Art, Decorating

Merry Christmas 2021

It is hard to believe that 2021 will soon be coming to a close. I just wanted to take a few minutes and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.

Last year I did not decorate very much because of Covid, but this year I took some time and decorated a little. I thought I would share my home with you this year.

At my front door I have two angels by my door. I had painted these many years ago to go with a nativity that I had painted. I have since given the nativity away but still have the angels. The nativity was a Juliet Martin design and I painted these to go with it.

If you haven’t guessed already, I love angels. This grouping by my front door are byers choice angels and the angel tree is a Rosemary West design that I painted.

I put up a lot of small trees this year. I love seeing all the lights dancing through the house. Here are some pictures of the trees in the living room and dining room.

This one is by my front window and has angels on it. The angels were painted by Shara Reiner and Jane Lazenby.

I call these dolls my aunts because I made them to look like my beloved Aunts. They were a Christmas present to them many years ago and after their passing they came back to live with us. They are a sweet reminder of two beautiful people in my life.

A few more pictures of things in my living room/dining room.

In my family room, kitchen I put up a couple of trees. My main tree was all done in reds, white, silver and gold.

This year I painted Lynne Andrew’s 12 days of Christmas ornaments. Only problem was that I chose larger ornaments and they were heavy, so I had to tuck them back on the branches.

I loaded my mantel in my family room with holly and trees. I wanted to have the trees at different heights so I used pretty spools of ribbon under some of them. I was happy with how it turned out.

Here are some pictures of other things in my family room and kitchen:

I put a little tree in each bedroom, so that their would be lights in all the windows.

In my middle bedroom I was inspired to paint some ornaments after watching Andrea Garvey’s video on YouTube:

They were so much fun! Andrea is very generous; I have taken a number of classes from her. She is a great teacher, and her things are fun! You can find the link to the video here: Andrea Garvey Ornaments

I also put a few pink trees in my studio. The new one is LED and it is bright!

Like for so many of you it has been a bittersweet year for us. Last November my husband’s brother Rick came to live with us. With the help of Hospice we were able to care for him for 7 weeks until he took his last breath on Christmas eve. It was a special time for all three of us and we were so glad that we had that time together.

Rick was a big guy with a kind heart. He always loved adventure, the great outdoors, he was an avid reader and loved good food. He has been and will continue to be missed. This picture was taken many years ago shortly after we met. I am between my husband Al and Rick (right).

We hope you enjoy the tour of our home this year. We wish you a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.

Big Hug,

Jane and Al

Art, Decorating, DIY

Hello Spring “Nest” Canvas

Spring is my favorite season of the year. I love how the days get warmer and longer.  There is something magical about seeing everything starting to bud and bloom.  You can tell by my painting palette that these are also some of my favorite colors….the soft pastels, and vibrant clear colors of spring. I also love the smells of the season from the smell of the earth thawing and coming to life, to the sweet smell of the blossoms. And then there are the birds….I love seeing them make their nest, lay their eggs, and then their little families learning to fly.

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Continue reading “Hello Spring “Nest” Canvas”

Decorating

Christmas Tour 2016

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.

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Art, Decorating

Happy Thanksgiving from our House to Yours

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.

Continue reading “Happy Thanksgiving from our House to Yours”

Decorating, DIY

Paper Mache Pumpkins

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.

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Art, Baking, Cooking, Decorating, DIY

My Best Posts so far…

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

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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.

Continue reading “My Best Posts so far…”

Art, Decorating

Decorating for the New Year

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.

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Art, Decorating, DIY

Making Glitter Houses

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.

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Art, Decorating

Christmas House Tour 2015

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.

linkgraphicFor 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.

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Art, Decorating, DIY

Playing with Glitter

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:

  1. Place white glue were you want glitter.
  2. Sprinkle on glue with glitter.
  3. Shake off excess glitter.
  4. 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.

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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.

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Decorating

Tips on Decorating your Mantel

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.

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Art, Decorating, Faith

Advent Tree of Service

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.

image Continue reading “Advent Tree of Service”

Art, Decorating

Tips on Trimming Your Christmas Tree

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.

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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.

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Art, Decorating

Welcome Fall

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.

!1FrontpathThe 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.

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Art, Decorating

Still time to paint for fall

The days are getting cooler and I know that we are all anxious to get our homes decorated for fall.  How can we not be with all the merchandise being out in the stores for what seems like months.  In fact it makes us feel like we have already missed our window of opportunity. …but that is so not true.  We even have time to start painting a new piece or two for this year.  If you are looking for some great ideas you can find them in the new book Della presents

“Celebrating Fall with Friends”.Celebrate Fall cover copysm

These are pictures of the projects in the book, I think you will enjoy them. Continue reading “Still time to paint for fall”

Art, Decorating

Packing up Christmas 2014

If you remember from my first house tour post I had an empty stable.  Around the end of November I had mentioned to my husband that I might paint a nativity for the front yard.  I had the wood cut a number of years ago.  Before I knew it he build me a stable.  I had finished painting it a few days before Christmas.  Here is a picture of the whole yard with the nativity and also a close up.

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Art, Decorating

Christmas House Tour 2014 – Part 2

Before I took you on a tour of my Living Room and Dinning Room, this week I thought I would show you the rest of my decorating.  We will start in my living room and family room which is one large room.  You can see by the colors in the room that I like to use red in my decorating here, but there are a few balls with pink on them. Can’t help myself. 🙂

This is a view from our family room into the kitchen.

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Art, Decorating

Christmas House Tour 2014 – Part 1

Hello Everyone,
It has been a while since I posted on my blog. My husband Al and I have been busy decorating our house for Christmas and I thought you might enjoy a little tour. As some of you know pink is my favorite color. So Al being the good husband put pink and white lights outside.  The little structure to the right of the front window is a manger that Al has built for me for a nativity that I am painting.  I still have a lot of painting to do so I will update pictures of the nativity a little later. (not sure what year :))
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!outside1 Continue reading “Christmas House Tour 2014 – Part 1”