By Anne Groebner

If you’ve experienced the world of crafting circles, you not only know the feeling of camaraderie, but you walk away with some sort of creation. A handmade “something” that you can take home and look at and remember how each piece was stuck on with a glue stick or glue gun and then probably painted. You might even remember the conversations you were having with the group of people you met and how they made you feel. Crafting brings people together. Deb Wehrman and Pam Tetlock met when they took the two-day Critter Collage class with instructor and artist Cheryl Ford at Made in Greer in Pinetop. They have been creating a myriad of items together ever since.

They were both teachers and discovered they had a lot more in common. Wehrman taught “kindy” (kindergarten) in New Zealand. She loved it because five-year-olds thought she was “queen of the classroom!” and when she moved to the States, she taught on the reservation at Indian Wells, through the Holbrook School District, for ten years. Tetlock taught seventh grade for 35 years in San Bernardino, California, where she taught math but incorporated art projects occasionally. Tetlock has been a crafter since second grade, following in her mom’s footsteps. She also owned a stamp and scrapbook store. She’s known as a “master” crafter, and Deb, who started crafting into her adult years, refers to herself as a “late-life” crafter.

Tetlock and Wehrman are die-hard thrifters. They are always on excursions in search of glass, fur, ribbons, cloth, wood, and anything they find they can create into something with their hands and their imaginations. Their Pinterest page is overflowing! Pam gave me a tour of Made in Greer, where they sell their creations, pointing out all the different and unique items they had either created individually or together. Deb is a glass crafter, and Pam is a paper and fur crafter. Deb designs and creates the crystal bird feeders, glass garden stakes/plates, and horseshoe art. Pam creates teacup gnomes, Highland cows, paper flowers, macrame hat hangers, and small birthday cake boxes that light up. Together they make rustic angels, glass snowmen, glass Christmas trees, and fabric collage artwork — and whatever pops up in their line of vision.

Through their crafting, they have formed a circle of friends that meet once a month to craft a project. Wehrman says she knows that women friends are really important to have, so she instituted “Girl’s Days.” She tells me, “I needed them as much as they needed the time to relax.” So they get together, Deb makes lunch, and they make things. Sometimes they have a surprise project and they say, “We’re going to do this craft, but we’re not telling you what it is.” It’s their time to catch up and be women together, and it’s grown from that to taking trips once a year together.

Their new project is the fabric collage framed art. Deb is a glass crafter, so when Pam said she had a fabric thing she wanted to do, Deb wasn’t that interested. “I’ll make lunch.” She said. Pam told her, “No, no, no — sit down and try it!” Later she could hear Deb whisper, “This is really fun!” They are excited about their new project, and their enthusiasm is so great that they want to teach it to other crafters at Made in Greer. “It’s so easy and relaxing, and it doesn’t take a whole lot of skill. Classes are available in groups of three to four participants. They will also accommodate a group outside of scheduled classes if they call and check the calendar.

“People come in and say, ‘oh people here are so creative!’ Deb tells them, “Stop! You can do anything you put your mind to; you just have to try it and not just wish it. The first bird feeder I made wasn’t anything like the ones I make now. You perfect as you go.”

They both know the value of friendship very well. Wehrman, however, says she has acquired some great friends through crafting and her faith. After losing her husband, John, of 41 years (and the love of her life) earlier this year, she tells me these friends helped her get through her loss. “It’s my faith, family, friends and community that pulled me through.” She says she is lucky because she has all of those things; “there is not one of them that is lacking.”