Letters from Orange Elephant fans…

We get lots of mail from Orange Elephant fans, whether it's letters with ideas for new products or questions about our line or details about a great new project….sometimes we are even lucky enough to get photos of our fans' artwork.

Here's a letter we received from NataliaCepkova, a devoted mom to 8-year-old Anna. The two live in Omsk, a large, lush town in Siberia.
"Anna and I are both are very artistic; we love to spend time decorating, modeling and drawing together and Anna is also an avid dancer. We take trips to the theater and visit museums whenever we can.

"When Anna was younger, she had a hard time expressing herself. She was extremely quiet as a toddler and encountered speech problems when she started nursery school. Her doctor recommended that we do arts and crafts together and she began to open up and talk more.

"When we first started our art projects, we used standard modeling clay and paint. The clay was always too sticky and flimsy and the paint was always too thick; we'd wind up with lumpy, dumpy crafts. We stumbled upon Orange Elephant a few years ago and immediately became fans; they are bright, colorful, durable and easy to use. Here are some picture frames we made with A Clay, A-Ball Clay and Puffy Paints:"

"We travel every summer and have started making frames for our favorite shots from each trip. We like to customize them with crystals, beads, glitter, shells, macaroni, whatever we want!"
"Once we mastered the frames, we moved onto jewelry boxes, vases, candlesticks, soap dishes - for our house and for our friends and family. I rarely worry about what kind of presents to get for birthdays and holidays; homemade is the way to go. It's more personal and it gives me an excuse to spend time with my baby."

"We always trying to incorporate a personal element into our crafts and take inspiration from the people and things around us. Anna does most of the planning and sketching; she's very meticulous! We do the modeling, painting and finishing touches together, so the final product always has a bit of both of us in it."

"Anna's third grade class had a science fair this year and she took first place with a report on the effects of art on speech development, using herself as a model. She introduced Orange Elephant products to her classmates and they all wanted to know where they could get their hands on a craft kit."