Adults! Get your craft on and create some colorful, springtime magnetic clothespins!
Starting Monday, April 3, register online for your Take & Make kit.
Kits are limited; one per person. Registrants may pick up kits starting Monday, April 10. Each kit contains instructions and materials to make a set of four magnetic clothespins.
1st & 3rd Wednesday: 9:30am-11:30am – Register online for all or some morning sessions!
2nd & 4th Wednesday: 6:00pm-8:00pm – Register online for all or some evening sessions!
The same information will be covered in the morning and evening sessions. Choose which time works best for your schedule. See the full listing of dates and topics below.
The Massachusetts Library Collaborative’s 50+ Job Seekers Group meets through Zoom on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of the month, from 9:30am to 11:30am, as well the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays, from 6:00pm-8:00pm. If you are unemployed and actively looking, underemployed, seeking a new career direction, re-entering the job market after a long employment gap, or recently retired and looking for your “Encore Career”, this networking group program is perfect for you! Remember, 85% of jobs are found through networking!
Join us in a professional forum for networking with peers in a safe and comfortable environment conducive to developing new relationships and developing skills and strategies to help in your career transition. Each meeting features a new topic. Meetings include a presentation and hands-on workshop on topics relevant to career transition, guest speakers, access to hiring managers, small group breakout rooms to network, and 1-on-1 coaching guidance. Participating on a regular basis will give job seekers the many tools and strategies needed for a successful job search.
Each meeting is facilitated by Deborah Hope, MBA, PCIC, an experienced executive career coach. Deborah is a former Fortune 500 executive, investment banker and entrepreneur and transitioned to executive coaching over 12 years ago. She has coached with Harvard Business School Executive Education programs, the Mass. Conference for Women., and has been trained or certified in a variety of coaching models and assessment tools. Deborah has facilitated 50+ job seekers networking groups since 2016.
Morning Sessions
Evening Sessions
NOTE: These programs will not be recorded. The same information will be covered in the morning and evening sessions. Choose which time works best for your schedule.
The Melrose Public Library has partnered with Massachusetts Library Collaborative to sponsor this group.
Catch up on the news of the day! What was Melrose like over a hundred years ago?!
Find out by visiting Melrose Public Library Digital Archive to read local historical newspapers from 1870 to 1924.
Using your library card and PIN, create your own account for free and nurture your creative side with 1000+ video classes in painting, knitting, crafting, sewing & more!
Turn a T-Shirt into a Trivet – Faith Hale shows you how to knit a sturdy and stylish trivet out of yarn upcycled from a T-shirt. Learn these simple steps to turn an old t-shirt into “yarn” and you can create all sorts of knitted or crocheted creations!
Crochet a Rag Rug – Learn how to make a traditional crocheted rag rug with Cal Patch. Rag rugs are a great opportunity to use up recycled fabrics like old bed sheets and T-shirts. In this class, Cal shares expert tips on how to shred the fabric intro strips and connect them to make one continuous “yarn” for crocheting. Once you’ve learned the chain stitch and single crochet stitch, you’ll work in spirals to create a round or oval rug.
Seed Bombs – Liana of Creativebug shows you how to make self-planting seed bombs, just in time for spring!
DIY Cleaning Products and Craft Organization – Learn how to make your own cleaning products, start seeds for your garden, and organize your craft space. This tutorial is packed with a variety of ideas!
Make Plarn for Earth Day – Do you still have a stash of plastic grocery store bags? Learn how to make “plarn” out of plastic grocery bags and give them a new use.
Eco-Friendly Gift Wrap – Any gift can be elevated with a thoughtful presentation. Artist, educator, and gift-wrap authority Courtney Cerruti share some of her favorite wrapping and trimming techniques with an eye on eco-friendly combinations and elements. Learn furoshiki-inspired ways to enclose presents with fabrics, and use and reuse things you have at home to create beautifully wrapped gifts that are nearly too pretty to open.
How to Knit Dishcloths – A dishcloth knitted with pure linen transforms an ordinary rag into a luxurious textile. Wendy Bernard demonstrates how to work with linen yarn to create a washcloth with an i-cord loop for hanging. The linen fiber resists mildew, is great for scrubbing, and gets softer with every use. This quick knitting project is a fun way to try out new stitch patterns—several of which are included in the PDF. Make a stack to give as a gift, or keep them for your own daily use in place of disposable sponges.
Make Soap Three Ways – Brighten your day by and bring a glow to your skin when you use soaps made from natural ingredients. Arina Soler of BellaCreme teaches three different processes for making soaps that cleanse and nourish skin without the drying and irritation that can occur from repeated hand-washing. You’ll use specialty ingredients like lye, glycerine, and soap molds, plus botanicals and essential oils in order to make a scent profile that’s customized to you.
Upcycled Pouch – Make a durable and surprisingly sophisticated pouch from the most humble of materials: a discarded mailer. Maya shows you how to dissect a Tyvek® envelope and paint it for charming, distressed effect. You can add designs with hand-carved or store-bought stamps and install a zipper to finish. All the stitching is done by hand with the running stitch so there is no machine needed. You’ll have endless ways to organize all your bits and pieces, as well as a go-to handmade gift for any occasion.
No-Sew T-Shirt Totes – Don’t sew? No problem! Faith shows you how to whip up these quick and easy totes, made out of a T-shirt, in next to no time.
Join us for the final of a four-part monthly art history series with Jane of Culturally Curious!
Rene Magritte’s work delighted and fascinated audiences long before Paul Simon’s famous song. This program will focus on the life and influences of the Belgian Surrealist painter whose paintings are both familiar and confounding. Discover the ways his work relates to contemporaries like Salvador Dali and learn how art historians interpret his mysterious paintings.
Jane Oneail (pronounced OH-neel) is the founder of Culturally Curious, an arts education consulting firm specializing in art appreciation programs. She curates and delivers programs throughout New England and beyond. Oneail holds a master’s in Art History from Boston University and a master’s in Education from Harvard University.
Register online to reserve your spot!
Want to do your own exploring of art related to artists covered in the European Art Series programs? Check out some related titles which are available at the Melrose Public Library.
This program is made possible by a collaboration of several Massachusetts libraries.