In 1982, I was renting the upstairs of dad's double house for just $100 a month (which included meals and utilities!) It was a sweet deal and I knew it and was grateful! 

During the time I rented his upstairs, I was youth director at the Brooklyn Christian and Missionary Alliance Church so would have the youth group over for a time of snacking and just hanging out after the Sunday evening service. Usually, we'd have about eight, but when I started the special Christmas project of actually making a Nativity set for the church, we got more kids to come.











I covered my large dining room table with a sheet so we could just paint on that and I could leave it up all week. (I lived alone up there before I even knew Gerard, my husband.) I bought the pieces and the paint, chalk, spray, trays and dad made a stable out of cardboard that the boys could glue wood onto and then stain it. We worked on this about six weeks and then set it up in the church narthex with the intent of using it every year.


Unfortunately, some pieces got lost and broken so I took it back and use it every year at home.  It brings back fond memories of the teens who made it.  I had to replace Mary and the cow and the angel. To see my post with Spunky Doodle helping me set it up this year, go to Spunky Doodle Helps Set Up Nativity Set. Spunky is the Tuxedo cat I got from dad's when it was just 3 months old.



(All these pictures of making the set were scanned in with my new photo scanner I got for my birthday this year.)

This post is a Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop prompt: Show us your Nativity Set.

When discovering Infarrantly Creatative through SITS last week, it made me think of my dad. This blogger has a lot of imagination and talent for recycling things by making them into something else more useful, just like my dad used to do.

When reading Ballard Designs: Acanthus Cut-Out Plaque it said how she looks in the catalog and then makes the item for much less. This reminded me of my dad because he used to the the same thing. One thing I remember he made was a wood stand with handles that fit around the toilet to make it easier for my mom to get on and off. She was able to push down on the handles to help herself up. He found a picture of it in a catalog and just copied it.

I thought it funny that Infarrantly Creative is active in "Roadkill Rescue." You say you never heard of that? It' when you go out on garbage day or to a yard sale and get a piece of junk very cheap, sometimes for free, and then fix it up to make it usable. My dad had a basement full of junk that someday he was going to fix but just never had the time to get to it all. Check out the makeover Infarrantly Creative did on Lamp Refabulous.

When I read how Infarrantly Creative turned a hutch into a puppet theater, it brought back good memories of the cardboard puppet theater we got for Christmas on year. Funny how different things will set off memories of my dad. I never know what's going to come up next, but it seems something always does.

Infarrantly Creative also gives instructions so you can do the projects too if you wish. It's a great crafty blog that you should be sure to visit if you like doing projects that save you money.

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