Celebrating Veteran's Day

 As Veteran's Day was just a few days away from our meeting, the members brought photos and information about their family members who have served in the military. Sue's family certainly had the most veterans and printed out the above page with photos and names. We send our love and appreciation to all of the men and women who have protected our country so valiantly.

There was no enrichment scheduled for this meeting, but members kept busy by attaching the tags we made onto the remaining placemats for Meals on Wheels. The completed mats, over 100, were then boxed up for delivery. The remainder of the meeting was show and tell.    

Calendar

Barbara's Christmas Party, December 7, 11 A.M. to 2 P.M. Barbara will once again be treating us to a wonderful meal and providing materials for a fun creative session. The only thing you need to bring with you is a small, sharp pair of scissors.

Show and Tell

Show and tell at the November meeting consisted of examples of former challenges, the current challenge, combinations, and other categories. They are all inspirational items that introduce new and different paths to artistic creation. 

There are items inspired by Bett's "boxed or framed" and rickrack challenges, Sally's book making enrichment, Barbara's tiny Christmas dolls, and Kathy's tiny angel dolls. There are also items made from "things at hand" from our stashes and the Phoebe "freebee" table. We all appreciate your great challenges!

Sue brought a seashell shaped booklet with a mermaid theme, inspired by her granddaughter's love of mermaids. She used fabric, trims, fibers, paper, and ephemera to embellish the pages. 

 

She also used polymer clay to form these beautiful mermaids on a box and a frame background.

Sue also made this sweet pipe cleaner paper doll inspired by Kathy's "Make an angel enrichment." She used one of her polymer clay doll heads, a paper napkin, plus beautiful hair and flower trims.

Barbara displayed two new framed collages decorated with vintage photos, French writing, buttons, and trim.

Anne completed her book from Sally's enrichment session. Great cover paper featuring colorful trees and mushrooms!

Caroline used a plastic box as a frame for her beautiful red and green velvet fabric collage. 

She also used a plastic box for her pastel paper floral college with a happy message.

And, she added this very cute cloth and felt flower doll she made from a Lisa Pax pattern. 

Colleen just completed sewing together this brilliant quilt section which depicts an ocean beach sunset.

She also made tiles and fused glass, which she joined together in a 3-dimensional design and displayed in a frame.

Anne's friend Elaine visited us again and we hope she will continue to join our meetings in the future. She brought a journal she is currently working on, which is filled with colorful painted pages, drawings and ephemera. 

Daisy's box/frame challenge displays an elephant and tiny rider in beautiful pastel hues.

Donna's shadowbox framed collage was made at Bett's flat doll tutorial some years ago. It is decorated with ephemera and trims collected from a variety of sources that were stored in her stash or given to her by Phoebes.

Marcella filled this little box with buttons and items depicting "The Phoebe Family." Another unique idea!

And, created a great design with rickrack!

Rosie has been making more little dolls for the "Dress a Girl Around the World" project. The dolls are placed in one pocket of each dress. I'm sure the girls will appreciate them. Good work, Rosie!

Phoebe's 37th Anniversary Celebration!

 

                        Calendar

November 9, Meeting. We will be meeting at Marcella's. Drop-in social get-together will start at 11:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. Business meeting will start at 1:30 P.M.

The November challenge is to use a box or frame, and if possible, items from the freebee table to create something new and unique.  

This will be the final collection day for placemats and their tags.

December 7 Christmas Celebration at Barbara's. Barbara will once again be treating us to a wonderful meal and providing materials for a fun creative session. Mark the date on your calendar and watch your emails for time and details.

Show and Tell

 Several members brought their completed placemats to add to our collection, as well as tags they had created to pin onto the placemats when they are gifted by Meals on Wheels.

Suzanne D couldn't make the meeting but sent more of her patchwork placemats. She definitely put a lot of time and effort into this one. 

Here are a few of the many tags Geri has made to put on the placemats. Each is a work of art!

Other members are also contributing colorful tags.

Donna contributed 20 that she had made.

Rosie sent us these lovely cards she created for the Sunshine mailings.  Sally sends them out to members on their birthdays or when they are ill or needing a bit of cheer.

One of our recent challenges was to make something with rickrack. Geri added some to one of her beautiful paper teacups.

Sue made these cute embellishments—rickrack flowers. A great idea!

Here is the fabulous flat doll Sue made for the "A Penny for Your Thoughts" challenge. 

Bonnie used rickrack to decorate 

a page in the pocket journal she 

is currently making.

She also displayed a fabric 

book page she had started some years ago. 

Bonnie also brought a plastic container with 

some of her favorite embellishments. They look perfect for the book pages she is working on. 

Barbara has been busy creating lovely wall hangers made with luxurious items from her stash. 

Her stash is a treasure trove of antique

items from France.

To be honest, it's a tossup as to whether Barbara or Betts has the most antique French ephemera. Betts used her treasures to make this framed art, using only items she has been given by friends or collected in Paris.

She also displayed this flat doll dress which features antique buttons and lace. It seems like they both are great ideas for our current frame/box challenge.

How cute is this? Betts had assembled a Flying Phoebe flat doll, and later she decided to create her boyfriend. What a happy pair!

Betts also displayed this "kids can" collage on paper. What a cute graphic.

Daisy exhibited two pieces she had made using items she had found on our free table. Above is the "Owl and the Pussycat" floating in a rowboat under the moonlight. 

A great amount of work went into this trio made with freebee items and inspired by storybooks. Daisy took a cow and transformed it into a donkey—then created and added the dog, cat, and rooster. Very cute!

Daisy's paper accordion of painted houses will brighten up the day!  

Donna's answer to the "A Penny for Your Thoughts" challenge came to her as she was looking through a booklet that she had made some years ago after a Valentines Day postcard challenge, and was thinking of the pages and remembering the Valentines Phoebes had sent her. While most are from current Phoebe members, there are also cards from Phoebes who have passed away, and others who have moved out of the area. We deeply miss all of them!

Kelly moved to Washington state and is currently making a name for herself with the intricate embroidered portraits she is sewing and exhibiting. 

Suzanne D is back with us again after taking a break to focus on her prolific output of beautiful patchwork quilts. Truly good news!

Zanaib's passing brought us much grief, but she will always be in our hearts.

The same is true of Mary Porter Vaughan, who we remember as a wonderful and creative artist.

This card was from Betts, who continues to inspire us and lead us with wonderful ideas and challenges. 

Suzanne R, our newest amazing card creator, is expanding her themes from primarily animals to new and exciting ideas. This Valentine card incorporates rickrack for the challenge.

However, Suzanne's first love is animals, and she is looking forward to using these wonderful animal printed fabrics she received from Betts.

Wanda will continue to join our meetings, which is truly wonderful. Marcella displayed this Valentine necklace Wanda had made some years ago in one of our exchanges. Over the years we are all so lucky to have acquired such inspiring and memorable art from our Phoebe sisters!

Caroline made two of her popular tote bags from a Scandinavian cotton print from Betts. One she gave to her dear friend Jean, who uses it to carry her Norwegian bible and her smart phone every day!