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

Looking for fun Baby Shower ideas?  Here's a few ideas you may want to try... The theme of this shower was Nature after the new Mom-To-Be chose to decorate the nursery with a deer and dandelion design she discovered on a crib bedding set.  Invitations/Thank You cards were handcrafted with yellows, white, soft greys and natural brown colors with a mom and baby deer modeled after the bedding design.  Tabletop creations were made with a birch paper covered pot with a beaded tree branch and paper cutout deer ornaments. Simple silk flowers, vases of baby's breath and jars filled with rosemary, sage, thyme, lemon and lime slices added an inviting fragrance to each tabletop setting. Chairbacks were decorated with wide burlap ribbon and sprigs of "naturals" lending a light and airy ambiance to the room for guests to enjoy. In lieu of gift package bows, the hostess (aka my sister-in-law!) requested guests bring a book for the baby to get a good head start on early rea