Sometimes it doesn’t take a lot to make an occasion special….and we all appreciate when someone makes the effort for us. This design is super quick and can be put on wine glasses like I am showing you. Think about all the other valentine gifts you could make using this design… it could also be put on coffee mugs, an ornament, votive candle holder, a glass jar holding cookies or even on a card.
I hope that you are not getting tired of my glitter house posts. I have been teasing you with this Music Glitter House and feel that it could be nice for winter.
Now that all of the holiday decorations are down things can seem a little bare. Why not add a little sparkle to your home with these snowflake lanterns. They are easy, inexpensive, can be made quickly and can be used indoors and out. You can use the same technique on mugs, wineglasses or anything glass.
Many times I seem to get into creative slumps. This year I found two things that helped me be more creative.
On the first day of November a post that I shared to my timeline from the year before showed up as a memory in my Facebook news feed. It was a challenge to make time for art every day even if only for a few minutes. It tugged at my heart and I mentioned the challenge to my husband who encouraged me to do it. I reluctantly posted on Facebook the challenge and asked if anyone wanted to join me. To be accountable I then posted updates on my Jane Allen Creates Facebook page.
Merry Christmas my friends and family. This year I decided to simplify some of my decorating so that I could have a little more time to paint, bake and enjoy the season.
I have so many treasures that I enjoy putting out every year, but I do try to change things around a little.
As you come in the front door you will see some of my Byers Choice angles and an angel tree which is a Rosemary West design that I painted years ago. The tree is still one of my favorites.
When I got my first “real job” after school I worked with Evelyn – a lovely lady who also liked to bake and was sweet to share her recipes with me. That was over 40 years ago and I am still using some of those recipes.
Even though I never had an advent calendar as a child, I like the excitement of counting the days until Christmas. For children you think of the calendars where you get a piece of candy or a small toy each day. As an adult you know the true joy comes from giving to others. That is what really makes the Christmas season special.
Last year I did a post on creating glitter houses which turned out to be very popular. Many of my friends and family were inspired to create their own houses or have me teach them.
This year I am up to my eyeballs in glitter. 🙂 Our family made glitter houses after thanksgiving dinner, I am teaching two full classes at a local shop, and I have made houses to sell in the shop which after a week are almost sold out.
I love the colors of fall and how the season encourages us to reflect on our blessings. So today I want to thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I hope my sharing of ideas, both decorating, creating and recipes are a blessing and encouragement to you and your family and friends. Every time I get a comment or a new follower I am encouraged to keep sharing….and when someone tells me they tried a recipe or project and liked it I am over the moon. Thank you!
Today I thought I would share a few glimpses of my fall décor before I dive into decorating for Christmas.
These two decorate my patio and front door. The hose lady is a Shara Reiner design and the scarecrow is by Maxine Thomas.
A few weeks ago I took a 3 day seminar with Wendy Young, from Olde Moon Lane Primitives (http://www.oldemoonlane.com/). I learned so much from her and she got my creative juices going. I encourage you to take a class from her or buy a pattern from her (they are also loaded with so much good information).
A few years ago I was looking for something new to do with my grand niece Sheena when we went to visit her in San Francisco. I am not even sure where the idea came from but I decided to take some shrinky dinks along to play with. We made a lot of projects but mostly jewelry, and we made many trips to the craft store to get more supplies. 😊
On a chilly fall day I love to make soup and bake. Nothing warms you like yummy smells coming from the kitchen. One of my favorite fall cookies are Macadamia and White Chocolate Cookies. They are a delicious combination of pumpkin, spices, crunchy nuts, and sweet bits of white chocolate.
Last Year I tried a new DecoArt Media product call Crackle Glaze. I had used it on a Christmas Tree and also some coordinating ornaments. (See Them Here) It was so easy to use and I loved the results so I thought I would make some pumpkins with it. I started with paper mache pumpkins from my local craft store and painted them Buttermilk, Spiced Pumpkin, and Mint Julep Green and the stems Khaki Tan.
I love fresh fruit in season and right now I am enjoying peaches. Last year I bought a new cookbook by Rosie Daykin called Butter, which is also the name of her bakery. So far I have only tried one recipe in the book which are her cinnamon buns made with peaches and pecans. They are so yummy that I have made them at least a half a dozen times. I like them with fresh peaches but they are also good with canned or frozen peaches if you are craving them in the off-season.
I am sorry that I have not been posting for a while. I put a lot of pressure on myself the last three and a half months, working on a book, and preparing to have a booth at Heart of Ohio Tole Painters Convention (HOOT).
I did the book with my friend Amy Mogish. Not only did I design and paint the pieces for the book, but my husband and I did the photography for the book and I did the desktop publishing. It was a wonderful learning experience and I enjoyed the process. On top of that I coordinated a Multi-author book.
Today is the anniversary of my father’s death and I have been thinking about him today. I know he did not choose to leave me fifty-one years ago, and because of my faith I believe we will be together again someday. I don’t often share such personal things, especially to the world, but feel the urge to do so in hopes that you will be comforted especially if you have lost a loved one or even a pet recently.
This is a story about my father’s sister at the end of her life and how my father came to her. I had written it at the time, because I knew that time would fade my memory and I did not want to forget a single sweet detail.
My father Carl Allen when he was little.Carl Allen 1908 – 1965
Aunt Sid’s last days:
Aunt Sid was my father’s baby sister. Daddy was born in 1908, and then his mother married and she had two daughters, Greta (1912), and Hildred (1913) who everyone lovingly called Sid. Even though they did not always live in the same home, the siblings were always close. Unfortunately Daddy died at the young age of 56 in 1965.
Aunt Greta married, but never had children and Aunt Sid never married. Daddy’s family was wonderful and always showed you unconditional love. Needless to say, I always had a close relationship with them even though they lived an hour away from us. The sisters always lived about a block apart and did everything together. Aunt Greta being the older sister was the bossy one, and Aunt Sid always went along. Sometimes to keep peace and sometimes I think it was just her easy-going good nature. Aunt Greta died in 2000 at 88.
I was able to move Aunt Sid to an assisted living facility near me and my husband. We were blessed to be able to spend a lot of time with her those last three years of her life.
The end of July 2004 Aunt Sid was not doing well and she was hospitalized. This was a Tuesday, that night she slipped into a coma. They told me that she would not come to; it would only be a short time until she died. The next night I went to see her and she was still in a coma, I went for a supper break and when I came back she was sitting up in bed.
Aunt Sid was looking around the room and her eyes were sparkling, she said to me “Janie, look at all the food they have prepared.” Then she said “look at all the people here” She used her finger to count and include my husband and me. There were 10 people in the room. She then said to me that we should get back or Greta would be upset with us. I still had not caught on and I said “Aunt Sid you know that Aunt Greta is dead”. She then crossed her arms and said very emphatically “Well, I know that my brother is alive.” I knew in that instant that my father was in the room with us. Being the big brother he was there to walk her home. Aunt Sid then said to me “look at the pretty little girl in the pink dress”. This time being smarter, I asked her who it was, and she told me that she didn’t know. I know that she was named after a little girl who had burned in a house fire and I thought that it might me her.
Aunt Sid adored my husband Al. She looked at Al and I could tell that she was upset with him; she said “why aren’t you taking care of your dog?” He asked her where it was, and she pointed to the corner of the room. Aunt Greta always had a dog that the both of them would spoil.
Aunt Sid slipped into a coma on Friday evening. I told her that I loved her and what a blessing she was to me, she spoke to me but I couldn’t understand because they had an oxygen mask on her. I was with her when she slipped away on Monday afternoon. I’m sure that the whole gang was there with her, and they are celebrating in heaven.
I feel blessed and very and thankful that God gave me that little glimpse into eternity. I know that we never have to be afraid to die and that we are never alone. I know that we can look forward to being with our loved ones in eternity, when we are done with this brief life. As I was blessed by this experience, I hope that you will also be blessed.
Greta, Sid, and Carl when they were youngSid, Carl and Greta when my dad was home on leave.
From this story I believe:
There is food in heaven, lots of food, really good food!
Even if you die alone, you don’t die alone because those your love come to you and walk you home. And I think the party continues.
There are pets in heaven.
I hope this story does not fill you with sadness, but with peace, hope and joy.
For me Memorial Day is the official start of picnic season and with that comes grilling and yummy salads. One of my husbands favorite salad is my bean salad. It is easy to make, keeps well and is full of healthy things.
I don’t know about you but sometimes it is easy to get discouraged with our art (or whatever your gift is). It is easy to look at what others are doing and think what we are doing is not the right thing or our art doesn’t measure up; or, even worse, have others tell us what we are doing isn’t good enough, or that we should be doing something else. Continue reading “Using the Gifts You are Given”→
When I was out shopping at Micheals I saw these cute houses. I immediately had an idea of what I would like to paint on them. When I got home I keep thinking about the cute flower cut outs they had and how they would make fun rooves on the houses. So back to Michaels and then I started working on my updated idea. If you don’t have a Michaels available to you, the houses could be cut from 2×4’s and the roof could be made out of scrape book paper glued to a heavier paper and cut out.
My mother had made soft pretzels when we were young and they were always a treat so a few years ago I started making soft pretzels and pretzel rolls. The nice thing about the rolls is you can eat them as a pretzel treat, a sandwich roll or as a dinner roll. This recipe makes 8 rolls so I always quadruple the recipe, then you can share some and freeze some for later. The original recipe I found in the Food Network magazine.
One of the blogs that I follow is Jennifer Rizzo and she is looking for monthly contributors for recipes, crafting and home decorating. To find out more about the contest go to her blog post Jennifer Rizzo Contributor Call-Out
To enter you have to do a post showing your three best posts. Since I do all three, I will show my three best post for each.
It is fun to take smaller canvases and turn them into a tabletop canvas by adding feet or a pedestal, a finial and/or other elements. I thought I would show you how I took the donut canvases in the Painted Donuts post and turn them into tabletop canvases.
When I have company I like to serve them something special, but also want to be able to spend time with my guest. This recipe is perfect because you can prepare it ahead of time and the marinade cooks down to be a pan sauce that you serve with the chicken. The original recipe I found in Fine Cooking magazine. Continue reading “Lemon Rosemary Balsamic Chicken”→
Normally I paint from a pattern or sketch from photo references, but sometimes it is fun to set up a still life and paint from it….so why not paint donuts.
The best part about painting donuts is having to buy a “collection” of fresh donuts to sketch and then eat them. 😀 Since my husband was more than willing to help and anxious to get started, I took pictures. I stacked them and also took pictures singularly from the top, side and at an angle. After photographing many donuts I decided on these three.
Once Christmas was over my home looked a little bare, but how to decorate? Should I do snowies, a touch of spring or something creative. You will see that I did a little of all three. And since I design and also enjoy painting other people’s designs you will find a lot of Art in my decorating.
And since I am posting this in the middle of a huge snow storm I am glad that I did not over due the snowies. This is a picture of my living room/dining room. I went with a lot of green here, especially on the mantel but you can see I have a little snow fairy.
In the winter it is often hard to find good veggies for a salad. My off-season go to salad is one that my mother would make with fruit, nuts and a sweet and sour dressing. I love this salad and you can vary the ingredients.
I was moving some things around in my basement when I found the starts to these clothes pin snow people and thought you might enjoy creating them. You will need a few clothes pins, toothpicks, doll stands, some twigs for arms, butterfly stickers for wings, paint, glitter, glue, ribbon and tulle and any other embellishments you would like. If you don’t have them already, you can get most of these supplies at your local craft store.
Our family was celebrating my nieces 50th birthday on New Year’s day. I wanted to do something special for her so I decided to make a mixed media Birthday canvas. I had a general idea of what I wanted to do and was able to find the needed supplies at my local crafts store. I started with a 5x7x2 wooden canvas (you could use a regular canvas), I wanted to put her age on the canvas, her initial, a crown, and possibly feet on the project so she could sit it on a table.
Yesterday my husband and I visited our niece Emily and her husband Phil. We had fun making crab cakes together for dinner and thought you might also enjoy making them. They make a meal special, but are easy to make….the secret is using good ingredients.
I posted a picture on Facebook of me and a young friend making glitter houses, a number of people seemed interested in how they were made so I thought I would show you. You are probably thinking this is too close to Christmas is she crazy…..but this could really be a fun project/ memory with your children, grandchildren or a special friend over vacation break. In fact in would be fun to do every year and watch how their art changes as they grow. When they leave home they will have their own Christmas village, much more valuable than any they could buy.
Every year my Aunt Sid would make her orange cookies for a man at her church. The last year she made them for him he actually died on that very day. How very unfortunate for him. It just happen that I visited my Aunt that very day and she sent all the cookies home with me, how very fortunate for me. I loved them and have been making them ever since. This is probably one of the favorite cookies with my family and friends.
This year I am linking my Christmas house tour to Jennifer Rizzo’s Holiday House walk 2015 link party. Please stop over to her blog to see other wonderful holiday homes by clicking on the image below or by clicking Here.
For those of you who don’t know me, I am a decorative painter. I will paint something and then make a pattern and instructions so that others can paint my designs. I also enjoy painting other people’s designs. If you are interested in learning to paint, decorative painting is a great way to start. You can contact the Society of Decorative Painters to find a teacher or a chapter in your local area or you can contact a local painting shop to see if they offer classes . Also today there are many online classes that you can take and learn at your own pace.
My friend Amy Mogish (visit her blog at http://classicamyjoanne.com/) and I went to a glitter class with Miss Mustard Seed aka Marian Parsons. We used MMS’s German Glass Glitter which has an extra sparkle, you can find it on her web site. It was such a fun relaxing class and the process is pretty simple:
Place white glue were you want glitter.
Sprinkle on glue with glitter.
Shake off excess glitter.
Repeat.
It is amazing how many things you can glitter in 2 hours. I had painted a small house and put clear glitter all over it, plus letters for two banners, snowflakes and pine cones. These few projects added a lot of glitz to my holiday decorating.
Marian had given me some old music pages which I wanted to put my one set of letters on. Since the paper was fragile I glue it to some heavier banners that I bought at Michaels. I then glued the letters to them.
Just like decorating a tree there are no specific ways to decorate a mantel, but I thought I would share a few tips on how I do it. First I think about how I want the mantel to look. Do I want my garland to go across the top, on the front edge, or swag off of the mantel. I then think about where I want the garland to connect to the mantel and add command hooks following the manufacturers instructions.
Last year I had read on Jeanne Oliver’s blog that her family had a service advent tree. Instead of receiving a little gift or treat to count down the days until Christmas, they did an act of service for someone each day. I love the idea and thought I would try it this year. You could use any tree and attach stars on it each day but I thought I would make one.
I found these wonderful kraft stars at Michaels. I did not want to completely paint them, but I wanted a little bling so I flyspecked them with two shades of gold metallic paint. I used DecoArt Metallics – Emperor’s Gold and Splendid Gold.
Last year I offered to make one of the turkeys, stuffing and gravy for our family thanksgiving dinner. The only problems were: I never made many turkeys in my lifetime, I no longer had my mother to ask advice, and I do not like to get up early yet alone in the middle of the night to stuff and begin baking a turkey.
If you haven’t started already, I am sure you will soon be decorating for Christmas. For most of us the focal point in the room is the tree. There is no right or wrong way to decorate a Christmas tree, but I follow some basics steps on every tree I put up. I hope these decorating tips will be helpful to you.
I always sit my tree on a towel, so that it is easy to move around if needed. I begin by fluffing and shaping the tree. If you use a real tree you can skip this step and just turn the best side forward.
A pre-lit tree can be wonderful as long as the lights work. I prefer a tree without lights. If a string of lights goes bad you can easily replace them. It also allows you to change out the color and type of light from season to season.
I love to display things on pedestals. When I was at Micheal’s (You can see by now that I go there too often) I found the little wooden pedestal and thought it would work with a cake pan on top. You could use any type pan. I wanted something with straight sides so it would be a little easier to cover with scrapbook paper. The pan I used is the 8″ tray available from Della and Company
One of my favorite treats are these brownies, they have crunchy edges with a rich fudgy chocolate middle and lots and lots of nuts. The original recipe is from “The Perfect Recipe” by Pam Anderson. I have changed a couple things to make them even more perfect to me.
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 325°F. Whisk flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl; set aside.
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
I found this metal heart at Micheal’s and thought it would be fun to spell out some words with the heart symbolizing “love” or “heart”. For example you could spell out GRATEFUL “heart”, THANKFUL “heart”, FALL “love” or WHO “loves” YOU. I am sure you can also think of other combinations to spell out. So first I had to figure out what I was going to spell out so I would know how many pumpkin blocks I would need. I had my husband cut out 8 sections of 2×4, 4 1/2″ long and sand them with a hand sander. He then drilled a hole in the center top for the stems. I cut tree branches 3″ long for the stems trying to keep them all about the same diameter.
As you saw on my fall decorating blog post I have an “owl” thing going this year. I didn’t plan it, it just happen. I guess that means owls are big this year. See Fall house tour – the Beginning and Fall house tour- The rest.
I wanted a painting of an owl, but wanted to keep is simple so I sketched out an owl and sized it to my canvas. I used a square canvas 24″x24″ and painted it Lamp Black (I used DecoArt paints). You could scale it to any size canvas. I then positioned my owl and traced it on. I outlined him in chalk so that you could see him better. I decided I wanted him to sit on a tree branch and have a moon showing through the branches. I cut a circle out of white paper for the moon and laid it in place. Them using a piece of chalk I traced around the moon and freehand the trees and branches.
This year I have been seeing a lot of really wonderful looking pumpkins painted with chalk paint so I thought I would give it a try. I went to my local craft store and bought some of the craft pumpkins and some bottles of chalk paint in the colors I thought I would like them. I wanted my pumpkins to be a little funky and glitzy so I also purchase gold leafing and adhesive. I bought as many as I could in white so that the coverage would be easy.
One day I was on Facebook and someone posted a picture of a gift that her mother had painted for her birthday. The tray was one of my designs so I was excited when I saw it. I always love when people paint my designs, but I really love when they take my design and personalize it. Here is the picture that I saw on Facebook.
Welcome back, today I will finish my fall tour of the inside of my house by showing you my family room and kitchen. I will also give you a preview of three more fall DIY projects that I will be posting over the next couple of weeks.
I would like to take you on a little fall tour of the inside of our home starting with the living room and dining room. I will also give you a sneak peek of a DIY project I will be sharing with you very soon. The first thing to great you as you enter my front door is this sweet little lady.
A little while ago I share a mixed media project that I felt would be a good way to introduce others to art. You can see the blog post here. The beginning of the month some ladies from my painting chapter Penn’s Woods Painters and myself did this project at the Ronald McDonald house in our area. The project was open to patients and family members. These are the happy faces of our helpers.
I have been trying to decorate the outside of my home for a few weeks, but it seems many things are against me. First I bought mums that were late blooming, so that I could have them longer. The only thing is they are not blooming for my pictures. Then it started raining and kept up for days. So the one morning I got up it had stopped raining and even though it was cloudy I decided to take pictures. Well, that day the fountain pump broke. So next year I will have pictures of the fountain running…maybe.
The one thing I love this year is how lovely my annuals are looking for fall. The front walk way is lined with orange and pink lantanas.
With the cooler weather I love the smell of baking in the house. Chocolate Chip cookies seem to be a favorite of everyone….at least it is with my family and friends. At almost every function this is one of the things that I am always expected to bring…..and usually one of the first things gone.
Since I like to be the queen of ease I use an electric mixer for mixing up the cookies. I follow the basic directions for mixing them up. (See recipe below) I do prefer dark brown sugar over light brown sugar and I always like to add a few extra chocolate chips. I don’t add the nuts, I find more people like them without, that is a personal preference. Continue reading “Chocolate Chip Cookies – always a favorite”→
This weekend I was browsing through Pinterest and found the work of Karen Milstein http://www.fadedwest.com/. I loved her faces and saw that she offered online classes so without hesitation I signed up for the simply painting faces. I watched the videos and did the project with the supplies that I had on hand. This is my results:
Karen paints with gesso using pastels, water soluble pencils and crayons and some craft paints to add pigment. She adds lots of layers with the gesso. Her technique was new to me, yet I found with her instructions it was easy to do and I was pleased with my results. It was a fun relaxing project and I learned so many new things.
The wonderful thing about online classes is you can take them anytime and place and many of them give you unlimited access.
Happy Painting,
Jane
PS. I would love to hear about your favorite online classes.
A while ago I was asked to do an artsy project for a bachelorette party, that would be reasonably priced and would suit someone who had not painted before or very little. Something to have fun together. I decided to incorporate mixed media elements into the piece and use stencils and scrapbook paper for the basic shapes. The project went well and everyone was happy with their ART. Many were amazed at themselves…what a fun way to introduce others to the LOVE of ART.
Since doing this my painting chapter is going to be doing a similar project for Ronald McDonald house and I will be leading a workshop at my church’s woman’s retreat. I thought you might also like to share this project with others.
There is no set way to do this project, you can add or eliminate steps. I will share with you my process. I started with a 9×12 canvas. Using Matt Medium or Deco-Page glued paper to the canvas. Using an old gift card I pushed the wrinkles out of the paper and then allowed it to dry. (to speed things up I like to have a hairdryer handy), I used Tim Holtz tissue papers on the background, but you could use book pages, sheet music or scrapbook papers. When working on this project adding a coat of medium between layers will make it easier to wipe away any mistakes. Continue reading “Share the LOVE of ART”→
For those of you who don’t know me, I am a decorative painter. I will paint something and then make a pattern and instructions so that others can paint my designs. I also enjoy painting other people’s designs. If you are interested in learning to paint, decorative painting is a great way to start. You can contact the Society of Decorative Painters to find a teacher or a chapter in your local area or you can contact a local painting shop to see if they offer classes . Also today there are many online classes that you can take and learn at your own pace.
The one thing I love this year is how lovely my annuals are looking for fall. The front walk way is lined with orange and pink lantanas.
Since I like to be the queen of ease I use an electric mixer for mixing up the cookies. I follow the basic directions for mixing them up. (See recipe below) I do prefer dark brown sugar over light brown sugar and I always like to add a few extra chocolate chips. I don’t add the nuts, I find more people like them without, that is a personal preference. Continue reading “Chocolate Chip Cookies – always a favorite” →
There is no set way to do this project, you can add or eliminate steps. I will share with you my process. I started with a 9×12 canvas. Using Matt Medium or Deco-Page glued paper to the canvas. Using an old gift card I pushed the wrinkles out of the paper and then allowed it to dry. (to speed things up I like to have a hairdryer handy), I used Tim Holtz tissue papers on the background, but you could use book pages, sheet music or scrapbook papers. When working on this project adding a coat of medium between layers will make it easier to wipe away any mistakes. Continue reading “Share the LOVE of ART” →
