The Driftwood is holding a downtown Christmas Light-up Competition and I'm not sure why but my co-worker and I really got into the idea for the Care Employment Centre on Salt Spring this year.
I scoured the local Thrift Shops for some Teddy Bears: Garfield, a monkey, a sad looking brown teddy were just a few of my finds. A friend of Suzanne's brought in a tiny old-fashioned red wagon. Suzanne brought in some big Christmas-type bags and holly from her mom's tree. One of our clients had the perfect Santa and she also gave us the creative ideas related to the little signs.
We pocketed stir sticks from Salt Spring Coffee Company to make the little wooden signs for our bears to hold up which say things like: "Hire Me" or "Better Carpenter than Mike Holmes", "Care aid at your service", "15+years experience as a server", "Computer Whiz Kid", "CEO, Presents Inc." (for Santa to hold up) and "Employers Needed. Spread the Joy."
Cotton batten is our snow. I'd purchased some white window shutters at the Fulford Flea Market a week earlier and they became the backdrop. I raided my own Christmas box for some stars and a few other things. About five trips to Mouat's Hardware later and we had the lights up and working.
We really got into this and voila, as you can see above, we have our cute little window display.
We can win $50 or $100 but even if we don't win, we had a ton of fun creating it and it might catch the attention of those people in town who have never really thought to drop in.
Tonight the judges will wander Ganges from window to window and decide who wins.
Wish us luck!