Remembering the Nursing Homes

Years ago (LONG ago), I spent time as an employee in a nursing home. Most recently I spent time as a visitor to my Dad. I have seen how lonely some of the residents can be and how the littlest things can brighten their day. Since the beginning of this time of quarantine I have made it my goal to bring a little spark of brightness to their days. Periodically, I mass produce a pile of cards, whether it be a holiday or just because, and send them to the local nursing homes. My best friend is a partner in this endeavor and her daughters are our delivery system. Both girls, one at each of the facilities, oversee a variety of patient needs. With Valentine's Day around the corner we decided to make some of the small, old fashioned cards for the residents. 250 total.

I thought this would be a quick and easy project. Easy, yes, quick, not so much! I made them assembly line method, having all the pieces and parts cut ready to assemble so I could do that while watching the football playoffs.

As you can see the red and pink paper is what ever I had in my stash. Some Recollections, some Stampin'UP. The white layer is a Recollections heavy white (300 gsm).

I cut the red rectangle card base with a Stitched Rectangle STAX die from My Favorite Things. The white layer is embossed with the Quilted Hearts embossing folder from Sunny Studios. The hearts were cut with Hero Arts Infinity Heart dies. The large one was embossed with a Cuttlebug dot embossing folder.

The small heart was stamped with an old text background stamp from Stampin'UP and a sentiment from an orphan stamp in my collection.

The leaves are from my stash of cut out foliage. Some are My Favorite Things, Sizzix Tim Holtz collection, and an old Martha Stewart punch. They are cut from scraps,  variations of green and some of my background paper scraps.