Miniature treasure chests decorated

Keeping the mind and hands active is something one resident tries to encourage seniors to do through her crafts.

On Friday, Mission at Castle Rock Rehabilitation Center and Villa residents were busy painting miniature treasure chests, which were made out of wood.

Kathy Elliott, who is the craft teacher, provided all of the materials to the residents. She put out tray after tray of paints filled with just about every color imaginable. Of those colors, some were plain, while others were metallic.

"I've got any color paint you would want," Elliott said.

As the residents were picking out their treasure chests, Elliott explained to them how they can make one to keep or to give to someone.

To make sure the crafting participants don't get paint on them, Elliott provided them with socks that were cut on the bottom so participants could use them like arm warmers to keep their shirts from getting paint on them. She also helped them put aprons on.

Kathy Forman, a regular at the class, quickly picked out a green for her treasure chest. She said green and red are her favorite colors so making a choice was easy.

For others, the process was a little slower.

Corey Dillon helped his aunt Margaret Dillon pick out a chest and the colors she wanted to paint it with. When he couldn't find the specific color she wanted he walked around the table visiting the various trays until he found the one.

Corey wasn't sure if his aunt was going to give her chest away or keep it for herself.

Some in attendance joked about how they won't give theirs to someone if it turned out too good. They would keep it for themselves.

"I don't know. I haven't made up my mind," Louise Gremonprez said.

Gremonprez said she probably wouldn't give it to one of her great-grandchildren because she has three of them and she didn't want to pick between them.

Even though some of the crafters said they were done, Elliott encouraged them to paint the entire treasure box.

While Elliott is at craft stores, she looks for sales on items she thinks would make a good craft and buys them. Sometimes she buys them well in advance and then makes plans for when she's going use them.

"That's what I did with these," Elliott said.

Sometimes Elliott will complete the crafts at home so participants will have an idea of what the end product will look like. The advantage to this is she can determine what techniques worked, which ones didn't and share that with the participants. Other times, they will all just go through the project together.

"I've never had anything fail utterly miserably," Elliott said.

As they were painting the chests, some participants quickly learned one coat wasn't going to be enough. Others decided to antique their chest when they were finished with both coats of paint. Once the chest was painted and dried, participants could put gems on them to make them sparkle. Some participants decided to skip putting gems on their chests.

Regardless of what each participant decided to do, they all left with something unique to keep or give away.