The long winter days may seem a bit dreary, but April McCrumb and the crew at Catching Fireflies invite creative types to help them spread a little love and sunshine among area seniors with a fun and thoughtful Valentine's Day project.
Do you want to be part of the fun?
April invites area residents of all ages to create colorful cards to donate for distribution to St. Anne's Mead Senior Center in Southfield and Sunrise Senior Living in Rochester. Just pull out some paper, glitter, glue, ribbons, crayons, lace, or whatever else strikes your fancy to create some cheerful cards and bring them to Catching Fireflies in Berkley or Rochester by February 11.
Catching Fireflies specializes in unique gifts, the work of independent artists, and promoting eco values like creative reuse and recycling (the colorful decor in the Berkley store especially showcases April's inventive use of found and recycled objects).
April already collected over 100 valentines by the time I heard from her late last week.
"People are using markers, glitter, stamps, rhinestones, beads and crayons to decorate," she said. "There is a pretty good mix of all ages and talents. We have cards with glue and glitter lettering, cut-and-past hearts, coloring sheets, embellished doilies, and more progressive scrapbooking type cards.
"One of our consignment artists dropped off sweet vintage styled valentine hang-ups you could tack on a wall or window, and one used tiny letter beads to spell out 'love bug' on a piece of wire and applied a 3-D lady bug on the card, too."
Handmade cards may be increasingly a thing of the past for many people as we tend to rely more and more on things like e-mail, texting, and social media to communicate with others, but receiving a physical card or letter can mean so very much to some folks-especially seniors who live in assisted living homes.
"I know it can be a bit lonely in assisted living homes," said April, remembering how her grandparents spent the last years of their lives in such homes.
This is the first year for the valentine card collection and distribution, and the project fits nicely into April's community involvement efforts.
"One of our goals for 2010 is to add more community focused projects to our events."
Check out the Catching Fireflies blog to find out how you can help share the love and check out some of the cute and creative cards crafty folks have already donated to the project. (April thought the cards featuring dog photos were clever, and I agree that they're pretty cute!)
It doesn't matter how crafty or creative you think you may, or may not, be--I think April would tell you that it's the love in your heart that counts.
"Just have fun with it," she said. "Valentine's Day isn't just about couples. It's a good reminder to share a little love with everyone in your life."
Visit Catching Fireflies on the Web for more information or stop by Catching Fireflies in Berkley (3117 W. 12 Mile) or downtown Rochester (203 East University).
Note: "Where
I live" posts are part of a series of periodic stories about special
events and people in, and around, metro Detroit. "Where I live" posts
are stories I'll post in addition to my regular schedule of stories about
attractions around the larger Midwestern region. I hope you enjoy reading them
as much as I enjoy writing them.
© Dominique King 2010 All rights reserved
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