5 Orange Potatoes

I just added Mr. Johnson, pictured below, to my Etsy shop. He is a one of a kind monster with a pocket. I have to be honest here, I feel a little awkward posting my shop updates…… I have never been a blogger to advertise so this is quite uncomfortable for me, but shouldn’t I post them here? I mean really, it would be bad business sense if I didn’t. Actually, I had a subscriber contact me just today telling me that she saw Mr. Jones the other day here and was wondering if I would be making more monsters similar to him AND Mr. Jones sold last Friday night as soon as I posted him! So here you have it…….my 5 Orange Potatoes Etsy shop.

I also have to share these little mice darlings that we received in the mail today from Jessica! After many “oohs” and “ahhs” the little ladies ran to set up their new little friends a special reading place…..”Shhh, quiet while the mice are reading in the library.”

Her little needle felted lovelies would fit so nicely into little eggs for hunting. Visit her Etsy shop to see more more little lovelies. Thank you Jessica!

And thanks to all who put up with my insecurities about posting shop updates.

Thought it would be fun to share our favorite craft supplies; our favorite go-tos when we need creative time. It’s funny, the three of us are quite different crafters when I think about it.

Araina’s favorite craft supplies are pipe-cleaners. She loves to manipulate her art by twisting and turning.  She is a “clean” crafter, prefers not to use glue or anything that might make her hands sticky or dirty.  She has loved pipe-cleaners since she was a wee one and has always been very good with manipulating them!

 Araina has a special technique to making bunnies, dogs, and cats; she was teaching Fauna the technique step by step last night. The brown dog pictured below is Fauna’s; Araina doesn’t add eyes to her critters, she prefers them without.

Fauna’s favorite supplies are bright pom poms, felt, glue,

and googly eyes. She doesn’t mind sticky fingers, actually, I think she prefers them to be sticky, and her motto is- “the messier the better!”

Love these chicks Fauna made last night. The chick with the eyelashes is considered, “ohhh, so fancy!”

I’m pretty sure you all know my favorite supplies to work with- sweaters, felt, and vintage buttons. Here’s my cluttered work space from today-

I love the creative process and love seeing what comes out of it!!!!!!!

Creativity makes me think of this quote by Buckminster Fuller- There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.  Ahh, this is so true!

Would love to know everyone’s favorite art supplies!

This is my Great Aunt Curt on her 100th birthday on February 15!

The party was lovely, but I couldn’t keep my emotions under control. I cried at least 3 times during the party-

 1. When she arrived and was so surprised to see everyone there for her.
2. Listening to everyone share their favorite memories of Curt; when I stood up to share my memory I could barely get it out due to the tears.
3. When she stood up and thanked everyone for coming.

My tears really confused Fauna, “Mama, were those happy tears? I don’t understand why you would cry.” And indeed, they were happy tears, but there was another emotion there that I wasn’t really familiar with. Actually, come to think of it, I don’t understand why I was the only one that cried……silly family!

Curt getting a bear hug from 6 year old Araina! Love how her glasses are knocked out of place!

 I found this interesting article written by Prevention magazine stating the “12 surprising signs you’ll live to 100.” I’m not sure how many Curt could answer yes to, but I can answer yes to quite a few and I learned that I need to get back into the joy of running!