GENERATIONS PHOTO COASTERS PROJECT

We're still at the coast for our annual Parker Ladies' Night Out. It's a quarter to nine in the evening, and we're home from dinner. Now there's a group of women lounging in arm chairs and on the sofa, talking and laughing about relationships, kids, sons-in-law, babies--all those sorts of perennial favorite woman subjects. We'll probably start up a Bunko game soon, with a concurrent pool tournament and maybe some ping pong going on downstairs.

We always have a craft to do. This year's was a simple one, but lots of fun, and a lot more time-consuming than I'd envisioned. I should have known better, given what I came up with.

Here's the finished product, and I'll explain what to do below the picture.

Generations Coasters

To make your coasters, you'll need:

• Non-functional Cd's


• Family photographs


• Felt


• Clear self-stick plastic


• Glue

If you have the clear plastic disk they put on the top of a spindle of new Cd's, that makes a great pattern for marking your photographs. Otherwise, use one of the Cd's as a pattern. Cut your photos to fit the Cd. Glue the photo to one side of the Cd. From the felt, cut a circle the same size as the Cd and glue to the other side. Cover the photo with a piece of the self-adhesive vinyl that is slightly larger than the Cd, and trim it to fit.

That's the gist of this craft. With a photo editing program, you can refine your pictures, and also expand or shrink them for a better fit.

We had albums and boxes of family photos to work with, and spend hours pouring through them. Picking just a few was not easy, and I think a number of us made copies of the pictures for later use. There were so many stories, and more questions than I'd have credited--"Who is this adorable kid?" "Mom, I know that's you, but who is that?" "Why did they call Jennifer Polly, if her name was Cordie?"

The Cd coasters I've shown above are specially sweet for me. The one farthest left is my maternal grandfather as a young man, then comes my Mom and Dad, posing joyfully the day they got engaged. Then there's a photo of my beautiful Mama, holding her newborn baby, my older brother. The last photo coaster shows Mama with one of her granddaughters, a grandson-in-law, and her great-granddaughter. I love the obvious fun and love of it.

Mama is planning a set of all of her siblings' photos, and another of her children. I'd like to do more of the very old photographs. There was even a picture I don't think I'd ever seen of my great-great-great-great grandfather, a wonderful picture of him standing beside his horse, two dogs at his feet. He's dressed in typical cowboy garb. It's a treasure. I'm sure there would be many more themes you could use for these coasters, even beyond family.

We spent time after we were finished comparing and sharing. It was a treat to see the different pictures my aunts and cousins selected, and hear the additional stories and memories come out.