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The school store is a popular place where students go to purchase Homecoming tickets, supplies, or school spirit clothing. Pam Foutch is known for her dedication to help students and staff behind the school store’s counter. Recently, she has showcased her own handmade creations on the shelves of the store, with the intention of donating nearly all of the profits from her product sales to the athletics department to further help support the students.
During the past year, Foutch has developed her creative abilities with the help of the Cricut machine; where she makes earrings, key-chains, car coasters, puzzles, and more.
Sophomore Shaye Seck notices the artistic creations displayed around the store.
“I have passed by the school store several times. The key chains and earrings always catch my eye,” Seck said.
Each piece Foutch makes helps her discover new ways to improve while experimenting with new techniques and materials. Along with the materials used in her creations, Foutch has found ways to transform unused items into beautiful jewelry and accessories. Her creative abilities allow her to visualize jewelry creations with everyday items by adjusting them to fit the piece; such as charms, acrylic, and leather.
“Since I got my Cricut machine two years ago, I had just been in love with it and I do a lot with it. Jewelry is kind of a new thing; I’m getting into resin jewelry now too,” Foutch said. “I learned some things that I thought I could do but they didn’t look very good so I had to figure out if I had to make changes to some things.”
Fortunately, with the help of students, Foutch is able to gain quick feedback for her creations to ensure their appeal to students and make any potential changes to her creations. The positive responses have been staggering, Foutch agrees that the key-chains are the best-selling item, although the crafting process may take longer than preferred.
“Those are time-consuming because the machine takes so long,” Foutch says.
Despite the time investment, Foutch makes sure every piece is carefully and neatly made, eliminating any imperfections to ensure the quality of her works. Not only does Foutch make school-spirit themed products, but she also offers custom-made creations for students and staff, such as personalized key-chains, license plate borders, coasters, and more. She’s also made vinyl signs to place on the golf carts used in the athletics department.
Senior Jenna Johnson has purchased multiple personalized key-chains throughout the year. One of the key-chains engraved ‘Ponies Class of 2025’, is seen hanging beside her car keys.
“I found out that she started doing it when we went in to buy our Homecoming tickets last year. She was very excited because she just started trying it out,” Johnson said. “She is a very sweet person and she is also very creative; she makes so much of the stuff in there and she does it very well.”
This hobby has allowed Foutch to do what she loves while gifting the school through her creations. Her creation process goes beyond just crafting; it also involves on-line design work. Fortunately for her, she loves spending time designing on her computer when she goes home at the end of the day.
“I spend a lot of time on the computer, which I love,” Foutch said. “I love to design these things. I spend way more time on the designing part of it than it takes to put it together. I also love doing photo/image editing and that is where a lot of this comes in from too.”
All the work behind the counter pays off, Foutch successfully added more ‘bling’ to backpacks, cars, key-chains, ears, and more with the help of her artistic abilities.
“Definitely go buy them because it is probably one of my favorite things. You can even turn it into a gift. I got one for my mom as a Christmas gift once and she loves it,” Johnson said.
Foutch’s artful skills has enhanced the school store as students can purchase more variety of unique items to their likings. As her skills continue to grow, new creations will be showcased around the store.
This story was originally published on Corral on October 30, 2024.
