The highlight of the July meeting was the enrichment session led by Shawn. She brought colorful plastic tubes of all sizes and displayed some of her personal decorations.
Calendar
The August 9th 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.
Betts' August challenge will be to make a story board. Gather together some items that will tell a story or are related in some way. There are examples that Barbara brought to this month's meeting and are posted in this month's blog in show and tell.
The August enrichment session will be presented by Sally, who will demonstrate painting techniques and how to create a folded book.
Enrichment
Shawn brought tubes made from several types of materials, but the favorites were the multicolored plastic straws of various dimensions, shown below.
This is an example of a necklace Shawn created. Please remember to bring your creations in August for show and tell.
The July Challenge
The July challenge was to make a Mermaid, and Betts handed out a drawing of her flat doll "Perlette the Mermaid" we might want to use. Some Phoebes brought mermaids they had previously made.
Geri brought two polymer clay mermaids she made in a previous class.
Barbara displayed her amazing seashell shaped cloth book of many pages. Each one is teeming with shells, star fish, jewels, and beautiful baubles any mermaid would love.
Here is the beautiful cloth sculpted mermaid she also made.
This is Daisy's very cute paper doll.
The biggest surprise was the fabric mermaid Geri's grandson made. He made it when he was 8 years old, using painted silk. He has her talent!
This photo is of a cloth mermaid Donna made shortly after she joined Phoebes about 20 years ago. It was the beginning of her doll-making, and her husband said, "when are you going to make one with a pretty face." Luckily the faces got better over time.
Show and Tell
These three photos are examples Barbara brought to give us some ideas for Betts' challenge to make a story board.
It was an ideal way to audition the materials that make up the collage of colors, shapes and ephemera. 
They became works of art.
Daisy exhibited the wonderful cloth birds she made using Japanese fabrics.
She also made this cute fur-baby using opossum fur she found on a trip to Australia. At that time there was a bounty on them because they were overpopulated, and their fur was readily available.
Geri is on a roll making bookmarks and tags, like this lovely Japanese design. It is contagious, because Rosie is now really into making bookmarks to give to friends when she gives them books that she has salvaged from the library where she volunteers.
Geri has such a talent to collage bits and pieces of ephemera, like the one above and the two below.
Last, but certainly not least, the Phoebes welcomed a surprise visit from well-known doll maker Lois Peacock. She brought one of her wonderful velvet peacocks made from her original pattern. Caroline also has one of her birds which was shown on a previous post. We were thrilled to meet Lois in person!
