is Toy Story. Of course, every frame requires a shopping adventure!!!!

My first stop was to Party City. I found a couple of things that could possibly work for the idea in my head, but I needed to see the items up close. I decided on an 11 piece table decoration set. I know there are pieces that I will not need, but the three I had in mind would work perfectly.

My next stop was to Hobby Lobby. Luckily, I knew what I was looking for so I didn’t stray from the task at hand. I decided on a frame that would resemble a fence and this one is exactly what I had in mind. I also purchased a sticker set that had blingy MERRY CHRISTMAS and also Christmas lights. and a couple jingle bell necklaces that I thought I could repurpose the bells for this frame. Unfortunately, I did not remember to take a picture of the stickers, but it definitely is on the finished project.

My final stop was to Michaels. For the first time in a very long time, I only purchased what I knew I needed. Varathane premium fast dry wood stain in weathered gray and Varathane ultimate polyurethane water based, crystal clear gloss.

Now that I have all the supplies I would need to purchase, it was time to get started on the Disney Toy Story inspired frame. The figures I decided to use o this project were Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and Jessie. I trimmed them down to remove as much of the red background that I could. I know it isn’t perfect, but that’s okay.

I decided to not sand down the frame as I wanted it to feel like a fence so stained the frame. And it only took one coat of stain!!! I love the color and I have plans for other projects to use this stain on!!!

Once the stain dried, and it did dry fast, it was time to paint the inner portion of the frame. I used a white acrylic paint I had on hand that I purchased either from Hobby Lobby or found on Amazon.

After the white paint dried, it was time to decide on the numeric stickers I had on hand. I was not sure of the size of numbers would be best so I sent pictures to Kimmie to let her decide.

She decided on the smaller numbers so I placed them at the bottom of the frame and tried to decide on the placement of the Toy Story characters. I decided that I thought I would add character if I could place Jessie at the top of the frame to make her look like she was climbing over or something like that. So, this is the final placement of the characters with the Merry Christmas sticker below Jessie and the Christmas Lights stickers around the white frame. Jingle bells were added to Jessie’s hands and are held in place using E6000 glue. The 2021 stickers were so old they would not stick on their own so I used my Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive to keep them in place.

I am currently in discussions with my daughter regarding next year’s frame. I think it my be Disney Aladdin inspired. My mind is going crazy with all of the possibilities for the 2022 theme.