Ocean Menagerie - Crocheted Extravaganza

My new ocean menagerie, thanks to my amazing sister!

2016 has been a bit of a slow start in terms of my own creativity, so I thought I'd share the work and artistry of one of my favorite people in the world, my sister Shawna.

Last Christmas (2014), Shawna shared that she'd been working on a present for me, but it wasn't 'quite' done, and asked if I'd prefer to receive what she'd accomplished to date, or whether she should continue working on it.

My new favorite afghan!

In one of my clever moments, I asked which she would prefer.  Smart, smart, smart!   She said she'd like to keep working; to which I smiled and agreed wholeheartedly.

In early December, I had a chance to fly out to visit family.  The last night of the visit, Shawna brings out this HUGE wrapped present, with her boys 'helping' her carry it and grinning from ear to ear.  The box was big enough to fit my 8 year old nephew - I know this because he hid in it later and my brother brought me my new 'gift' - to much giggling from my nephews. 



I thought maybe she was working on a new afghan.  There was indeed an afghan at the top of the box - one of my sister's original designs, shading from deep ocean into the shore, with sand and sea foam around the edges.  In the color transitions, she crocheted beautiful wave patterns to continue the theme.

Under the afghan, I found an entire menagerie of crocheted ocean creatures.  Some so small they fit in the palm of my hand!  Here are some closeups:

He keeps making me sing songs from The Little Mermaid

The little harp seal hanging out with its octopus and jellyfish friends

Fancy Goldfish!  Shawna included these freshwater fish because I love them so

Her conch shell is fully three-dimensional and sooo detailed

Little Squidly in the 'surf' afghan

Shawna even made me a sea anenome and sea fan!

Hippocampus gigantica rosaceus

Flying with friends

She says that in the beginning, most of the designs came from free patterns off of the Internet.  But as she worked she began to develop her own designs as well.  Everyone then told stories of watching Shawna work on them at family gatherings over the past two years. 

Luckily, I'd brought an extra suitcase filled with Christmas presents for my family.  I'd hadn't planned to bring it back home with me.  On the return trip, I packed all my clothes in it and all of my new friends into my carry-on bag. 

This little guy to the right managed to escape the confines of the suitcase, and hung out with my while waiting for our flight.  He managed to amuse more than one fellow passenger, especially when a few of his friends started peaking out as well.  There was no way I was trusting them to the airlines!



Back home,  my newest friends made themselves right at home under the Christmas tree. 
  

Keeping an eye on things

The Great Escape (attempt)

After presents were unwrapped, it looked like they were all fleeing the scene.  The little clam/pearl had abandoned its shell and the crab was fleeing towards the front door.

Normally, after the unwrapping, the Christmas tree looks pretty bare.  Not this year!  Once we'd rounded everyone back up and put them back in place, they kept the tree looking quite full and festive until it was finally time to say goodbye to Christmas.

I haven't decided where their every day home is going to be.  Right now they're slowly migrating through the house.  Popping up here and there as Joe and I make little surprise appearances for each other.  A shark peaking out from a cupboard, a wolf eel keeping close watch over a laptop, the skate guarding the remote, ready to watch tv.  That sort of thing. 

One more shot of the full menagerie

Thank you Shawna! 

Focus on Life 10/52 - Packages in the Mail

This week's theme is All Wrapped Up, but what I'm thinking about right now is unwrapping.  Specifically, tearing open wonderful packages that arrive in the mail.  Isn't it the most wonderful thing when you arrive home after a long day to see a package waiting for you, tucked into your front door.  Sitting there, patiently waiting for you to come a long, claim it and find out what's inside?

I've been most, most lucky recently! 

First, I received a wonderful package from Jeannie Dukic.  I was the lucky winner of one of her wonderful blog give aways where she was giving away several of her new polymer clay pendants.  Jeannie does an incredible job with packaging.  Opening the box, I found the tin in the back right, with a a beautiful polymer clay lid.  Inside the tin, I found her wonderful packages, including the cutest little envelope for her business cards.

I haven't had the heart to take the pendants out of their clever packages yet, but I promise to share pictures when I do.  In the meantime, here's a close up of her papercut decorations.

Thank you so much Jeannie!  I already have plans for the hot pink/orange Half Lotus charm.  Just need a wee bit of time in my schedule to finish putting it together. 

This week, two more packages arrived in the mail!  One from my Bead Soup partner, Tracey Nanstad, which I will share in a separate post.  And the second was COOKIES from Sarah of Saturday Sequins, one of my bestest blogging friends. 

Homemade Peanutbutter Chocolate Oatmeal cookies, along with a little note saying they were Mr. Sequin's favorite recipe!  Now wasn't that a wonderful package to unwrap?  Yum!  Thank you Sarah! 


This immediately makes me want to turn around and send someone a package, because it's almost as much fun to wrap and send as it is to receive and unwrap.  So, if you'd like to potentially get a small package from me (it might just be a decorated letter, or it could be cookies, or beads - who knows?) leave a comment saying so and I'll randomly pick several of you to send something to. I'll do the drawing next Wednesday.