An Artsy Day in June!

 

 The June "Enrichment" led by Kathy was the highlight of the meeting!  We met on the patio and became totally engrossed in decorating a variety of boxes, and the time just flew by! 

Kathy brought boxes and a huge number of exciting materials to decorate them. Many Phoebes brought their own personal choices, and many were cigar boxes which are perfect for this project. We discovered the techniques needed to assemble and embellish them, and we are eager to see the results at next month's meeting. Thank you, Kathy, for a very enjoyable afternoon of creating art!

Calendar

July 12 Phoebe meeting will be at Marcella's. 

The drop-in social and lunch is from 11:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M.  Please bring your own lunch or maybe something to share. The business meeting will start at 1:30 P.M. The July 12 enrichment will be presented by Shawn. Watch for more details. Betts new challenge is all about Mermaids and some info and a pattern were distributed during this month's meeting. If you are interested and were not at the meeting, perhaps you could contact Betts or Jennifer.

Show and Tell

This is the top view of Sue's box. She is so skilled at generating computer art. She created this fabulous picture by putting a head shot of her daughter on a vintage graphic of a woman sewing. Then she tinted it this beautiful blue. Fabulous! The embellishments are not yet attached and there will surely be much more before the box is completed.

Daisy chose various colorful papers and is adding metallic papers and decorations on her great Renaissance Dragon box top. 

Sally brought a slender box and glued wonderful, printed papers inside and out. I'm sure she has even more interesting shapes and designs to add.

Our dear Phoebe Rosie in Southern California sent this photo of the top of a box she painted with acrylics some years ago. It is now a wall-hanger. Very creative and a lot of work!

This is the top of a small metal tin Donna decorated some time ago. It has black and white paper on the top and bottom, decorative braid around the sides, and several mosaic tiles and some polymer clay tiles she made on top. Her business cards fit into it perfectly.

Around that same time, she made this small hanging fairy doll with a decorated tin for a body, a head and long beads for arms and legs of polymer clay, and she used the top of her grandmother's tiny sewing machine oil can for a hat.

The tin opens to reveal a page about Faries and a picture of one watching the moon.

Anne, the most talented sculptress we know, created this darling doll and perfectly displays her on this broken banana stand. What a great idea!

Geri shared these darling dolls she made from scrap bits and pieces. Terrific!

Sue displayed this lovely doll she made and dressed using very beautiful fabric scraps. 

Geri shared more of her beautiful cards. Some, like this one, are 3D and require a lot of work.

Actually, most of her lovely cards require a lot of work, and a lot of die cutting. 

It is an act of love, and all are lovely.

Caroline was making jokes about her fabric flower, but consider it was made as a challenge to create something from just one item. She chose a single garden glove, and we think she did a pretty good job?

Marcella showed us the fabric collage book cover she made. What great choices of color and designs!

Suzanne is still making hundreds (and I do mean hundreds) of bead bracelets for the dolls Stitchin' for Kids dress and give to children in long term hospitals. These ladies have been doing this for years and it is unimaginable how many hours of their lives they have donated. Another labor of love!

A final thanks (to Geri I think) for the lovely bookmarks that were handed out at the June meeting!

Playing with Paint and Pens. What fun!

 The Phoebe May get-together was more of a play day and enrichment experience, thanks to Colleen. She taught us so many different ways of printing and painting on paper to create colorful and interesting designs and shapes. And she furnished all of the items we needed. It was a really fun and creative day for all. Thank you, Colleen!             

                    Calendar

June 14 Phoebe meeting will be at Marcella's. 

The drop-in social and lunch is from 11:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M.  Please bring your own lunch or maybe something to share. The business meeting will start at 1:30 P.M. The June enrichment will be led by Kathy, who will show us how to decorate boxes. Bring a box of your choice, including cigar boxes, wooden or paper boxes. Cigar boxes are very inexpensive at local smoke shops. There will be more details before the meeting. And don't forget to bring objects you have been working on for show and tell.

Show and Tell

Here are just a few of the many unique designs that were created at our May meeting. The most fun, by far, was the small circles made with bubbles of paint, water, and glycerin or Dove dishwashing soap.

In the last several months there have been numerous challenges, like Betts' "If the Shoe Fits," "Slow Stitching",

"Favorite Object from the Past," and Daisy's "Let Your Imagination Fly." The following photos include examples that Flying Phoebes brought to our recent meeting. Some of the items in show and tell this month actually fit in more than one category.

Like Geri's showstopper die-cut paper slippers and shoes. 

Including lace-ups! How chic is that! An original idea!

Some were from prized collections, like the ones from Barbara, Geri, and Betts. 

Or innovative ideas like the paper Hawaiian beach thongs by Sue.

Or a homage to Marie Antoinette by Donna.

 

Another recent Betts challenge was her "Home is Where 

Your Heart is," and she handed out die-cut cardboard house shapes for us to embellish. Elaine made a fold-out book by adding another page.

It was perfect to display some of her whimsical art. 

She also displayed the garden figure she made in April in homage to Spring. Completely made with flowerpots. How cute is that?

Suzanne R has always cherished her grandparent's 100-year-old wedding certificate that had been printed on a beautiful floral background, so she had it enlarged, reprinted and framed, so she could hang it on a wall and remember them always. The entire picture is approximately 24"x16".

 Marcella's golden box frame with a butterfly is perfect for Daisy's "flying" challenge. And her much-loved Raggedy Ann was made by her dear friend and travel companion who arranged many tour groups and memorable trips around the globe.

Marcella brought this flag she made some time ago for the Flying Phoebes. It is a homage to our co-founder, the late elinor peace bailey, who named our group and designed our

 Flying Phoebe logo.

Anne made this quilted fabric house in 1976. It includes a lot of slow stitching. And it is one of her favorite things and is proudly displayed in her home. 

Caroline shared a winged fairy doll made by a very popular doll-maker, Nancy Laverick, who was known for making cloth dolls entirely from small fabric scraps.

Caroline also brought this winged fairy cloth doll she made for Jennifer, using a very expensive fabric with woven golden thread designs.

And, she also displayed this wonderful slow stitched and embroidered quilted cloth in Fall colors.

Colleen painted these cute fish on paper and added decorative designs and shapes with various colored ink pens like we used in her May presentation.

She also displayed her slow stitch on fabric challenge, which features a bright and very colorful fish. Fantastic!

Donna brought some of her recent greeting cards that are watercolor on paper with pen and ink designs and the use of 3D glitter paints.

And she brought a sample of the decorated cigar boxes she made a few years ago, when she had all of her granddaughters over for a make-and-take art party. It was a really a lot of fun and they each still have their boxes, now filled with small keepsakes and jewelry.

Looking forward to next month when the Phoebes will make some decorated boxes also.

The House of Cards

 

The highlight of the April meeting was an amazing presentation of techniques and materials for making greeting cards. Geri brought a huge stack of decorative papers, several die-cut machines and many dies, as well as luscious ribbons and trims. She is truly the "Queen of Cards" and each one that she makes is wonderful artwork of professional quality. 

Dear Geri, you contribute so much to us at our meetings. You generously share your great knowledge, your beautiful craft materials, and also delicious food. You are an angel!  Thank you!

Calendar

May 10th Phoebe meeting will be at Marcella's. 

The drop-in social and lunch is from 11:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M.  Please bring your own lunch or maybe something to share. The business meeting will start at 1:30 P.M.

The Challenge for May is to bring something that you treasure and which has an interesting, related story. 

Don't forget the deadline for the newsletter is April 25. The theme is "something that flies."

Also, please bring your wonderful cards that you made in April. We are so anxious to see them!

Show and Tell

Betts handed out packets of materials for her April challenge. Phoebes were asked to use them, or other items we might have in our sewing stashes, to create a sample of "Slow Stitching." Slow Stitching is similar to Japanese Sashiko--stitching that was used for embroidery, mending, reinforcing, or decorating clothing or other textiles. Betts said we could use paper, other types of embellishments, and glue if we preferred.  

Suzanne R brought this cute cat she decorated on a blue fabric, using Sashiko. 

She has also been experimenting with a new art medium she discovered, one that uses pounded flowers to transfer their vibrant colors onto fabrics and paper. There are several YouTube videos that demonstrate the technique. 

This technique creates very interesting abstract shapes. 

Barbara has long been working on numerous fabric collages by using a mixture of slow stitching and glue. She took a class in France some time ago and has been completing many wonderful items like the one above. 

They incorporate some of her many bits and pieces of antique trims she finds on her visits to France.

Recently Barbara visited Wendy Addison's amazing shop in Port Costa, which is filled to the brim with Wendy's creations and collection of fabulous art, like this paper mâché shoe, as well as unique embellishments. The shoe is now a part of Barbara's collections.

Bonnie created three more of her famous dolls and this time she incorporated slow stitching.

This one was made with lot of tiny slow stitches.

Her signature flower embellishments incorporate petals of paper or fabric scraps with button centers. Always colorful and joyful!

Donna brought a jacket she had purchased from Cost Plus some time ago. The original decorative stitching was not tied off at the ends and started to pull out and fray. She decided to pull it all out and restitch it, which turned into a very long slow stitching project.

For show and tell Caroline brought samples of the numerous little bowl cozies and tiny egg baskets she made for the Easter celebration at her church.

Daisy is still working hard to create more burrowing owls for the Girl Scouts big annual event that will take place on Mother's Day. Aren't they great!

Two more finished, and still more to make.

Daisy also created this little leather bag and slow stitched it together. Then she made the little beads using shrink-a-dinks and hung them on the bottom. 

Elaine created this wonderful example using many tiny stitches. Another sample of the great artistic imaginations of Phoebes!

She is also working on a booklet with pages she is decorating with some embellishments and a lot of drawing and sketching. Great job!

Marcella completed three wonderful slow stitched items.  

She did such a great job on each of them!

Fabulous, Marcella!

This a sample of one of Geri's die-cut cards. So many dies to choose from and so many unique styles of cards.

I am thinking this is a book Geri is working on, but if I am wrong, let me know. Love the French theme! 

Geri has several books she is working on. One is an unfinished booklet about events and stories of her life. She also collects vintage photos and is filling the pages of another book.  

Sally's colorful slow stitch project features one of her 

hand-painted birds. So cute!

 

She also created a great dress using the same technique.

Bonnie has been working on this great book which features many types of embellishments.

It is so colorful, and amazing!

Terrific!

Sue's slow stitch piece reflects the colors of the ocean water of Hawaii, her one-time home, and includes seashells from the beach.

CONGRATULATIONS PHOEBES!

Your creations are fabulous!

By the way, can you believe we have been posting blogs on Blogspot for about 16 years? Kelly started it and made the first few posts. I have been doing it for the remainder of the time, after she moved away. It can be challenging, but it is my pleasure!  Donna