Recently received a picture from Miss Amelia who was visiting Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany. She’s just as pretty as a flower and has obviously adapted well to her life with the Thomas family!  Thanks for sharing her travels with us.

I’m so honored when an Etsian selects one of my monkeys to be featured in their treasury.  This time it was FallingStarLane who picked Nanner Ned to star in her Gone Bananas Treasury. Thanks a bunch!

My friend just got back from vacation and brought me the coolest gift ever…

I mean EVER!

Makes me happy and hungry all at the same time!

Sock Monkey Ranch had some very special visitors today, but because of a confidentiality agreement, we are unable to give you names.  Let’s just say someone who wasn’t Tyra Banks…but looked a lot like her, and someone with a camera who wasn’t Nigel Barker, but looked a lot like him stopped by for lemonade on the veranda.

We were all havin’ a pleasant visit when the Nigel look-alike  started making this little square thing with his hands and looking at Miss Millie real funny.  Then he asked her if he could “shoot” her.

Well, Miss Millie, being the cowgirl that she is was ready to draw down on him in the middle of the street until he explained that he meant take her picture.

They had lots of fun with different poses, and Ms. Not Tyra Banks selected her favorite pictures from all Miss Millie’s frames (that’s photography/model talk). She said Miss Millie had “fierce eyes” in this picture.

 Miss Millie is not going to be signed by the top modeling agency in New York, nor will she win a photo layout in Cover Girl, but we’re mighty proud of our Sock Monkey Ranch Top Model.

We all come in different shapes and colors, but we’re all simply adorable.
(And I’m not just talkin’ about monkeys!)

God made each one of us special. Celebrate your uniqueness!

Just got an email from trishafern letting me know that one of my Sock Monkey Ranch Greeting Cards was featured in her Home, Home on the Range Etsy treasury.

I’m so excited…that’s two treasuries in one day featuring one of my items. Wahooooo!

Thanks a lot, Trisha.

I love making sock monkeys, but sometimes I get side-tracked by other craft projects I see and want to try.  I recently opened a second Etsy shop called…what else?… The Side-Tracked Crafter

Today I received an email from alexart64 that my Chihuahua Journal from that shop has been included in a treasury she made called All Things Chihuahua.  Here’s a snapshot of the Treasury:

Thanks, AlexArt64!

McKenna and Kaitlyn live in Germany with their parents. Dad is in the military so these lucky girls get to travel to wonderful places. Of course, they take their Sock Monkey Ranch monkeys (Juliet and Baily) with them.

Juliet’s favorite sight was the statue of Juliet in Verona. While there she quoted the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet – playing both parts! And she seemed to be on a constant look out for a Romeo of her very own.

Bailey loved the Tower of Pisa. (Except she thought it was the Tower of Pizza and was just a little bit discouraged because she was very hungry.)

Thanks so much for sharing these pictures with us, girls. It’s always fun to get to know our monkeys’ new people and hear about their adventures after leaving the ranch.

You can see more pics of Sock Monkeys in Italy in the Sock Monkeys and their People Gallery

This week I decided if I was going to work in my craft room every day and earn a living from there, that it would be cool if it was an environment I really enjoyed being in…so I did a makeover.

Originally, I had 3 huge bookshelves filled to overflowing with craft supplies. They were dark and heavy and made the room look so small and depressing. I also had a huge entertainment unit that served as home for Miss Millie, Dusty, Cletus Dean and the rest of the Sock Monkey Ranch gang…it, too was overflowing.

BEFORE

Those of you who know me, know what my craft space usually looks like…chaos. It took me 3 days to do the makeover, but I love it.

AFTER

I love this mirrored wall. It's fun and whimsical. Mirrors are from IKEA. The table under the mirrors are my packing/shipping and occasionally, my painting and journal making area. Shelves behind that hold my fabric stash.

(That’s Oliver, my Schnoodle, lounging on the floor.)

A double-wide table with two sewing machines. Now I have room for a friend to come and sew with me!

And notice the organized shelves. Yes, those are labeled bins...woohoo!

I've moved Miss Millie and the gang to a new white hutch. They're much cozier and the drawers are used to store extra monkey clothing and accessories. The bottom drawer holds "monkey skins" just waiting to be sewn, stuffed and born.

I’m ready to create!

Folks around Sock Monkey Ranch have been seeing double lately.

I’d like you to meet Miss Mollie (on the left), Miss Millie’s little sister. (That’s Miss Millie on the right.)

They look so much alike that sometimes they’re mistaken for twins. One big difference, however that Miss Mollie has a sweet tooth. Heck, she has a whole mouthful of them, which is why she’s insisting on carrying a bag of sugar wherever she goes…weird, huh?

After a brief visit, Miss Mollie was off to live in San Jose, CA with Catherine, who promised to keep her sugar intake under control.

We’ll miss that sweet little gal!