Annie Lang's Blog!

There's nothing better than watching life grow when you plant a garden!  Whether it's a few flowers in the window box, a patio filled with blooming  pots or raised beds filled with home grown vegetables, a day in the garden is time well spent.  Here a just a few inspirational ideas to make your garden creatively grow.  I've gathered together a few of my former BLOG posts in case you've missed them... Happy Gardening! These hats were a home dec "crafting rage" in the 80's and now they're back! Check out these great ideas to use for creating your own novelty garden accessories!   Use painted woodlets and a little adhesive to brighten up any garden pot! Here's a simple but fun collection of merchandise to brighten up your "Gardening Days"! You can easily make and fill your own seed packages for fun gifts or profit! Find out what's going on in the garden today with this fun publication!  

Here's a fun decorative project you can paint up on a rainy day and use it as an accent piece on a shelf, bookcase cubby or even outdoors in the garden.  If using outdoors, be sure to give it a good coat of clear sealer finish once the project is completed to protect it from the elements.  This house can also be modified to create a cute gingerbread house, mock birdhouse, fairy garden house or anything else your imagination can come up with!  Here's how I painted the pictured sample but you can use any color, painting technique or brushes you desire. I hope you'll give it a try because anything IS possible when you're on a creative adventure!   NOTE:  Here's the online links to my wood suppliers... Stand Alone House Shape:    https://www.craftdealz.com/deal/stand-alone-house-shape 5" Garden Gate Ornament:    https://www.cdwood.com/collections/garden-gate/products/5-garden-gate-ornament

Watermelon is a favorite any time of year and these new watermelon themed designs by Annie Lang are fresh from the drawing board for everyone to enjoy.  Whether it's fabric for new placemats, napkins, potholders or kitchen aprons to spruce up the kitchen, fun wearables and home dec ready made items or sweet clipart and printed papers for your DIY projects... you'll find them all here.  So go ahead and shop to your heart's content because Annie Things Possible when you have whimsical watermelons for creative inspiration! 

You don't have to be an avid gardener to grow your own smiles!  Just grab a few craft supplies and let your imagination take over.  If you love papercrafts as much as I do, you'll truly enjoy working with my newly released  Seed Pack Envelopes Activity Crafts downloadable .pdf publication. If you'd rather create with resizable clipart images, Annie Lang's Garden Seed Pack Clipart has everything you need to get started.  This collection from Creative Market comes with a license option available to suit your personal or commercial needs so you can use them for yourself, for your online retail business or simply create something amazing for your print on demand merchandise stores. You don't have to wait until the danger of frost has passed to get those creative smiles growing today.  Happy Gardening!

You can make your garden bloom any time of year with a bounty of vividly colored whimsical flowers and plenty of happy smiles to choose from!  This whimsical smiling flower character themed clipart collection along with a personal or commercial license is now available to download at Annie's Creative Market Store.   So get your garden growing projects started today and don't forget to smile!

It started out as a beautiful day in the garden until the chatter got a bit out of control!  Find out how all the commotion unexpectedly turns this peaceful garden all topsy-turvy as the news of the day quickly spreads throughout this delightfully illustrated children's book. Young readers will quickly engage with vividly detailed characters and imagery as the story unfolds in the garden.   It's a timeless tale of human nature and our need to socially share everything we hear with others.  As is often the case in real life, what starts as a simple observation quickly can turn into a most ridiculous misunderstanding.   " Guess What I Heard Today " is a terrific "read it together"  publication that encourages discussion about how we communicate. Decades ago, my first grade teacher had the class sit in a circle, whisper a sentence into the ear of the student beside us as we passed our "secret sentence" from person to person.  We were totally amazed wh

 

Spring will be here soon so now is the perfect time to get ready for the return of our fine feathered friends!  I made my first gourd birdhouse in 2017 and it's time to replace it with a newer model.  I'm pleased it held up this long under the harsh winter and summer weather events we've experienced here in Michigan over the past few years and I expect it will be the same for this new gourd.  Unlike many of the wooden birdhouses I've had, the original gourd birdhouse has been continually occupied by a variety of nesting bird families for the last four years.  I can hardly wait for the snow to melt so I can hang my new one up amid the blossoming tree branches.  I wasn't able to locate a dried gourd locally, but was fortunate to find one to order online from Gourdaments  .  I hope you enjoy and happy birdwatching! UPDATE It only took a few days after hanging the new gourd birdhouse before a new family of birds began using it!  Within the next several weeks, the tree w

Here's a quick and easy way to add a folksy look to any decorative planter, container or any other creative surface you may have onhand.  Whether it's terra cotta pots, a wooden * wheelbarrow like the pictured sample or a simple metal bucket, anyone can paint this design up super quick with only a few craft paints and basic brushes.  Paint colors used for the original design shown are white, dark green, yellow, orange and country red but you can use any colors of your choice.  I used DecoArt patio paints that hold up well for outdoor use, but you can use craft paints and then seal with clear finish when paint has dried. Below you'll find the repeatable design you can use as a pattern or coloring guide.  Use a flat brush to paint checkerboard squares, round brushes for the flowers and a liner to paint freestyle lines through the squares.  To download the design, just click the image below and save to your computer.  Enjoy! *NOTE:  The pictured wheelbarrow is no longer

Home is where you hang your hat so here's how you can jazz up an old straw hat in no time at all with items you may already have on hand!  The pictured project was made with a straw beach hat I had tucked in a closet and had long forgotten.  The silk flowers were purchased off season at a local department store and I used a cardboard ring cut from a shipping box to attach them to the hat.  You can attach the flowers right onto the hat, but if you want to easily change them out with seasonal colors, you can simply remove the cardboard ring and use the same hat all year around.  Whether you hang it on the door, wall or garden fence you'll find this craft quick, easy and so very fun to make.  This is a project that's been around crafting circles for decades so it's absolutely timeless!  Enjoy... SUPPLIES:   You'll need a straw hat, silk flowers and leaves with stems removed, cardboard cut into a wide ring to glue flowers to (optional), glue gun, ribbon color of

  You don't have to spend a lot of money to brighten up your outdoor spaces when you find new uses for items you don't want to throw away!  Here's some great ideas for you to try...

NEW RELEASE! Annie Lang’s Kids will show you how to make your flower  garden bloom with smiles!  There are dozens of mix and match flowers and garden kids character art images to choose from in this jam packed publication.  Themed pattern designs created from Annie’s Village Flower Shoppe, Gardening Kids, Annie’s Garden and Sunflower Kids collection of images.  Simply trace the design and then transfer the image onto your project surface to make outstanding personalized items with professional results every time. This publication includes mix and match designs of garden tools, gardening supplies, Garden Kids, flowers, quaint flower shop, Sunflower Kiids and lots of pretty florals.  Designs can be colored with paint, color pencils, inks, markers, chalks, etc. There are extra pages at the back of the book you can use for personal project notes.  Also available in a printable .pdf edition! Find this " Garden Flower Bloomers " Linework Pattern Workbook Annie Lang's Bo

When it comes to getting the growing season started, there's nothing better than a trip to the local garden center to get yourself inspired!  This Mother's Day, my daughter-in-law treated me to an afternoon at a nearby Herb Farm.  Heavenly Scent Herb Farm is tucked along a scenic back road and fills you with inspiration the minute you step out of the car!  Scenic pathways, creative displays, beautiful statuaries and quiet places to explore eventually lead you to the gift shop and green house areas that are simply filled to capacity with nature's delights!  Here are just a few snaps I took of some of the displays that caught my eye (and eventually my pocketbook!)  If you're ever in the Fenton, MI area, you should plan a trip to this beautiful farm.