Jaine Toth
BFFs since meeting at a concert a few months after they each relocated to Robson Ranch a few years ago, Pam Jones and Jeannie Salmon do a lot of things together. They joined the Paper Crafting Club together, sit together at their crafting table, and now will be profiled for the club together.
Pam, a lifelong Arizonan, and her husband Don moved to Robson Ranch from Casa Grande to be in a community with more activities, while Jeannie and husband Raul came out from Liberty, Mo., a suburb of Kansas City, seeking better weather. Jeannie was still employed for an accounting firm, working from home when they met. The two couples hit it off and enjoy each other’s company. Pam kept urging Jeannie to retire so they could play more. She offered to pay Jeannie’s first year of dues for the club of her choice at the Creative Arts Center. Pam already dabbles in fused glass and watercolor painting, but paper crafting drew Jeannie’s interest, so Pam signed them both up and now they create together.
The newest members of the club, they joined just as classes were ending for the season. None are scheduled during summer months. After the brief introductory orientation by Trudy Foslien, they were on their own. But, as is typical in the Paper Crafting Club, they both are so pleased with the helpfulness of the members who will drop anything they’re working on in order to help. They’ll demonstrate, give suggestions, and help find materials. The one-on-one (or sometimes one-on-two!) assistance is probably as or even more valuable than a class with many people learning at once.
At the studio they work mainly on cards, but Jeannie is also working at home on a scrapbook about a recent cruise on the Rhine. And Pam created a mini-scrapbook in a half-fold card, which opens up a new card style for others to emulate.
Jeannie enjoys making cards for family and friends, but most especially for her grandchildren, the eighth of whom, Isabel Rae, made her entrance into the world the day prior to our interview. Her 3-year-old grandson Jack was thrilled to receive a “monster” card. She’s even made a sympathy card for a friend who lost their dog.
On receiving a card from Pam, her niece Viki remarked, “It’s so beautiful!” That prompted Don to surmise, “You’ve saved everything Viki’s made for you over the years. Now it’s her turn to collect her old aunt’s cards.”
Both Pam and Jeannie prefer to make one-of-a-kind cards, each personalized for the individual who will receive it. Since most of the cards are mailed, Jeannie mused, “I’d love to see their faces when they open it.”