It's My Party!

A GIFT you can RE-GIFT!!To celebrate my birthday this weekend, I'd like to send you a gift!! I'm offering a BUY-one, GET-one special on my book Inspirational Home!! Order one from my Etsy store and I will automatically send you an extra copy!! Gift it, share it, save it, or even wallpaper with it - you decide!

This offer is valid only in my Etsy store and is in effect now through Sunday - expires midnight July 5, 2009 PT. Enjoy!

Red, White & Blue

Happy Saturday, everyone!
I thought it's about time I got a little festive for the 4th of July! It seems with every relocation, I lose a little more of my patriotic decor. We're often traveling that week, so I rarely have opportunity for red, white and blue themed entertaining anyway. But I did find a little American flag that I nestled into a reed diffuser; and added a red satin ribbon accent:And pulled out this neat red silk cording:I made a little "Freedom" tag, and with the cording, embellished a cute candle jar. Independence Day is one week from today! Let's celebrate our country's unique heritage.

NOTE: I just added 5 x 7 print sizes of my art in my Etsy store.

Studio Tour Continues

Oh - aren't these LONG summer days glorious?! I know there are a lot of Autumn-lovers out there, but summer is my season and I am lovin' it!And, since the "lazy days" of summer are in full swing ... how 'bout another peak into my studio today? :-)

Between the two doorways, I found a perfect spot for a mini-gallery of some of my retro paintings. They are 20 x 24 inch wood panels. I thought these large black gallery shelves from Lowe's would allow me to change my mind "every five minutes" about what I wanted to display and not have 541 nail holes in the wall. (Tip - in other areas of my home I have used the "Hercules Hook" with great success! )Above one of the doorways, hangs this plaque. It's another example of something you could create for yourself using my Lettering Tutorial . It's a product from a home decor collection I used to sell. "Trust in the Lord" done in a casual script font. One way to create the thin black outline "at home" is to use a fine paint pen, a raised ruler (so the ink will not bleed under) and a very steady hand. Above the other doorway I have this "W" plate. A fun clearance find a while back from Anthropologie:
I thank you for taking the tour with me ... please exit to your right ... for prints or cards of the items you've seen on today's tour, please visit the gift shop. :-)

Sharing the Fruit of the Harvest

For this post I'm joining in with Kimba over at A Soft Place to Land for her lovely Garden Party. Please visit her blog to see links to TONS of cool decorating/outdoor/garden ideas!

We are so enjoying having fruit trees in our yard!! It's our third summer of harvest and right now we're loving sweet, juicy apricots!!This is a very simple way to share some of your garden treats with neighbors and friends! And perhaps an alternative to secretly leaving those cucumbers by someone's door in the middle of the night! :-)

Parchment paper folded into a little bag; add a message tag; tie with ribbon or cording and away you go! All stuff you have readily at hand! And you might even have some little helpers:

Giveaway Day!

Today I was one of a small group of artists/designers being featured over at Nesting Place.

Let me tell you this is one fabulous collection of talented women! I am pleased to be hangin' with them for the day! :-) Nester has outdone herself again by hosting an amazing Giveaway Day with luscious prizes from each artist. If you're visiting from Nesting Place for the first time - welcome and I hope you explore a bit and find some Inspiring Ideas!

Enter the Jeanne Winters Giveaway to win 2 items from my Etsy shop! Also, I recently added some new prints and here are two of them:Please, browse my shop if you like, then pop on over to enter the giveaway on Nester's blog. (You must comment on her blog post before Wednesday midnight to be entered.) Thanks, Nester!!!

Lettering Tutorial

Hello again! First of all, let me 'splain that I am in total summer mode - as you can see from my limited posting these past 2 months. So, no, I haven't disappeared, I'm most likely in the pool with the kids! And ... as much as I want you glued to my blog and etsy site ... I hope you enjoy more fresh air activities this summer, too! :-)

.............................

On with today's idea. As you regulars know, many of my ideas involve words, and I have mentioned alphabet stencils a number of times. Well, here's an easy alternative to stencils AND a way to make letters/words with more font variety, in more sizes and well, pretty much exactly how you want!

I'm calling this a tutorial, but really, about half my blog posts are tutorials! :-) Let's get started! All you need is your
• computer, printer & paper,
• tracing paper,
• sharp pencil,
• ruler,
• paint & brush: We're going to write "Bless This Child" on a wood wall plaque. Our plaque is already painted & ready for our letters. I used "Bickley Script" font and sized the letters to the exact height & width for my plaque. I printed them out with an underline so I could easily line the paper up on my surface. See - I even used an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet - so you'll see that that is enough for most projects - and that even tho my text ran onto two lines, I can use that underline to line it up straight!
Position your lettered paper exactly where it should go on the plaque. Then slip the tracing paper between the two. Note: be sure the "ink" side is down. Then begin tracing. Hold your paper very still and press down firmly and smoothly. I like to use colored pencils, so I can see where I've already been with my tracing:
Here's what you'll see on the plaque when you're done with the tracing:
It's all ready for you to paint!
Hey - we're done!

Now ... do you know what this is???OK, hopefully you didn't guess anything too gross! It's the kneaded eraser I've had over 20 years!! ... we're pretty attached! :-)

A kneaded eraser is an awesome tool for your craft arsenal. In this project it's terrific for erasing any extra lines or markings when you're all done and the paint is completely dry. It won't leave a trace. If you like "crafting" and have never used a kneaded eraser, pick one up next time you're out. You won't know how you lived without it! Let's give our kneaded erasers some love in the comments! :-)

Paint a Tray for Outdoor Entertaining

Summer is all about living outdoors - enjoying the fresh air, flowers & sunshine! We eat just about every meal outside this time of year ... and the kids love it! Serving trays are essential to making this easy - whether you're entertaining or enjoying a quiet backyard moment alone.
Consider creating a one-of-a-kind serving tray with a little paint! Restore an old tray or pick up a nice unfinished wood one and give it life, like this one I did a number of years ago:
For this look, I primed, then painted 2 coats of white gloss. Simple painter's masking tape will allow you to whip out some neutral stripes. Add your unique touch with some alphabet stencils - "Faith, Hope & Love." Then, you MUST finish with a sealer, so you won't damage your art with condensation & drink spills.
(PS: the "Living Water" etched glasses & carafe in the top photo are something I designed for DaySpring and can be seen here if you're interested in a better look.) :-)

Anniversary Sweets!

Happy 15th Anniversary to me and my sweetie! :-)Molten Chocolate Cakes from an old Martha magazine. Deeeeeeeeeeeelish!!!

(PS: found the link for the online recipe. If you make these ahead and refrigerate, increase baking time.)

More Birthday Party Goodies!

If you saw my recent birthay favor post, you know my little princess just turned 4! Here are some more pics from the pink and purple festivities.

I designed an "A" to accent a flower wreath to greet guests at the front door:
Her little friends all enjoyed cherry cupcakes with a paper flower decoration. I printed the flowers on matte medium-weight paper and glued two together back to back. I also "glued" gummy Life-savers to the front with frosting shortly before the party:
Here are the flowers I made to top the triple-layer chocolate cake:(In my party hostess madness I actually did not get a decent "before" photo of her cake, so this is just the leftover chunk! :-) I just did big pink frosting waves with white sprinkles.)

In addition to the pretzel favors I wrote about last week, the kids could also pick out their color choice of Play-doh to take home. With equal number boys/girls at the party I wanted gender-neutral favors. I had added a custom thank you label:
One other fun thing I did was fill my footed punch bowl with ice and pink and purple juice boxes, ... which I also have no photo of. But it added some theme color to the lunch buffet. :-)

May Day Basket

Happy May Day ... almost! Time to plan May baskets for neighbors or friends! I made a paper cone to hold some roses from my garden. The roses are really filling out and smelling wonderful this week! I chose a palest pink and a budding lilac. [I have NO idea what their real rose plant names are - here at the Winters we go by color!] :-)I created my paper cone with a sheet of card stock. I spray-glued purple tissue paper to both sides, then rolled into shape. Secured the roll with double-sided tape. Trimmed the top edge with scallop-decorative scissors. Punched two holes for the ribbon that I used for my hanging loop -- one purple and one white twisted together. Then I created a tag using my new-to-me-garage-sale-steal giant tag punch. [LOVE IT!] Added "Happy May Day." Inserted the flower stems into those individual water picks, pop inside and I'm all set for gifting!!

Guesting, Giving, Charming

The uber-thoughtful, talented and multi-published writer, Holley Gerth, interviewed me yesterday! She's also hosting a giveaway of my book, Inspirational Home, AND one of my product designs.

To see what the "refreshing" product is, have a chance to win, and read a little bit about me, pop on over to heart to heart with Holley! Holley has a unique gift to connect with women through her writing. I hope you'll spend some time over there and get to know this special lady! :-)

You'll also find a charming idea for some of your spring blossoms. (May Day and Mother's Day are coming up!)Thank you, Holley!

Birthday Favors - Dipping Pretzels

We celebrated a big birthday this week! My daughter turned 4! Wow! My baby is fast on her way to becoming a little lady! We threw a "big" party for her this year and invited about 10 friends over for a pool party. We decided to dip pretzels for favors. I'll tell you about our experience -- maybe you've been wanting to try these for yourself, too!
I bought two bags - about 50 pretzels. I wanted to give at least one per child and mom, plus extra to send home to siblings and dads. :-) First I dipped the pretzels in dark chocolate, then layed on wax paper to firm up. Then I dipped them in white chocolate - working fast so as to not "remelt" the dark chocolate underneath.
Right after the dip in the white chocolate my daughter and I sprinkled them with assorted pink and purple sprinkles on all sides. I also did a few in pink with sprinkles - remember to have the color paste and not liquid color or the white chocolate will seize up.
I found perfectly sized cellophane bags at Michael's that were specifically made for pretzels! So, I guess a lot of people are doing these now! I tied them with pink curly ribbon ...and added a little custom "A" tag in honor of the birthday girl. :-)