What a great meeting! We had our biggest crowd yet & the creative juices were really flowing.
Our February project was heart-shaped polymer clay boxes, inspired by one of Lisa Pavelka’s projects in Elegant Gifts in Polymer Clay. Angela Mabray demonstrated making cookie-cutter boxes by wrapping a long strip of polymer clay around the outside of the cookie cutter. Bake the clay on the cookie cutter, then slide it off for a cool all-clay box. The box sides can be used as a template for the matching box top and bottom. And if you need an extra-special touch? Penni Jo Couch showed the group how to glue PolyFill and velvet onto a cardboard cutout to make a wonderful box bottom. This simple step made the boxes look like very nice gift or jewelry boxes.
Everyone’s projects turned out beautifully, and no two were alike. We ended up with a bunch of fun boxes for Valentine’s Day. And as our youngest attendee pointed out, a box made from the standard heart cookie-cutter size will hold 6 Hershey’s kisses. (Probably just enough for a sugar high!) We all enjoyed eating the kisses and the yummy homemade cookies (Thanks, Jane!).
At the business portion of the meeting the group discussed the upcoming schedule. The following dates were announced:
* March 1: Deadline for the logo contest
* March 10: March Meeting — Penni Jo Couch will teach a jewelry lesson
* March 31: 5th Saturday Play Day — Bottles of Hope, or bring your own clay project to work on
* April 14: April Meeting — Christie Wright
Angela said she is working on getting a bank account opened for the group. Two members went ahead and paid their dues; others said they would wait until the bank account and/or Paypal account were set up.
Penni Jo gave a report on her experiences at the Craft and Hobby Association trade show. She talked about the Bottles of Hope contest and mentioned there would be another contest with a May 1st deadline. Folks who want to enter this contest could use our March 31st Play Day to work on their bottles.
Penni Jo also mentioned the Sweetbrier Studio Product Design Call Out and encouraged members to submit designs.