Evergreens for Everywhere!

Time to decorate! Love those evergreen boughs ... fake or not ... let's do it!
I embellished my rustic wall mirror with evergreen garland, wide white ribbon and a bell ornament accent:The same garland and ribbon wraps the banister:

A Christmas print replaces an everyday one, while white ball ornaments fill a footed plate and evergreens complete the clean look:An ornament is ready to be gifted to a dinner party guest and a swirl of faux greens sits underneath: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"How Does She" is featuring my gift card packaging idea today! Shelley, Missy and Alison have a terrific site loaded with fun craft ideas worth checking out! Their top post is a little block ornament that they customize 10 different ways! There are plenty more little Christmas gifts to do for everyone on your list!

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If you blog, visit sweet, hilarious, cutie Lisa at A Preacher's Wife and link up with a post about "How You Christmas" ... and have a chance to win my book Inspirational Home OR an art print from my Etsy store!

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Merry SITSmas to all the lovely ladies coming from SITS!!

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For pics of holiday homes from other bloggers visit Tip Junkie!

Giveaway Winner & Christmas Decor

I have so many treasured ornaments, I like to decorate with them around the house at Christmas. Like dressing up a little side table with oval tin bucket, gold Christmas ribbon and evergreens:This nativity "J-O-Y" ornament trio is just the ticket:

GIVEAWAY WINNERS!

The winner of the wood wall ichthus:

is: Southern Gal.

And the winner of a signed copy of my book Inspirational Home :

is: Southerner.

Congratulations ladies! Email me your addresses! More Christmas ideas up next time!

Dress Up Those Gift Cards Tutorial!

NOTE: Only ONE MORE DAY to enter my Giveaway for the Carved Wood Icthus Wall Art and Inspirational Home book! on my previous post.

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I read that teachers would appreciate a simple gift card over a "something" gift ... and since this is my first Christmas that involves [pre-school] teachers ... I will give it a try! I thought this pyramid or tetrahedron box would dress up the gift cards nicely:I showed you this packaging idea last Valentine's Day, but I styled this one a little different. I started with several pretty 12x12 Christmas papers and the tetrahedron template:

I enlarged the template to be just about 12" and traced it on the back of each paper:Then [my mom] cut them out: [thank you, btw!]
Take the gift cards out of their "packaging" so they'll fit - and look nicer. Fold up the sides to be sure it's all lined up:
Then make your message hang tags: Tuck in the gift cards, attach the tags with a ribbon glued inside, fold and glue the flaps, et voila!:Only ONE MORE DAY to enter my Giveaway for the Carved Wood Icthus Wall Art and Inspirational Home book!

Interested in other teacher thoughts? See the article I read here.

Visit A Soft Place to Land and Today's Creative Blog for loads of DIY ideas.

Totally Custom Christmas Cards!

I just designed my Christmas cards! Yeah! Scratch one more thing off my list!

I went online and created an original card using my "Christ is Born" vintage painting. AND my three Christmas paintings are available to design YOUR custom photo Christmas card with, too! :-)
Studio DaySpring allows you to choose from oodles of super stylish designs and create a totally custom photo card! You can put photos and text wherever you want! I LOVE IT! Last year I used my "Joy to the World" retro ornament themed card:
... and I added another photo and clip art and my own text inside:
AND on the back!! Isn't that so cool?!Here's a sample of my other design - green "Peace on Earth":Aren't Paul & Lauren adorable? I don't know them, but I do hope they're real people who picked my design - they look great in it, don't they?!

You can be as creative as you like - Backgrounds, borders, art - you name it! Now, go have fun!

BUT - Don't forget to enter my Giveaway for the Carved Wood Icthus Wall Art and Inspirational Home book!

Black Friday Giveaway!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I'm so happy, I'm starting my "Black Friday" Giveaway a day early!!
Woo Hoo! Another giveaway!!!!! You were all so sweet in your response to my iron wall icthus design and giveaway a while back ...

... I just HAD :-) to share with you that DaySpring now offers a wood wall carving with my same Ichthus design:
It measures 20" x 14," weighs 6 pounds and is carved from mango wood! It's a solid, unique piece and ... one blessed blog reader is going to win one!!!!!! (It retails for $49.99 at DaySpring.com)

Oh, let's throw in a book, too! Another winner will receive a copy of my own book - Inspirational Home: simple ideas for uplifting decor and craft.It is loaded with beautiful full color photos of the kinds of ideas you see me do here. AND there are complete instructions. It's a craft book and a pretty coffee table book - prepare to be inspired! Think "Christmas gifts!!" :-) Also, I'm doing a buy one get one free on my etsy site for a limited time!

THE GIVEAWAY: TWO PRIZES, TWO WINNERS!
You can enter a bunch of ways:
1. For one entry, simply comment below and promise you're going to tell someone about my blog. :-)
2. For TWO additional entries, blog, twitter or Facebook about this post and link to it. You must leave another comment telling me you did so. If you don't have any of the above, you can email a plug for me to your entire address book, or at least a bunch of people, and cc me on it (jeanne @ jeannewinters . com but no spaces).
3. Grab either my Inspiring Ideas or Simply Inspiring button over on the right and post it on your blog or FB for another entry. Post both for TWO extra entries and don't forget to come back and let me know in a separate comment!

Contest is open until midnight MT, Dec. 3rd. Winners must have a US address I can ship to. Leave your email or a way to contact you if you win! I'll announce winners shortly thereafter.

Serving & Decorating

I mentioned my goodies from DaySpring a couple posts ago ... and today I'd like to show you one of the new treats – this rustic metal tray:
The cross design is actually carved right into the tray, giving it a cool, authentic finish:
I think it works with so many different styles. I set it on my coffee table with pine cones and leaves last week:
and now I'm seeing it with Christmas greens and candles. Of course, it's functional, too, so you can use it as a real tray ... but, hey, then you'd be covering up my design ..... :-)

Stay tuned ... hopefully tomorrow I'll have the Giveaway details!!!!!

(Update: Click to view or purchase
Rustic Metal Collection - Cross Serving Tray)

Giveaway Winner Announced!

The winner of the book Aim High: Extraordinary Stories of Hispanic & Latina Women by Laura Contreras-Rowe is .... (according to random.org) .... #16 ...


.....Livin' the Yeh Life!

Congratulations! I think she's faithfully entered just about every giveaway I've hosted - and she's finally won one! Yeah! Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Idea, A Giveaway and Come See Me at...

Wow - It's almost Thanksgiving already! Time to prepare for a lovely AND meaningful dinner with friends and family. I put together some paper napkin rings: I printed out words and design in 2 different widths and assorted patterns:
Write a simple "We thank God for you:"
Or "I am thankful for __________" to encourage everyone to think of something they want to thank God for, and then go around the table and share before digging in to the feast:Or a classic "Give Thanks:"
You can add the names of your guests and turn these into place cards, too. I added a short stalk of wheat to each and I'm ready to go!

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I've been honored with the chance to speak at MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) this week! I'm so excited! I'll be at Water of Life church in Fontana, California this Thursday and Friday mornings. (Nov. 19th & 20th) Call them for details and join us! Here's the blog of the lovely lady who invited me - Cara's church is the one with the incredible "Cardboard Testimonies" video you see there.

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Don't forget to scroll down to my previous post - one more day to enter to win this amazing book - Aim High: You'll want to read it, then LOAN it out, then buy more copies for gifts, then read it again yourself, then think of another person who'd love it, then loan your copy out again, then read it again, then read it to your daughter, then bring it to your local school, then tell a niece about it, then tell your friend about it ...
:-)

Flowers, Fish & Friends ... and GIVEAWAYS!

I must tell you what & who I have been INSPIRED by lately. And it's the reason I've been lagging in my blog posts of late. I took on a design project that has been taking up quite a bit of my time. So, in every free moment, I've been trying to enjoy this gorgeous fall weather with my kids:
They've been "collecting" all the "fallen" flowers in our yard and on outings. I've been the honored recipient of these valued treasures!

And we have ONE chrysanthemum plant from last year that has truly thrived! This vibrant bush is almost as tall as my kids! (if you know the stories of my black thumb, then you know why I'm especially thrilled about this - one out of three ain't bad!)
Along with my unusual work hours, comes shortcuts in the dinner department. Well, my foodie husband whipped up a low-fat, low-carb meal for us recently - Halibut with his HOME-GROWN cherry tomatoes and herbs. Yummmmm! (recipe at bottom)
And now for the exciting project I've been designing. A great friend of mine, Laura Contreras-Rowe, has just authored a TRULY inspiring book:Aim High: Extraordinary Stories of Hispanic & Latina Women is a compilation of mini-biographies of 33 amazing women. Women who have "aimed high" and overcome assorted obstacles to fulfill their dreams and goals. Successful, prominent women who you have heard of, or will be soon! As I read their stories, I am so inspired! The book is targeted to young Hispanic girls, but the more non-Hispanics who have read it, including several that are not so young!, the more we realize that it's an incredible tool to motivate and challenge girls of any background, race or age. This definitely needs to be on many Christmas gift lists!

Aim High is being printed as I type, and I can't wait to have the final book in my hands. It's a hardcover "coffee-table-style" book, full of colorful photos and fabulous design! Tee Hee! The author, my friend Laura, has had national press and is already setting up her book tour. I'm honored to be a part of this inspirational project.

For more information about Laura and her book, or to pre-order, you can visit here. She'll be rolling out the new site, www.aimhighbook.com any day!

AND ... you can win one here! Please leave a comment with your email address, and one lucky, random winner will receive one autographed copy of Aim High when they're available (probably right after Thanksgiving). You must have a US mailing address. Giveaway ends midnight MT Nov. 16th.

AND ... I just received something really cool from DaySpring - something else I designed that I can give away! SOOOOO, that'll be coming up shortly, too!! Stay tuned!!

Halibut en Papillote:
Wash and dry the fish fillet. Set aside. Cut a large rectangle of baking parchment and place on a cookie sheet. Put the fillet on it and top with:
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp medium-grind black pepper
- 1/8 C fresh Italian Parsley - chopped
- 1 large green onion - chopped
- 1 C sweet cherry tomatoes - cut in half
Drizzle over 1 tsp olive oil. Top with another piece parchment, folding edges together to seal and make a packet. Cook in preheated oven 400 degrees until the fish is tender (up to 18 minutes for a thick fillet).
You can also do this with individual fillets, like tilapia, making a packet for each person.

Fake Tree Goes Fall!

My two little leaf collectors want a project a day for their growing collection. So, we decided to give our artificial ficus tree a "Fall" look!
Once again, we pulled out our hole punch and glitter glue:Decorated some of the leaves with the kids' monograms, crosses, glitter dots, paint ... and left some plain:Then we punched holes, threaded gold string and decorated the ficus as if it were changing colors with the season:
Kind of brightens up that corner a bit!

As an update to my little chestnut bowl post ... my kids have taken a liking to coloring the tops of them!! Every time they have the markers out, a few more get "dressed up!"

Fall Banner with Real Dried Leaves!

I mentioned earlier that the kids and I gathered a whole bunch of pretty fall leaves on a recent hike. We pressed them flat until they were nice and dry.... Not exactly sure on the Martha way to do that, but we made a pile on the corner of the counter, then stacked a load of magazines on top for a few days. Hmmm, yeah, that's probably what she does, too! Then we used them for fun projects. Here's one of the things we made with our pressed and dried fall leaves: A Word Banner for our fireplace mantel:
When our leaves were good and dry, we sorted them by size. The kids love to be involved ... be sure to have extras so you don't mind some getting cracked! I punched two 1/4 inch holes in each leaf. Remember not to get your dry, cracked, half-gone-nail-polish thumb in the shot when photographing this step for the world wide web:
I then threaded a burgundy satin cord through about 20 medium sized red maple leaves:
I chose to embellish my word banner with the word "BLESSED." I can always use a good reminder to be appreciate for God's many blessings to our family. I went, as usual, with the easiest thing I had on hand - gold Glitter Glue. Quick and fail-proof, but you can use real glitter if you don't mind the mess. When I use glitter glue, I'm generous, but not too gloppy, as it shrinks up while it dries. These letters will be flat when fully dry:Here's how my B-L-E-S-S-E-D banner letters turned out:
I laid more of the leaves on the top of the mantel. Then decorated with freshly gathered pine cones and chestnuts:
This should be nice through Thanksgiving, after which the Christmas decorating transformations start! Enjoy and let me know what you're doing with your dried leaves this year! ... and be blessed!

More Fall Decorating with Nature

Dressing up a little bowl of chestnuts gathered on another fall nature outing: We "wrapped" the green square bowl with ribbons and a little paper tag I designed and printed on the computer - "Blessings of the Harvest."A few simple materials is all that's needed:
And you have another inspiring autumn accent for your home:
This would also be a cute housewarming or hostess gift! Now, keep gathering those colorful fall leaves - I've dressed up my mantel with more of mine and I'll show you next time!

Fall Party Treats & Using Pressed Leaves

What to do with all those leaves you and your kids collected on the weekend hike? Why, press, dry and decorate, of course! I love using nature for seasonal decorating. We brought a tray of treats over to cheer up a friend the other day: Since she's a healthy, ingredient-reader kind of girl, we baked oatmeal chocolate chip muffins and decorated them with a little more melted dark chocolate -- spelling out her name with one letter on top of each muffin:
Our freshly-pressed red maple and yellow oak leaves gave our tray a festive, fun, fall feeling. :-)And, of course, my little artist decorated a rainbow-colored leaf card to go along with our treats!
Here's the recipe I used for

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins:

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 c buttermilk
1/3 cup oil/applesauce
1 t vanilla
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t soda
1 t baking powder
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
~ 6 oz chocolate chips

In one bowl mix egg, buttermilk, oil and vanilla with fork. Set aside.
In another bowl mix flour, salt, soda, baking powder, oatmeal and brown sugar by hand.
Stir liquid mixture into dry ingredients.
Mix until blended.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Fill greased muffin cups and bake at 350 degrees for 15 - 20 minutes.
Makes 12 muffins.

(Recipe adapted from my great friend Maralyn Mathias's cookbook Around the World with Annie.)

Decorating for Fall

It's just starting to feel like autumn where I live. I planted some mums this weekend and now I'm ready to get out my trusty fall accents! I dressed up a vase with some wheat ...... ribbon and one of those cute metal craft tags:
Here are my simple supplies: tall cylinder vase, wheat stalks, light cinnamon wired satin ribbon and metal tag inscribed with the word "faith" (not shown.)
I wrapped the ribbon around the base of the vase several times to create a little muff. I twisted it in the back near the top to hold it in position, then looped the ends through the tag in front.
Now, I think I need to go buy another bunch of the wheat stalks to fill this in a bit:
Meanwhile, it's making a cute centerpiece on my dining table ... a nice replacement for the "flowering" plant that didn't flower very much with my black thumb in charge and whose dried carcass easily crumbled into the garbage... let's keep the mums in our prayers, kay? :-)

Li'l Surfer Dude Gets a Lamp

Ahhhh, I'm making progress. VERY slow mind you, but bit by bit my little guy's room is being upgraded to suit the big boy 3 year old that he now is. I mentioned the surf board we picked up recently in California ... which is still just standing guard in his room, patiently waiting to be hung on the wall ... well, this weekend my lovely assistant and I made this surfer dude lamp: I decided to swap out the current lamp on his dresser for a custom accent lamp made with (1) a lamp base leftover from a photo shoot, (2) a red checked lamp shade also from days gone by and (3) several surfer magazines picked up near the beach:
Since I wasn't sure how my photos would cover the checked pattern of my shade, I gave it a quick coat of white paint. Then I started to layer torn beach, surf & surfer pics on top. Several pieces of mostly blue water formed the base:
I went with the rough, torn edges look on this. Tearing the excess photo away from the part I wanted, exposing white edges of paper:
One of the magazines was a real score - several features on kid surfers! So I chose pics of other little blond guys that he could really relate to. My daughter did all the brushing on of the decoupage glue and was so thrilled to be making little brother a "secret surprise!"
I sealed the decoupaged lamp shade with two spray coats of clear satin polycrylic; painted the lamp base with a few coats of "Beach House" from Valspar Waverly Home Classics (same color used elsewhere in his room and the playroom photo canvases); and now it's all dry and waiting for tonight's story time!

Howdee, New Neighbors!

Time to welcome more new neighbors into our 'hood...My daughter helped me bake chocolate chip cookies while my son napped. Ya know, she is such a good helper ... once she knew we were not giving away ALL of the cookies, that is!! We picked out a dozen of the "prettier" ones and tucked them into a big parchment paper envelope. I punched a hole in the top and held it closed with a curly ribbon and an enormous homemade "Welcome" tag. Added our names and phone number to the back and away we go!

Please share your fun ideas for welcoming new neighbors in the comments. Last summer when ... coincidentally ... we welcomed a different family into that same house, I posted about the muffins I brought and Barbara left some superb ideas in the comments! In this new case, the family has lived in our town longer than us, so I don't have too much advice for them! :-)

Chocolate chip cookie recipe:
I believe this recipe came a van Houten bag of chocolate chips a LONG time ago ...
makes ~5 dozen; oven 375.

Ingredients:
1 cup softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/3 cups unsifted flour (I now use whole wheat flour - as if that's a "healthy" choice with all that sugah! - which does seem to make the cookies flatten more)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
12 oz. pkg semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts (optional)

Cream together: butter, sugars, eggs & vanilla 'til fluffy. (personally, I think the people who don't do this and just mix everything at once {KM!} get the super flat cookies ... But I'd eat them either way!)
In a separate bowl combine dry stuff: flour, salt & soda.
Stir into creamed mixture.
Stir in chips (and nuts if desired.)
Drop from teaspoon 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes. (I do about 8, depending on my oven as we prefer them super soft and ooey gooey!!)
Fill a glass with cold milk & dig in!

(In)couraging Wrapping & Decor

Sometimes a simple word says it best - Hope:
To see what's wrapped up in these cute scrapbook papers, and how I re-purposed the ribbon & Hope tag, pop on over to (in)courage to read my guest post!