Annie Lang's Blog!

It's time to break out the brushes and get this year's ornaments ready for Holiday annual decorating here that begins the day after Thanksgiving!  Being naturally attracted to more "out of the box" surfaces to paint, I stumbled on these adorable little mini gourd ornaments that will be simply perfect for my small Christmas tree display.  Each one of these real gourds is unique and on average range in size from 1.25" to 2".  These along with many other varieties of Amish family farm grown gourds from Pennsylvania Dutch Country, in Lancaster County are available for sale through a co-op venture you can find online at amishgourds.com    I found that permanent marker brushes and pens were ideal for turning these mini gourd ornaments into tiny birdhouses.  Gourds are naturally porous so they really absorb the color well.  Start with lighter colors and then gradually work in the darker colors for best results.  If you want to add outlining, it's easily done u

As a Grandma, I try to keep a stash of rainy day projects on hand for those days when outdoor play is not an option for the grandkids.  You may have seen painting/coloring kits for kids in the crafting aisles at your local stores that usually sell for $2.99-5.99 each, depending on size and materials included.  I was able to create the 3 sample 6"x 6" packaged coloring kits for $1.98 each.  I could have added paint pods, mini markers, mini pencils or party crayons for .50 more, but I have plenty of coloring media on hand here in my studio for the kids to choose from.  We all know kids can't sit still for long periods of time so plan projects accordingly!  Toddlers need very simple art and materials which make crayons or color pencils an ideal choice.  Older kids can handle more challenging art and materials and though their attention span is better than a toddler's, they usually can't handle projects that take more than 30 minutes to successfully complete. So l